The Opening Tip
• Longwood returns to Willett Hall Tuesday night to welcome High Point in its annual Pink Game to raise awareness for breast cancer.
• Longwood senior
Eboni Gilliam is one game removed from scoring a career-high 27 points at Winthrop. Gilliam ranks second in the Big South with four double-doubles on the season. Over the last four games, Gilliam has averaged 13.0 points and 5.0 rebounds.
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Micaela Ellis has played every game (79) of her college career and has started 41 of the last 42 games with the lone game off the bench coming on senior day last season against Gardner-Webb. This season, Ellis is the lone captain for the squad, serving in that role for the second straight year. In Longwood's last two games, Ellis has totaled 17 assists and 8.5 per contest.
By The Numbers
• The Lancers are in their 10th season in the Division I era and fifth season as a full member of the Big South Conference.
• Longwood has had two different players earn weekly accolades this season --
Dayna Rouse and
Eboni Gilliam.
• Since the start of the 2014-15 season, Longwood has been tested out of conference against some of the best teams in the nation. The Lancers have played 10 games against eight different schools from Power Five conferences which is the third most in the Big South in that span.
• Longwood is in its seventh season under the guidance of head coach
Bill Reinson. In 2013, Reinson led the Lancers to the Big South Championship game falling to Liberty.
• Longwood athletics has partnered with regional telecommunications company Shentel to air all home basketball games on a dedicated Shentel channel, extending the Lancers' broadcast footprint to the company's coverage areas in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Shentel subscribers can watch Longwood men's and women's basketball's Big South Network broadcasts on channel 81.
• Two of Longwood's three wins this season have come when the squad has had a 20-point scorer and at least three different players in double figures.
• Longwood opened its 2016-17 by playing seven of its first nine games away from the friendly confines of Willett Hall.
• Longwood junior point guard
Micaela Ellis was named the squad's lone captain this season
Last Time Out
• On a day that opened with the Longwood women's basketball program honoring its all-time wins leader Shirley Duncan with an honorary retired jersey, Charleston Southern guard Rachel Burns stole the show with a career-high 25 points to lead the Buccaneers to a 62-47 win over the Lancers Saturday afternoon inside Willett Hall.
• Burns helped the Buccaneers use a 16-5 run to start the third quarter to stretch a three-point halftime lead to double figures and a 16-point Charleston Southern cushion.
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Micaela Ellis paced the Lancer offense with nine points and six assists that led to 17 Longwood points. The performance from Ellis marked her 10th straight game with three-plus assists, as the Oak Park, Mich., product has averaged 5.2 assists throughout that stretch.
Scouting High Point
• High Point is an even 4-4 in conference play after taking care of Presbyterian 87-60 on a rare Sunday afternoon bout. In Sunday's contest, Emma Bockrath and Kat Harris both poured in 15 points while Camryn Brown added 12 and Kaylah Keys finished with 10. The 87-point effort was the most that the High Point offense put up in conference play since their opening-win in which they scored 88 against Winthrop.
• Bockrath is leading the Panthers in scoring (13.1) and rebounding (6.0) in what is a breakout junior campaign. She scored 12 points in the second matchup between the Panthers and Lancers last season after finishing with just five in the first contest. She is joined by Keys (10.7) and Harris (10.0) as the three Panthers averaging double figures.
• The Panthers are a consistent top-five team in the Big South statistically including scoring offense (2), free-throw percentage (1), three-point field goal percentage (2), rebounding offense (3), assists (1), steals (3), assist-to-turnover ratio (1) and three-point field goals made (2).
