RADFORD Va. -- The Longwood women's basketball team puts its five-game winning streak versus Radford on the line Wednesday at the Dedmon Center. Tom Purvis and Crystal Hubbard have the call on ESPN+.
STORYLINES
▪ Wednesday marks the 45th meeting between in-state rivals Longwood and Radford, dating to a 79-77 Lancers' victory Feb. 12, 1977 in Radford. The Highlanders hold a 29-15 overall edge in the series, including going 17-4 at home, but Longwood has won the last five games by an average margin of 19.4 points.
▪ Longwood earned its first Big South win of the season Saturday, 66-57, at Charleston Southern while shooting 46 percent (23-for-50) as a team. It was the first time the Lancers shot at least that well from the floor since going 29-of-63 (46 percent) against Gardner-Webb on Feb. 22, 2023 at Willett Hall. The Lancers limited CSU to 34.4 percent in the win, as well, improving to 8-2 overall under head coach
Erika Lang-Montgomery and 3-2 in 2023-24 when outshooting the opposition.
▪ Anne-Hamilton LeRoy is currently tied for 39th all-time in the Big South in scoring with 1,355 points and is one of just 141 players in league history to score 1,000 career points. LeRoy is 10th all-time in scoring at Longwood. She is also fifth all-time in the Big South in games played with 133 and will make her 100th career start Wednesday.
▪ Longwood's non-conference slate was set up to be a challenge and it proved to be. The 10 non-league teams who defeated the Lancers this season own a combined record of 90-56 (.616), as of Tuesday.
▪ With 20 points and 15 rebounds versus Norfolk State Dec. 31,
Adriana Shipp-Davis tallied the 13th double-double in the Big South this season and first for Longwood. She is one of 10 players in the league to acheive the feat.
SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
Radford comes into play at 5-10 overall and 1-0 in the Big South following a 65-61 win at High Point last Wednesday. Guards Ashlyn Traylor-Walker (Player of the Week) and Joi Williams (Freshman of the Week) swept the Big South weekly honors Monday. Traylor-Walker has been named league Player of the Week three times this season, while Williams has earned Freshman of the Week two weeks in a row.
Traylor-Walker leads the league in scoring average (17.3 points per game), is tied for seventh in rebounds per game (6.1) and seventh in field goal percentage (39.0).
LAST TIME OUT
Longwood snapped a seven-game losing streak with its 66-57 victory at Charleston Southern Saturday, improving to 15-12 all-time against the Buccaneers, including 6-5 in Charleston. Five players scored at least eight points apiece with three landing in double figures. Junior guard Kiki McIntyre finished with a Longwood-career-best 18 points, six rebounds and six steals to lead the way. McIntyre had 13 points after halftime. Anne-Hamilton LeRoy added 15 points, including 11 points in the second half, while Malea Brown chipped in with 11 of her own, also banking home a 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer to put her team up 10 heading to the final period. Otaifo Esenabhalu secured a game-high-tying eight reboounds to go with six points.
The Lancers shot a season-high 46 percent, led in rebounding (36-35), points in the paint (34-32), points off turnovers (21-10) and fastbreak (13-5) and bench (25-15) scoring.
NOTING THE WIN AT OHIO
Longwood's 75-72 victory at Ohio Nov. 29 was its first non-league true road win since beating Lamar, 62-59, in Beaumont, Texas, on Nov. 28, 2021.
Longwood grabbed a season-high 51 rebounds against the Bobcats, marking the most since collecting 54 against Hampton March 3, 2022, a 70-61 win in the Big South quarterfinals.
LANCERS FOURTH IN BIG SOUTH POLL
Longwood was picked fourth in the 2023-24 Big South preseason poll, announced on Oct. 17. The fourth-place tag marks the Lancers' second-highest predicted finish since joining the league for the 2012-13 season.
High Point, the Big South runner up a season ago, was chosen first with eight first-place votes and 80 total points, followed by Presbyterian and Radford in a tie for second (61).
TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER
Fifth-year guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy is among the NCAA's active career leaders in several statistical categories. Those are: games played (133, 40th in Division I, 43rd in all NCAA divisions), points (1,355, 95th in Division I, 162nd in all divisions), free throws made (366, 34th in Division I) and free throws attempted (478, 35th in Division I).
OTAIFO EARNS BIG SOUTH HONOR
Freshman forward Otaifo Esenabhalu earned Big South Freshman of the Week Nov. 20 after averaging three points and 8.5 rebounds at James Madison and Clemson. She tallied career highs of 15 rebounds and three blocks against JMU.
POUTINE, PLEASE
Hailing from Montréal, Québec, freshman forward Frances Ulysse is the first player from north of the border to suit up for Longwood in its Division I history, which began in 2004-05. Ulysse averaged 15.2 points and 9.2 rebounds in 2022-23 at Vanier College, earning regional all-star honors.
Since the 2010-11 season, only eight other foreign-born student-athletes have played for the Lancers. They are: Mina Jovanovic, of Smederevska Palanka, Serbia, from 2010-12, Mieke Elkington, of Hamilton, New Zealand, from 2011-13, Jovana Vukovic, of Bar, Montenegro, in 2016-17, Rosemary Ilang, of Abuja, Nigeria, from 2017-19, Kristina Antonenko, of Moscow, Russia, from 2017-19, Milou Vennema, of Groningen, Netherlands, from 2018-23, Andrijana Reljic, of Sarajevo, Bosnia, from 2019-21 and Geassy Germano, of São Paulo, Brazil, from 2021-23.
RECORD BOOK TALK
Fifth-year guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy, the newly minted school-record holder in career made free throws (366), is also eighth in free-throw percentage (76.6) and 10th in career points (1,355).
Additionally, senior guard Janay Turner turned in the seventh best single-season mark for free-throw percentage in 2022-23, hitting 83.6 (92-of-110) of her freebies in her first season in Farmville. Turner's mark ranked 69th in the NCAA a season ago.
NEXT TO 1,000?
Redshirt-senior guard Adriana Shipp-Davis comes into play needing 108 points to reach the 1,000-point milestone for her career. The 2023 Preseason All-Big South First Team honoree posted 21 double-figure scoring games, including seven with 20-plus points, last season. She has scored in double digits 42 times in her career, leading the Lancers to an 18-24 record in those games. When Shipp-Davis goes for 20 or more, which she's done nine times, Longwood has played to a 4-5 record.
Shipp-Davis turned in a career high of 26 points in a 75-65 victory over UNC Asheville on Jan. 11, 2023 while shooting 9-for-14 from the field that day.
CENTURY MARK
Fifth-year guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy hit her 100th career 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter against Georgia Southern Dec. 22, finishing 2-for-5 from distance on the day. In 133 games and 99 starts, the Seneca, S.C., native is 101-for-341 from 3-point range, good for 29.6 percent.
BACK FOR MORE
Among the Lancers' four returning starters are 2023 All-South second-team selections Adriana Shipp-Davis and Anne-Hamilton LeRoy. Shipp-Davis is a preseason All-Big South first teamer this year after ranking fourth in the Big South in scoring at 13.9 points per game, while LeRoy earned a spot on the preseason second team following a season that saw her seventh in scoring (13.4).
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BENCH
Longwood's non-starters are averaging 14.4 points per game, a figure that is seventh in the Big South and 281st overall in Division I. UNC Asheville leads the league in the category at 28.9 points per game.
Longwood has outscored the opponent bench against Chowan Nov. 12, at Stony Brook Dec. 11 and at Charleston Southern Jan. 6.
HOME, SWEET HOME
Longwood opened its home slate Nov. 12 with an 88-59 victory over NCAA Division II Chowan on Homecoming and Alumni Weekend. The game was the first in women's basketball at the new Joan Perry Brock Center, made possible by an initial $15 million gift from Brock, a 1964 alumna and philanthropist. Prior to moving next door to the JPB, the Lancers competed in Willett Hall, opened in 1980, compiling a 312-202 (.607) record in the building since the 1981-82 season.
