The Opening Tip
• Longwood heads out to open the season against a Power 5 foe for the second straight year after opening the 2020-21 campaign in Cameron Indoor Hall against the Duke Blue Devils.
• The difficult non-conference gauntlet features three teams that won their conference titles, with 10 of the 11 posting winning conference records.
• Seven of those 11 non-conference contests take place away from home. That includes road matchups with both Maryland and Iowa State, the first time under head coach
Rebecca Tillett the Lancers have played two Power 5 foes in non-conference play.
• Longwood finished a program-best third in the Big South behind 12 conference wins, also a program record since joining the league, and was picked to finish third in the preseason poll, also a program best since joining the Big South.
• The Lancers hosted UNC Asheville in the Big South Championship Tournament, the second time in as many seasons the team hosted a playoff game.
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.
• McMakin, a two-time All-Big South First Team selection at guard 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 1k 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 for a second straight season, posting an average of 5.4 helpers per contest while directing traffic for the top scoring unit in the Big South for a second straight season.
• 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 folowed it up with 135 over 25 games in 2020-21.
Quotable
"One of the things our team is trying to adopt is, 'Play as hard as you can for the minutes you're in.' Because that's going to vary from game to game with how deep we are. The women have said, let's play who's hot, who's got the hot hand that night or the hot defensive mentality that night. Let's run with them. And with everyone supportive of that, it should be a special season."
— Longwood head coach
Rebecca Tillett on the mindset the team has adopted with the depth available at every position.
Series History
• The Lancers and Terrapins meet for the third time in team history. The last time the two met was back in 2011, prior to Longwood joining the Big South, and the two played in 2010 as well.
• In that matchup, Alicia DeVaugh led the Terrapins with 16 points and nine rebounds while Brittanni Billups and Emma Zieverink scored seven points each for Longwood.
• Heather Tobeck had five blocks for Longwood in the game.
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