FARMVILLE, Va. — Hampton's Laren VanArsdale recorded a season-high for the Pirates 31 points to defeat Longwood 90-76. Freshman Kyla McMakin finished with her third double-double of the season, and Tra'Dayja Smith led the offense with 19 points, but Hampton's offense led three Pirates in double-figures prevailed inside of Willett Hall.
Junior Tra'Dayja Smith finished with a clip of .500 (5-of-10) from the court to lead Longwood (10-13, 6-8 Big South) with 19 points in the loss. Smith' scoring did not take away from her team-best 6.4 assists per game, as the Big South leading distributor added six assists to her performance. The newly six-time Freshman of the Week, Kyla McMakin, finished with her third double-double of the season with 11 of 18 points in the second half, including three treys. McMakin complimented her offensive attack with 11 rebounds.
"Tra'Dayja Smith was aggressive today offensively, and we needed her to be," said head coach Rebecca Tillett. "Tra'Dayja had to find her moments, and her plays were so critical and infused confidence into our team that we can still make a run, and that is what great point guards do."
Hampton (14-10, 10-5 Big South) had three pirates finish with 15+ points led by Laren VanArsdale 11-of-14 shooting for a season-high performance for the Pirates with 31 points. VanArsdale added to her performance for the Pirates with six assists.
The loss is the third straight for the Lancers in Big South Conference play and matches the longest such streak for Longwood this season. Longwood falls two games below .500 in Big South play with six Big South games left on the docket for Longwood.
"I thought there were a few things we had to improve on, especially compared to our previous matchup with Hampton," added Tillett. "We felt we need to rebound better and keep them off the offensive glass. Although we lowered their offensive rebounds from our previous meeting, I don't think we dropped it as much as we would have liked. We needed to reduce our turnovers as well, and even though we cut it by ten, anytime you turn it over against Hampton, you run the risk of them running their transition offense and getting an easy score. Laren VanArsdale had a season-best for sure and was filling up the stat sheet from all over, and we did not have an answer for her today."
Longwood fell victim to a 19-0 run in favor of the Pirates that stretched five minutes of play. VanArsdale led the charge in the second frame for Hampton, with 14 of her 31 points coming in the quarter. The Lancers leaned on Tra'Dayja Smith in the first half for offensive production as Smith found her way to the free-throw line for four of her team-high nine points in the half as Hampton took a 43-33 advantage into the break.
After halftime, Longwood continued to fight and cut Hampton's advantage to single-digits five times in the second half, behind a 14 point performance from Anne-Hamilton LeRoy, including two three-pointers that put momentum back in favor of the Lancers. LeRoy finished 16 points in the game on 6-of-9 shooting. The Pirates' early lead was too much to overcome for Longwood in the closing minutes as Hampton closed out their 10th victory in conference play, 90-76.
Joining the trio of Smith, McMakin, and LeRoy in double-figures was senior Dayna Rouse with 14 points and six rebounds. The only starter not in double-figures for the Lancers was sophomore Akila Smith, who influenced the game away from the ball. Smith finished two blocks shy of the single-game record for Longwood with eight blocks. Smith's eight blocks brings her season total to 55 blocks, matching the single-season blocked shots record at Longwood set in 2012-2013.
"Akila Smith is such a presence on the defensive end; I thought she altered a lot of shots today and blocked eight shots for us," Tillett added. "Her performance was critical for us when we kept trying to make that run to cut into Hampton's lead."
Longwood will have their work cut out for them as the Lancers enter a stretch of two consecutive road games in league play against No. 2 Radford on February 18, followed by Big South No. 1 Campbell on February 22. The Lancers and Highlanders of Radford will take part in "Education Day" with an 11:00 a.m. tipoff in the Dedmon Center.
"You can never question the fight in these women—they have it in them," Tillett finished. "We have to keep improving on the defensive end, it's what we are talking about, it's what we are teaching every single day, but we have to stop giving up 20 point quarters. Once we figure that out, I think we will be even more dangerous to our opponents."
#GoWood.
