FARMVILLE, Va. – Optimism around the Longwood women's basketball team is high as the Lancers open the 2023-24 season Monday at American at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C.
 
With that comes the dawn of a new era in the highly anticipated Joan Perry Brock Center – made possible by an initial gift of $15 million by Brock, a 1964 Longwood alumna – which is ready to host its first competition.
 
Prior to that, though, the Lancers are set to play both at American Monday and Delaware on Thursday, Nov. 9, before opening their account at the JPB Nov. 12 against Chowan at noon.
 
Second-year head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery boasts a strong mix of experience and youth as four starters return to a team that earned a bye in the first round of the Big South tournament for the third consecutive season in 2022-23. The team played its best basketball down the stretch to earn that first round by after a tough non-conference schedule. Headed into 2023-24, Longwood added seven newcomers, including three transfers.
 
Lang-Montgomery has already seen the team start to come together as the season begins.
 
"You know, when you're putting a new team together, chemistry is really important," she said, "and so we talk a lot about having the right S.T.U.P.H. [Serving, being Thankful, United, Passionate and Humble]."
 
"Integrating seven new players into our program has been fun. Sometimes that can be a challenge, but, it really has been fun. I think our returners have done an awesome job of connecting and making our new players feel at home," Lang-Montgomery continued. "It's been seamless, actually."
 
That chemistry will be put to the test early as Longwood plays nine of its first 10 games on the road and will travel more than 4,530 miles in doing so.
 
Back to spearhead the offensive attack are a pair of second-team All-Big South performers from last season in redshirt senior guard Adriana Shipp-Davis and graduate student guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy. Both players finished in the top seven in the conference in scoring, averaging 13.9 and 13.4 points per game, respectively. The pair also garnered preseason all-conference honors this year, announced at the league's media day on Oct. 17.
 
The Big South coaches picked Longwood to finish fourth in the preseason poll, also released at the media gathering. That marked the second highest ranking the Lancers have received since joining the Big South for the 2012-13 season.
 
Bailey Williams also returns for her senior season after serving as a reliable point guard last year. Starting all 30 games in her first season at LU after transferring from James Madison, Williams averaged 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and led the team dishing 2.2 assists per game. Janay Turner, Longwood's final returning starter, contributed 10.9 points per game, including tying her career high of 20 on three occasions, the last time coming in a 59-50 road victory at UNC Asheville Feb. 25 to sew up the bye in the conference tournament.  
 
Senior guard Steph Davis and junior forward Alyssa Chapman also return with a year of experience under Lang-Montgomery, and they have been a big part of that seamless integration of the newcomers.
 
The returners can couple that experience with the hype and buzz that the opening of the Joan Perry Brock Center brings provided an immediate boast to recruiting and enthusiasm around the program.
 
"It helps so much with everything, starting with our recruiting," she said. "We were able to highlight and showcase the Joan Perry Brock Center as it was being competed during the recruiting process, and I definitely think that helped us land the recruits that are now in our program. I think it continues to give Longwood visibility. It shows that our university is heading in the right direction. There's a lot of support from our administrators, [not only] on campus, but also in our athletic department, to help provide the resources for us to be successful. I mean, it's a beautiful place, as you can see. It's right, smack in the middle of campus and it's something that our community as well as our student body can really enjoy."
 
Those recruits include four true freshmen – forwards Otaifo Esenabhalu (Valdosta, Ga.) and Frances Ulysse (Montréal, Québec) and guards Amor Harris (Alexandria, Va.) and Nalani Simmons (Chesapeake, Va.). Transferring into the program are forward Laney Bone, who was last at Cleveland (Tenn.) State Community College, guard Malea Brown from Sante Fe College in Gainesville, Fla., and guard Kiki McIntyre from Division-II Saint Leo (Fla.). All three are juniors athletically and have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
 
"We've got a year under our belt. A little bit more time and experience we've gained from last season," Lang-Montgomery said. "Our team culture has been established and now we're ready to put that into play."

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