PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - Longwood jumped out to an early lead and did not look back as the Lancers secured the victory over Maryland Eastern Shore 71-62 with career nights from Kyla McMakin and Akila Smith.
Sophomore Akila Smith set the pace for the Lancers from the start of the game. Smith led the offense with eight of her 18-points coming in the first quarter. Longwood's (4-5) defense held the Hawks to single-digits, establishing a 17-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Maryland Eastern Shore (3-7) began to chip away at Longwood's lead, using Amanda Carnev team-high 16-points to cut the deficit as the Hawks outscored the Lancers in the second and third quarters, 37-31.
The fourth quarter saw freshman Kyla McMakin come alive, scoring 15 of the Lancers 23 points in the period. McMakin shot a perfect 3-of-3 from behind the three-point line and added four-points at the free-throw line in the closing minutes to lead Longwood to their fourth victory of the season.
Huge accomplishment by our women to get a road win," said head coach Rebecca Tillett. "We want this to become routine, but it hasn't been routine, so we are certainly going to celebrate this. It is a great way to send them off before returning to prepare for Big South Conference play."
You look at both Kyla and Akila tonight as extremely efficient not only on offense but their rebounding as well," Tillett added. "Akila was strong from the very beginning, and her ability to impact both ends of the court is becoming a habit. We challenged them in one of the huddles as Eastern Shore was responding, that we needed someone on our end to answer back, and Kyla did that for us."
Continuing her role as the point guard for Longwood, Tra'Dayja Smith distributed seven assists while contributing to the victory with six points and four rebounds. Smith ranked eleventh in the nation coming into the contest averaging 6.3 assists per game.
"I love that we had 14 assists tonight," continued Tillett. "Tra'Dayja's holding us steady at the point guard position with seven assists and three turnovers, and how she managed the game down the stretch was vital for us tonight. Some of those tough lessons we had early during our non-conference schedule are starting to help us as we prepare for conference play."
After setting a new career-best with 29-points on 10-of-19 shooting from floor, and 5-of-9 from behind the three-point line, Kyla McMakin raises her season average to third in the Big South at 16.6 points per game.
"We wanted the win," said freshman Kyla McMakin. "We knew we could get it; even with the rough start in non-conference, I had confidence in my team, as well as myself, to get the win right from the jump. I am in a good position with a coach that has trust in me as a freshman to be in her starting five and have the opportunity to play valuable minutes."
The Lancers' defense continues to be a force down low with six blocks, and seven of the eight Lancers who saw action on the court recorded one steal. Akila Smith, who leads the Big South in blocks, recorded a game-high four blocks.
Longwood's offense shot 46 percent from the floor and found great success from behind the three-point line in the fourth quarter, shooting 4-of-6 from behind the line.
The road victory is the first for the Lancers since February 2018, and the fourth victory is the best non-conference start since the 2012-2013 season.
Longwood now enters a long break before returning to Willett Hall on Saturday, December 28, to start Big South Conference play against Gardner-Webb. Tipoff for the conference opener is set for 3 p.m. as the Lancers seek their longest win streak of the season.
All the credit to our women for connecting and finding a way to believe in the vision we are trying to implement," finished Tillett. "This group has stayed the course, even with three tough losses in a row. Their ability to come out of that stretch and respond with two back-to-back wins, with one of the wins being on the road is impressive. I think we are excited to play in the Big South, we love our league, and we are ready to get after it with some of our friendly foes."
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