HIGH POINT, N.C. -- The seventh-seeded Longwood women's basketball team begins its postseason journey in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Hercules Tires Big South Women's Basketball Championship Thursday against No. 2 seed USC Upstate at the Qubein Center at 6 p.m.
STORYLINES
▪ Winners of three of its last four games, No. 7 seed Longwood meets second-seeded USC Upstate for the first time in the Big South tournament Thursday. The Lancers are 7-10 all-time in the tournament, winning the event in 2022.
▪ The Lancers and Spartans have split their meetings this season, each winning at home. Longwood handed Upstate its first loss in the league this season in a 66-58 victory Jan. 17. The Spartans lead the overall series, 12-11, and are 3-2 at neutral sites.
▪ Senior guard Janay Turner was an All-Big South honorable mention selection Tuesday, while freshman forward Otaifo Esenabhalu earned a spot on the All-Freshman Team. Senior guard Bailey Williams is the Lancers' representative on the league's All-Academic Team.
▪ Having secured her 500th career rebound Feb. 10 at Winthrop, Adriana Shipp-Davis became the 142nd in league history to score 1,000 points Feb. 17 against Presbyterian. She is the 135th player in Big South history to collect 500 rebounds and is the 80th player in the Big South to join the 1,000-point/500-re- bound club. Shipp-Davis currently has 1,049 points and 522 rebounds.
▪ Anne-Hamilton LeRoy is currently 30th all-time in Big South scoring with 1,454 career points. She is one of 142 players in league history to score 1,000 career points. LeRoy is eighth all-time in scoring at Longwood. She is also fourth all-time in the Big South in games played with 143, making her 100th start Jan. 10 at Radford.
SCOUTING USC UPSTATE
USC Upstate finished 15-14 overall and 10-6 in the Big South to earn the second seed, its highest since joining the conference for the 2018-19 season. Trinity Johnson was named Big South Defensive Player of the Year and first team all-conference, averaging 10.1 points, 4.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game. Isabell West was an honorable mention pick after leading the team with 10.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and a 50.9 shooting percentage.
LAST TIME OUT
High Point erased an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to pull out a 61-58 victory against Longwood in the Big South regular-season finale at the Qubein Center Saturday.
With the game tied, 55-55, and two minutes to go, Adriana Shipp-Davis converted a three-point play to help Longwood regain the lead. Lauren Bevis, though, was fouled on a 3-pointer on the next possession, draining all three free throws for the tie. Bevis then hit two more from the line with 1:24 to play for the lead, before the Lancers had three chances to chances to tie, but none fell.
Following one more HPU free throw, the Lancers had a final opportunity, but a Shipp-Davis 3-pointer at the horn was off the mark.
Malea Brown paced Longwood with 13 points, adding seven rebounds and three assists as the Lancers' three-game winning streak came to an end.
Otaifo Esenabhalu finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds for her second collegiate double-double.
LANCERS FOURTH IN BIG SOUTH POLL
Longwood was picked fourth in the 2023-24 Big South preseason poll, announced at the conference media day in Concord, N.C., 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 was chosen first with eight first-place votes and 80 total points, followed by Presbyterian and Radford in a tie for second with 61 points.
REPEAT WEEKLY HONORS
Forward Otaifo Esenabhalu recorded her first career double-double against Regent Jan. 27 with a career-high 16 points and 15 rebounds. She averaged 11 points and 13 rebounds in two games to earn Big South Freshman of the Week honors on Jan. 29. It was the second time Esenabhalu won the award, also doing so on Nov. 20.
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 (143, 64th in Division I, 69th in all NCAA divisions), points (1,454, 121st in Division I, 214th in all divisions), free throws made (385, 44th in Division I) and free throws attempted (504, 42nd in Division I).
TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
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 164-121 (.575), as of Wednesday.
CRASHIN' THE BOARDS
Freshman forward Otaifo Esenabhalu has grabbed at least eight rebounds per game in 10 of the last 19 games, dating to Dec. 22 against Georgia Southern when she collected eight. Esenabhalu is averaging 7.7 boards in that span, with an average of 7.6 in the 16 Big South Conference games to rank fourth in the league. She is also tied for third in offensive (3.4) and is eighth in defensive (4.3) rebounds.
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BENCH
Longwood's non-starters are averaging 20.3 points per game, a figure that is third in the Big South and 102nd overall in Division I.
Longwood has outscored the opponent bench in 12 games this season, including getting a season-high 40 points from its reserves against Gardner-Webb Feb. 28 and Jan. 27 against Regent.
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.
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 (385), is also eighth in free-throw percentage (76.4) and eighth in points (1,454).
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.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A COACH
Fifth-year guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy and graduate assistant coach Mikayla Kinnard have been selected for the WBCA's 21st "So You Want To Be A Coach" class, announced Feb. 7. The pair is part of a 55-member group.
