FARMVILLE, VA. – Trailing by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, the Lancers rallied with a huge fourth quarter to surge past Presbyterian, 73-66 on Friday night in Willett Hall.
 
Trailing 54-41 with 2:42 remaining in the third quarter, the Lancers offense got red hot, opening up a 23-8 run over the next 9:12 to take their first lead of the second half on Tra'Dayja Smith's clutch three, 64-62. Longwood's defense, who held the Blue Hose to just .364 (24-66) shooting while forcing 18 turnovers, closed the game by holding Presbyterian to just 1-of-5 shooting in the final three minutes, keying the Lancer win.
 
With the victory, Longwood (9-7, 8-3 Big South) takes over sole possession of second place in the Big South standings. The Lancers also extended their home-winning streak to eight games, as they remain unbeaten in Willett Hall in Big South play.
 
"I thought our women were so resilient, so resilient," said Longwood head coach Rebecca Tillet.  "We were down 11 pretty late in the game, and they just stayed so encouraged, so positive with one another. We've had a little adversity ourselves, and sometimes when you face adversity together—and you come into this type of environment—it forges you. I felt like our women had that strength together.

In the pivotal fourth quarter, Longwood outscored the Blue Hose 23-11, holding Presbyterian (7-8, 6-7 Big South) to just 4-of-15 shooting with 10 turnovers. Anchoring that Longwood defense was Akila Smith, who swatted three shots to tie the Longwood career block mark set by Heather Tobeck at 158.
 
The do-it-all junior Smith also led her team in points (18), rebounds (7), assists (3) and was tied with frontcourt mate Mallory Odell with three steals. Sophomore pair Kyla McMakin and Anne-Hamilton LeRoy each added 12 points, and Tra'Dayja Smith and LeRoy both tallied four assists.
 
The highest scoring team in the Big South, the Lancers also got 15 points from their bench in the win. Leading the second unit was Milou Vennema, who drilled two from deep for six points, with four rebounds and an assist. Allysah 'Cookie' Boothe made both of her attempts, finishing with five points and Odell scored four points, grabbed two rebounds, and swiped three steals.
 
As a team, the Lancers shot .464 (26-56) from the field, including .455 (10-22) from deep against a Blue Hose team that entered the game ranked second in the Big South in scoring defense (58.6 ppg) and third in opponents field goal percentage (.373).

"I think we have to hit three's," added Tillett. "The fact that we were able to hit them well tonight against a team like Presbyterian that can hold teams to low averages, below their average, for us to hit the three's, to hit the free throws late, I thought it was important. Typically, we don't worry a ton about our offense, but against a team like that, you do. Especially being off two weeks, as a coach, you're like, 'I hope we hit our first couple shots so everybody feels good.' I thought our team stayed so poised, and we shared the ball really well. We had 18 assists. Just a really good night staying resilient and being tough."

After a tightly-contested and high scoring first quarter, Presbyterian opened the second frame with a 9-0 run to stake an early 29-19 advantage. However, the Lancers responded with a 16-4 run over the 4:26, knocking down 6-of-7 shots, including three of their season-high 10 three-pointers. Leading the charge was redshirt-freshman guard Adriana Shipp, who scored all seven of her points during the run to push the Lancers back in front, 35-33.
 
Tionna Carter, who led the Blue Hose with 19 points, scored 13 points in the opening half, while teammate Jade Compton scored 11 of her 12 points in the opening two quarters to power the her team to a 35-38 lead at the break.  
 
Presbyterian again used a big run to open up their lead to start the second half. The Blue Hose took advantage of six Lancer turnovers in the opening 5:38 of the third quarter, using a 16-6 run to inflate their lead to a game-high 54-41.
 
However, the Lancers quickly responded, opening up a 9-1 run in which they hit three-consecutive attempts from deep to pull within five at the end of the third, 55-50.
 
Presbyterian responded again, scoring the first five points of the fourth quarter to open up a 60-50 lead and prompt a Longwood timeout 6:29 remaining. From this point forward, it was all Lancers.
 
Coming out of the timeout, Longwood exploded with a 23-6, game-winning run led by Tra'Dayja Smith. The Lancer floor general scored nine points in the final 6:29, including the go-ahead three with 3:02 remaining. Akila Smith added six of her 18 points during the clinching-run, as Longwood forced eight turnovers and held the Blue Hose to just 2-of-7 shooting while the Lancers drained their final nine free throws to ice the game.

"I think we let our defense fuel us on the offensive end," said Tra'Dayja Smith. "I know we got a couple stops, and I know I got that charge. I think that just fueled us to come out and score. That fueled me to make my offense better. I know I was scoreless the first half, but I didn't think about it in the second half. I just thought, I need to get the ball in the basket."
 
Up next is a rematch with Presbyterian, as game two of the back-to-back will tip off Saturday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
 
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