CONWAY, S.C. - In a game that seesawed back and forth throughout a majority of the contest, No. 7 Longwood held off No. 10 Charleston Southern in the end, scoring the final five points of the contest in opening the VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Tournament with the 70-63 victory.

Longwood advances to take on No. 2 seed Winthrop University on Friday afternoon inside The HTC Center, with tipoff slated for noon. Charleston Southern sees their season come to an end with the first round loss.

"Rebounding was key and turnovers played a factor," said head coach Fred Applin following the game. "We couldn't let two or three players get multiple rebounds on a possession and give them opportunities for score. I told our team we needed to come in and compete for 40 minutes in this game and unfortunately we weren't able to do that."

With one last gasp in the contest, Charleston Southern brought the game back to within three at 63-60 with 2:09 remaining following a free throw by Fowler.

Neal increased the Lancers' lead to five points with a layup on the following possession, but Jones electrified the crowd with a three-pointer from the left wing with 1:03 remaining to pull the Bucs back within two points at 65-63.

Following a Longwood offensive foul, the Buccaneers brought the ball down the court and passed it inside to Alston on the block. The senior forward took one dribble, in the process taking down her defender.

When the whistle blew in favor of the Lancers, the momentum swung to Longwood and Smith closed out the game from the free throw line, making five of her six attempts over the final 22 seconds to close out the 70-63 victory.

"With 35 seconds left, when I saw that foul, I thought we could come back down the court and score and keep us in the game," said Applin on the late whistle on Alston. "We're going to keep learning from this and look forward to coming back next season."

In what would end up being their final collegiate game, Charleston Southern rode the steady hands of seniors Shay Jones and Lakeitha Alston throughout a majority of the contest and the duo did not disappoint with Alston recording her sixth double-double of the season with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Jones wrapped up her career with 18 points, tying a career high with four three-pointers.

"I'm very proud of our seniors," commented Applin on the performances by Jones and Alston in their final games in the CSU Blue and Gold. "We're going to miss them a lot and wish we could come back out there on Friday for them."

Erin Neal led the Lancers with 22 points and added six steals for Longwood, while Smith converted nine of 13 attempts from the free throw line and added a team-high nine rebounds in the win. Daiesha Brown was also in double figures for the Lancers with 12 points.

Zhaquondalee' Greer tied a career high with nine points in the contest for Charleston Southern, making her first three shots from the floor, including a three-pointer during an 18-4 CSU run in the first half, while DJ Fowler wrapped up the season with five points and eight assists on the court.

The Buccaneers shot 35.2 percent (19-of-54) from the floor in the contest and held the 45-40 rebounding edge.

The teams battled through two tie scores over the first four minutes of the game before Longwood jumped out to a 9-4 lead following a three-point play by Neal. Neal opened the women's side of the tournament with the first basket of the game at the 19:30 mark on a layup, while Alston scored the first points for the Buccaneers, connecting on a pair of free throw attempts with 18:20 on the clock.

The Lancers lead extended to double-digits over the next eight minutes, capping at 10 points following a layup by Khalilah Ali as Longwood went ahead 18-8 with 10:20 remaining.

The Buccaneers offense took control of the game from there as and Alston layup at the 9:26 mark sparked an 18-4 run as the Buccaneers went up 26-22 with 3:54 on the clock in the first half.

Alston scored 10 of the 18 points for the Bucs during the stretch, connecting on a three-pointer during the stretch, while Greer and Jones hit back-to-back treys before Jones capped off the run hitting a pair of free throws at the 3:54 mark.

The Bucs and Lancers traded points the remainder of the first half with CSU going up four on a pair of free throws by Whitney Collins and another three-pointer by Jones, but Longwood continued to battle back with Smith cutting the deficit down to two at 33-31 with 39 seconds remaining, before Ali hit a desperation bank shot from inside the arc on the left wing as the buzzer sounded to send the teams into the halftime break knotted up at 33-all.

Charleston Southern jumped out early in the second half as Bratcher connected on a fade-away jumper near the elbow and Dotson hit a three-pointer with 18:38 on the clock to put the Bucs ahead with 18:38 to play.

The Lancers rallied back, tying the contest up for the sixth time overall in the game, hitting a jumper on the fast break to put the score at 40-all with 14:55 remaining.

The teams battled through two more ties before Longwood took the lead for good with 13:25 left in the contest. Chelsea Coward converted a pair of free throw attempts snapping a 44-all stalemate to push the Lancers ahead, and Smith quickly doubled the LW lead with a layup on the fast break to push the advantage to 48-44.

With the score at 48-47 following a Greer jumper, the Lancers built their largest lead of the half until the final score, going up 54-48 with 8:53 to play on a short jumper by Smith.

Charleston Southern continued to challenge the Lancers tenuous lead over the final eight minutes, bringing the game back within one point on two separate occasions, while staying within two possessions the remainder of the game in falling for the third time on the season.