The Opening Tip
• Longwood comes home to face the defending America East Conference champions, the Stony Brook Seawolves, at Willett Hall this Friday at 12 p.m.
• The difficult non-conference gauntlet continues for Longwood as they prepare for a Seawolves tem that went 15-6 overall last season and 11-3 in conference to win back-to-back conference titles.
• Seven of the 11 non-conference contests take place away from home. Stony Brook serves as Longwood's home opener that begins a two-game homestand.
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Kyla McMakin hit double digits for the 50th time in her Longwood career after scoring a game high 22 points at #4 Maryland. It was the 21st time in the Lancer blue that she has scored at least 20 points.
• Longwood finished a program-best third in the Big South behind 12 conference wins, also a program record since joining the league.
By The Numbers
• Longwood returns a wealth of experience, with eight players returning from last seasons's third-place team that put together one of the top season's in the program's Division I history.
• Of those eight players, the team sees 92 percent of its scoring and 89 percent of its minutes return, including its top five scorers and all five starters.
• That core group led the Big South in scoring in conference games, averaging 71.8 points per game in 18 conference contests.
• The Lancers tallied at least 80 points in nine games in 2020-21, going 8-1 in those games. That included an 83-69 win over UNC Asheville in the Big South Championship Quarterfinals.
• Including the playoffs, Longwood hit at least half its shots in four of its final eight games on the season.
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Akila Smith and
Kyla McMakin were both selected to the All-Big South Preseason First Team, the first time Longwood has had two players selected to the conference preseason first team.
• Smith was also named to the Her Hoop Stats Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Preseason Watch List after a season that saw her set the program career, single season and single game block records.
• Guard
Kyla McMakin, a two-time All-Big South First Team selection over her first two seasons at Longwood, became the fastest player to tally 1,000 points in program history. She surpassed the mark in the team's 83-69 win over UNC Asheville in her 54th career game for Longwood. In the process, McMakin became the 23rd player to reach the milestone.
• McMakin also became the first Lancer to lead the Big South in scoring in back-to-back seasons. She averaged 18.8 points per game as a freshman and 17.9 per game as a sophomore, both the top mark in the conference.
• Point guard
Tra'Dayja Smith led the Big South in assists per game and was at the wheel for the top scoring attack in conference play for a second straight season, posting an average of 5.4 helpers per contest.
• In her two seasons as a Lancer, Smith has two of the top 10 single-season assist totals. Her 188 assists set the single-season record in 2019-20, and she followed it up with 135 over 25 games in 2020-21.
Quotable
"Every coach has their own philosophy on scheduling and the way we like to do things here is that we want to be tested. To come in and play a No. 4 team and be tied at the end of the first quarter, and continue to play tough in the second quarter, that showed a lot about us today. Our women are so fearless, and they played so tough and there are a lot of positives to take away from this experience."
— Longwood head coach
Rebecca Tillett on the team's road trip to fourth-ranked Maryland.
Series History
• Longwood and Stony Brook are meeting for the first time in team history.
• The two teams each finished in the top three in their respective conferences last season, with Stony Brook winning its second straight America East title to earn the program's first trip to the NCAA National Tournament.
• The Seawolves also won the America East title in 2019-20, but the remainder of the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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