HIGH POINT, N.C. – All year long, it's been a record-setting season for Longwood women's basketball. Friday night on the road against first place High Point, the Lancers added another program first.
 
For the first time as Big South opponents, Longwood (13-10, 12-6 Big South) toppled High Point 85-69 in the Millis Center in a bounce back win after High Point (19-6, 17-3 Big South) won the first game between the two teams on Thursday night. The team locked in a spot in the top three of the Big South standings, the program's highest finish, with their program-record 12^th Big South win, shattering the previous record of eight.
 
"What a response by our women," said head coach Rebecca Tillett. "We really felt like yesterday was not us—that's not how we typically play or respond to adversity. We had to take some time, watch some film and spend some quality time together to figure it out, and you couldn't ask for a better response from our women."
 
Tra'Dayja Smith and Akila Smith powered the way to the win, with the two combining for nearly 50 points. Tra'Dayja Smith, a senior point guard, saved one of her best games for last, stuffing the stat sheet with a career best 20 points while tying a career high with 10 boards in addition to six assists. Her counterpart on the interior, Akila Smith, who set a career-high with 32 points in the first game of the series, added 27 more tonight, hitting 13-of-19 field goals while totaling two steals and a block.
 
"We've been watching a lot of film, and they showed me how I scored last year," said Tra'Dayja Smith. "And I just tried to do the same thing I did last year to score. There's more things that I contribute [than just assists], and rebounding is one of them. If Akila's not getting all of them, then I know I can get in there and try to contribute some"
 
"For Dayday to get her career high in points while getting a double-double with rebounds in a game that was critical we get rebounds, wow," said Tillett. "I said it before, and I don't think I can say it enough, but she plays with a tenacity and toughness that is relentless. It makes you want to call her a warrior."
 
The dynamic duo were part of a Longwood offense that had four players reach double digits, as Kyla McMakin added 15 points while Adriana Shipp chipped in 13. Shipp added a career high 15 rebounds as well to help Longwood outrebound High Point 50-25.
 
"When we talk about the reasons why Adriana was such a good recruit for us, there are a couple of things that stand out," said Tillett of her redshirt-freshman guard. "The rebounding is huge, especially from her position. Most don't expect a guard to come in what that physicality and strength, the want to get a rebound. We all know it's there, her teammates have seen those rebounds from her in practice, but to see her put it all together in a game with such significance is really special for her and us."
 
"Great players respond," Tillett said about McMakin's bounce back effort. "She knew yesterday was not a performance that was consistent with what she wants to do on a daily basis for our team, and I thought she had such an analytical approach to it over the last 24 hours. I knew this morning, based on some conversations we had, that she was going to have a good day, and she did. She is one of the first to say feed a player—if someone is hot, let's get it to her and if you need me to get a bucket, I will too. Its special when you have a team that thinks like that."
 
The Lancer defense also clamped down after halftime, holding a potent High Point attack that came in averaging north of 70 points per game to 26 points on .310 shooting (9-29) in the final 20 minutes.
 
"It's interesting to look at us, since we give up a lot of points people make a lot of snap judgements on us defensively," Tillett said. "While we agree that we need to improve and defense is always going to get you to a championship level of play, we are still growing and we are still young. We start two sophomores, a redshirt freshman, a freshman tonight, and there are lessons you have to learn that the game teaches out. I think our performance in the second half is just another example of the growth our women are invested in making."
 
Skyler Curran led High Point with 20 points, but she ran into the buzz saw that was Longwood's second half defense and only scored three points after halftime.
 
"It was a mindset," said Akila Smith of the team's challenge and change at halftime. "In the first half, she just went off on us, so Dayday said, 'One of us has to stop her, whether it be you or me, but she has to be stopped because she is the reason they are scoring.' I think both of us and our team collectively took that as our perspective and tried to slow her down."
 
Over the final two quarters, Akila Smith and the Lancer defense hounded the conference's third leading scorer, holding her without a point until a single three-pointer with 3:11 left. By that time, Longwood had already stretched the lead to double digits.
 
"She just wants to do whatever will help our team win," Tillett said. "She just makes plays on both ends consistently. I thought she really wanted Curran in the second half, and I thought she did a good job of that."
 
In a matchup featuring the top two offenses in the Big South, the two teams went into halftime dead even at 43 all. High Point had jumped out to a 26-23 lead after one quarter, but Akila Smith, McMakin and Shipp all teamed up for 14 points in the second quarter to help Longwood outscore High Point 20-17 and tie it up.
 
The Longwood offense slowly built and extended the lead over the first 6:47 of the third quarter, outscoring High Point 19-10 in that stretch. Shipp capped the run with a big three to put Longwood up 62-53, the largest lead for either side to that point in the game.
 
The Panthers responded, as Jenson Edwards and Callie Scheier combined for five points to end the quarter and cut the Lancer lead to four, 62-58. Jordan Edwards would open the fourth quarter with a layup to get the Panthers within two, but that would be as close as they could get the rest of the way.
 
As Longwood's defense made life difficult, the offense pushed the lead to eight with a little 6-0 run. Akila Smith's layup capped the surge to make it 68-60. After Edwards hit a pair of free throws to draw within six once again, Tra'Dayja Smith rocketed to the rack and finished through contact. She drew a foul and completed the three-point play shove the Longwood lead back to nine, 71-62.
 
From there, the Lancer offense stayed on a roll while the defense kept squeezing the life out of High Point, as Longwood outscored the Panthers 14-7 down the stretch. The Lancers closed it out by knocking down their final six free throws, with McMakin, Tra'Dayja Smith and Akila Smith all tallying four points in the closing 4:32 to ice the win for the Lancers.
 
Longwood dominated the paint on both ends of the floor, outscoring High Point 58-22 in the paint while also doubling up the Panthers on the boards, 50-25. Five Longwood players grabbed at least four rebounds, including freshman Brooke Anya's seven.
 
"I thought Brooke's seven rebounds were important, especially her rebounds down the stretch," Tillett said of Anya, who earned her first start of the season. "I thought she did some things defensively that helped us execute as well."
 
The Lancers have finished the regular season and await their seeding for the Big South Tournament. The team has locked in a top three seed and could finish as high as second in the league.
 
"We hadn't lost two in a row since Dec. 30, so how do we bounce back from that, create a different memory, and build momentum for the tournament," said Tillett. "Knowing we can beat a number one is important, because you know you are going to have to run into a No. 1 at some point if you are going to achieve all of your dreams."
 
"It boosts our confidence a lot," said Akila Smith of the win heading into the conference tournament. "It also lets us know that we can compete and we're one of the top teams in the conference as well. So for us to get this win, it showed us that we are one of the top teams."
 
With a top three-seed locked in, Longwood will have a first round bye in the conference tournament. The team is scheduled to play in the quarterfinals, with the matchup still to-be-determined, on March 8.
 
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