ASHEVILLE, N.C. – In a tightly contested game between two of the three highest scoring teams in the Big South, Nadiria Evans' 34 points powered UNC Ashville to a 74-69 win over Longwood on Wednesday afternoon.
 
An All-Big South honorable mention and the Bulldogs' leading scorer in 2019-20, Evans' performance is her second 34-point outing in her last three games, matching the feat in UNC Asheville's (3-5, 2-1 Big South) Big South opening win against High Point. The senior leads the conference with 22 points per game, including 28 per game in three conference games.
 
Evans' performance overcame four Lancers (3-5, 2-1 Big South) who scored in double figures despite a cold shooting night from the floor. Anne-Hamilton LeRoy's led the way with 14, and Akila Smith posted her fifth double-double of the season. She did so in just 20 minutes while battling foul trouble. The junior notched 11 points, 12 rebounds (with 10 offensive boards tying a career best), two assists, a steal and a block. Tra'Dayja Smith added seven assists for Longwood, along with 10 points, five rebounds and three steals.

"I think we faced some adversity within the game, which is normal right?" said third-year head coach Rebecca Tillett. "It's part of the game, and you have to be able to respond to it. It was not great for us to not be able to utilize what Akila does for us all over the floor. She got in some early foul trouble, so I think we had to adjust to that. I don't think we did a good enough job trying to make Evans' life more difficult. We knew coming into the game that she's the leading scorer in the league. I also thought us not shooting the ball as well as usual got to us a little bit."

"We know how hard it is to win on the road, and we need to lock in," said senior point guard Tra'Dayja Smith. "If our shots aren't falling, then we need to pick it up on defense. Defense is the most important thing on the road because you're not used to shooting in the other team's gym. So you have to focus more on stops. The mindset is, you don't want to lose, and you're going to do anything you have to do. If it's getting stops, then okay, that's the mindset that we have to have."

Longwood crashed the glass hard and outrebounded the Bulldogs 59-33 to try and offset a night where the team shot 30 percent from the floor. That approach led to a a 33-7 edge on the offensive glass, with Smith grabbing 10 offensive boards and freshman Brooke Anya adding seven. Longwood finished with 29 second-chance points, but UNC Asheville countered with seven three's and 23 free throws. Evans led the charge at the charity stripe by knocking down 13 of her 16 attempts.

"Coming into this game, we're leading the league in offensive rebounds, so it's something we want to be good at," Tillett said. "I feel like we didn't capitalize enough on those opportunities by putbacks, kickout three's or secondary drives, which are all things that we wanted to do."

The game was tight throughout, and the Lancers trailed by nine with 7:34 remaining. Cookie Boothe helped key an 11-3 run with four of her nine points off the bench to help cut the lead to one, 65-64, with 4:34 to play. However, the Bulldogs responded with a 6-0 run that build the lead back to seven with under two minutes to play, and Evans iced the game by hitting five of six free throws in the final two minutes.
 
"I think a player like that, if they hit their first couple shots, it just makes life difficult unfortunately for us," Tillett said. "We have a player like that or two on our team, so we know some counters and stuff. But I just think we have to have a team response to her, and I don't think we had that today."

The game was a back and forth tilt, and neither side led by more than nine while featuring five lead changes and seven ties.
 
Game two of the back-to-back series will tip off tomorrow, Dec. 31 at 2 p.m.
 
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