SHUFFLING THE DECK
Longwood has employed five different starting lineups in 14 games so far this season. The combination of Malea Brown, Anne-Hamilton LeRoy, Janay Turner, Otaifo Esenabhalu and Laney Bone has started most often, beginning five games for the Lancers. LeRoy and Turner have started in all 14 games while Brown has 11 starts, Esenabhalu and Frances Ulysse eight and Bone six.
CONTROLLING THE BOARDS
Longwood has played to a 6-3 record when it outrebounds its opponent in two seasons under head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. The Lancers are 3-1 when doing so this season with a combined plus-27 rebounding margin in their two victories.
SHIPP-DAVIS EARNS FIRST START
Redshirt-senior guard Adriana Shipp-Davis made her first start of the season Dec. 17 at William & Mary and responded well. The Chesapeake, Va., native led the Lancers in scoring with 12 points and grabbed three rebounds in 21 minutes of action. She was 4-for-10 from the field, including going a season-best 3-for-5 from 3-point range in what was the 52nd start of her career. Shipp-Davis has scored double figures in seven of 14 games this season, including five of the last eight.
TOPS IN BIG SOUTH IN SCORING
Longwood leads the Big South in scoring average at 61.1 points per game, which is 254th in the nation.
20-POINT SCORERS
Redshirt-senior guard Adriana Shipp-Davis scored a season-high 20 points against Norfolk State Dec. 31 to become the fourth Longwood player to score at least that many points in a game this season. She joined Anne-Hamilton LeRoy (23 Dec. 22 versus Georgia Southern), Janay Turner (career-high 22 Nov. 29 at Ohio) and Malea Brown (20 Nov. 12 versus Chowan).
This season, there have been 40 games in which a player has scored at least 20 points in the Big South from 19 different individuals.
FREE THROWS WIN BALLGAMES
Longwood leads the Big South in free throws made per game at 12.93, a figure that is 104th in the nation. The Lancers also lead the league in free throw attempts (18.64), which is 94th best in the country. The Lancers are third in the league in free throw percentage (69.3), which is 191st nationally.
Individually, Janay Turner ranks fourth in the league in both free throws made (53, 81st in Division I) and free throw attempts (71, 90th in Division I) and sixth in free throw percentage (74.6, 219th in Division I).
LU LEADS IN STEALS
As a team, the Lancers are first in the Big South in steals per game (10.8), which is 38th in the nation.
Junior guard Kiki McIntyre is second in steals (30) and steals per game (2.14), good for 101st and 102nd in Division I, respectively.
TURNER FROM DOWNTOWN
On the heels of shooting a career-best 5-for-5 from 3-point range in the 88-59 win over Chowan Nov. 12, Janay Turner is shooting 37.9 percent (22-for-58) from distance.
As a team, the Lancers are third in the Big South in 3-point field goal percentage at 30.2 percent, good for 194th in the country.
OTAIFO ON THE GLASS
Freshman forward Otaifo Esenabhalu has made an impact on the boards for the Lancers this season. She leads Longwood with 5.6 rebounds per game through 14 games.
Esenabhalu is one of just five players in the Big South to secure 15 or more boards in a game this season when she grabbed that many at James Madison on Nov. 15. Adriana Shipp-Davis also pulled down 15 Dec. 31 against Norfolk State, tying her career high.
THE ROAD GOES ON FOREVER
Longwood concluded the second-longest road trip in Division I women's basketball Dec. 17 at William & Mary. The Lancers played seven consecutive games away from the Joan Perry Brock Center, traveling approximately 4,534 miles in that span.
Middle Tennessee completed an eight-game trip from Nov. 18-Dec. 10, traversing four states and the Bahamas in 35 days, playing to a 6-2 record.