Longwood is one of two Division I schools with two participants, joining DePaul. The program increases understanding and skills necessary to earn coaching positions, increases understanding and awareness of competencies for success in coaching, introduces players to coaches and administrators and raises awareness of the existing talent pool of players who want to coach.
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 143 games and 105 starts, the Seneca, S.C., native is 101-for-350 from 3-point range, good for 28.9 percent.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Otaifo Esenabhalu scored 10 points and grabbed 14 rebounds against High Point Saturday to secure the Lancers' fourth double-double of the season. Only 18 players in the Big South have recorded a double-double this year.
TRUE ROAD WIN
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.
BIG DAY AGAINST REGENT
Longwood closed its non-conference slate last Saturday with a 103-52 victory over Regent. It marked the most points the Lancers scored since Dec. 12, 2015 in a 100-57 win against North Carolina Wesleyan. LU shot 60.3 percent from the field, setting season highs in rebounds (52), assists (27) and steals (20).
Four players scored in double digits for the third time in four games against the Royals, while all 12 active players scored points.
Longwood tied the school record for points in a quarter, scoring 40 in the fourth. LU also scored 40 in the third period of a 91-59 home win against Charleston Southern Feb. 2, 2022.
SHOOTING TRENDS
The Lancers shot 60.3 percent and limit- ed Regent to 27.8 percent Jan. 27 and are now to 13-5 overall under head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery and 9-5 in 2023-24 when outshooting the opposition. It was the third time the Lancers shot 50 percent or better with Lang-Montgomery at the helm, also doing so against USC Upstate on Feb. 15, 2023 (52.3 percent) and at Presbyterian on Jan. 20 (50 percent).
SHUFFLING THE DECK
Longwood has employed eight different starting lineups in 29 games so far this season. The five-player group of Kiki McIntyre, Anne-Hamilton LeRoy, Janay Turner, Frances Ulysse and Adriana Shipp-Davis started a team-high eight consecutive games from Dec. 31-Jan. 24 and are 2-6 together.
Turner and Ulysse have 22 starts each, while LeRoy and Shipp-Davis have 20.
CONTROLLING THE BOARDS
Longwood has played to a 10-7 record when outrebounding its opponent in two seasons under head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. The Lancers are 7-5 when doing so this season with a combined plus-64 rebounding margin in their nine victories.
LU THIRD IN SCORING
Longwood is third in the Big South in scoring average at 61.8 points per game, which is 242nd in the nation.
20-POINT SCORERS
Janay Turner (career-high 24 points versus Regent, 20 Jan. 17 versus USC Upstate and 22 Nov. 29 at Ohio) has a team-leading three 20-point games for Longwood this season. Malea Brown (career-high 23 points at USC Upstate Wednesday, 20 Nov. 12 versus Chowan) and Anne-Hamilton LeRoy also have multiple 20-point games (22 points at Presbyterian Jan. 20 and 23 versus Georgia Southern Dec. 22).
There have been 84 games in which a player has scored at least 20 points in the Big South from 26 different players.
FREE THROWS WIN BALLGAMES
The Lancers lead the league in free throw attempts (17.79), which is 116th in the country. Longwood is second in the Big South in free throws made per game at 12.14, a figure that is 144th in the nation. The Lancers are eighth in the league in free throw percentage (68.2), which is 270th nationally.
LANCERS LEAD LEAGUE IN STEALS
As a team, the Lancers lead the Big South in steals per game (10.9), which is 23rd in the nation.
Junior guard Kiki McIntyre leads the league in both steals (81, 15th in Division I) and steals per game (2.79, 20th in Division I). Fellow junior guard Malea Brown ranks third in the league and 97th nationally in steals at 58. Brown is also third in the Big South in steals per game at 2.03, good for 111th in the nation.
GETTING IT BACK
Longwood is second in the Big South lead in turnovers forced at 18.76 per game. The Lancers rank 50th in the NCAA in the category.
TURNER FROM DOWNTOWN
Janay Turner went 5-for-7 from 3-point range in the Jan. 17 win over USC Upstate, matching her career high for 3-point makes in a game, and is shooting 37.5 percent (36-for-96) from distance on the year.
As a team, the Lancers are sixth in the league in 3-point field goal percentage at 29.1 percent, which is 250th nationally.
OTAIFO ON THE GLASS
Freshman forward Otaifo Esenabhalu has made an impact on the boards for the Lancers this season. She leads Longwood with 6.9 rebounds per game, which is fifth in the Big South and 232nd in the NCAA.
Esenabhalu is one of just eight players in the Big South to secure 15 or more boards in a game this season. Esenabhalu has a career-high of 16 rebounds, set Feb. 28 against Gardner-Webb. 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.
