CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The Longwood women's basketball team travels to take on Virginia on the ACC Network Thursday at 6 p.m., on the ACC Network.
STORYLINES
▪ UVA leads the all-time series, which dates to the 1974-75 season, 11-4. The Hoos have won the last nine against Longwood with the Lancers' last win coming March 2, 1978, in Norfolk by a 63-50 count.
▪ The Lancers lead the country in two team statistical categories through games of Nov. 18, including steals per game (21.6) and turnovers forced per game (33.4).
▪ Longwood is also currently second nationally in both turnover margin (plus-19.2) and bench points per game (45.4). The Lancers trail just Michigan State (21.75) and LSU (54.4) in the respective categories.
▪ Jesstynie Scott earned her second consecutive Big South Freshman of the Week honor Monday after totaling 9.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game in a 1-1 week for the Lancers. She became just the third player in Longwood women's basketball history to claim at least two straight weekly citations as the league's top freshman. Scott joined Daeisha Brown, who did on Jan. 2 and 7, 2013 and Kyla McMakin, who did Dec. 16 and 23, 2019 and again on Jan. 6, 2020.
▪ Junior forward Otaifo Esenabhalu surpassed 500 career rebounds on Nov. 12 at Navy. She currently has 519 for the Lancers in 68 games and ranks in a tie for second in the Big South at 8.0 per game this season. She notched her 10th career double-double and second this year with 12 points and 10 boards in Monday's 71-62 home victory over George Washington.
SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS
Virginia is 3-1 on the season and coming off of a 77-46 win over Radford on Sunday, getting 21 points and 12 rebounds from Tabitha Amanze.
UVA is second in the NCAA in rebound margin at plus-24 and blocks per game at 8.5 while being third in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 44.5 points per game.
Three Virginia players average double figures, led by Kymore Johnson at 15 points per game. Amanze (12.3) and Paris Clark (10.5) are the others. Amanze is UVA's leading rebounder at 9.5 per game.
LAST TIME OUT
Longwood engineered a 21-5 run over seven minutes spanning the first and second quarters,defeating George Washington, 71-62, at the Joan Perry Brock Center Monday.
The Lancers endured a 1-for-10 stretch in the first quarter, but found their rhythm for a 27-point second period to lead by 22, 44-22, at the half, shooting nearly 53 percent from the floor in the stanza. Longwood led by as many as 23 at the six-minute mark in the third, before GW cut the deficit to 63-56 with 3:39 remaining, by virtue of a 40-27 scoring advantage after halftime.
Longwood moved to 4-0 at home this season with the win.
TURNING 'EM OVER
Longwood forced a season-high 51 turnovers against Bluefield on Nov. 14. Longwood has now forced at least 30 turnovers 12 times in the last two seasons under Erika Lang-Montgomery and staff.
The Lancers are 10-2 (.833) in those games.
SCORING ON BUNCHES
The Lancers rank eighth in the NCAA in scoring, averaging 93.2 points per game. Longwood has put together seven different quarters of at least 30 points, including accomplishing the feat in the first, third and fourth frames against Bluefield on Nov. 14. Longwood posted a season-best 35-point third period versus the Rams.
FIRST TIME IN A WHILE
Longwood never trailed in an 80-42 win over Western Kentucky Nov. 8. The victory was Longwood's first against a current Conference USA foe since winning versus Jacksonville State, 69-64, at home on Jan. 11, 2005. It was also the first CUSA victory for a Big South school since Radford topped Liberty on Dec. 13, 2023.
PACKING 'EM IN
Longwood led the Big South in attendance in 2024-25, averaging 1,183 fans per game over 15 home dates.
A total of 17,750 people came through the turnstiles at the Joan Perry Brock Center for the season, good for 148th most nationally across Division I women's basketball.
ELITE COMPANY
In the changing landscape of college athletics where offseason player movement has become the norm, the Lancers did not lose a single player to the transfer portal this summer.
In fact, Longwood is one of just 19 schools in all of Division I women's basketball to boast of that this year, joining the likes of Power 4 schools Nebraska, Oregon, Syracuse and Washington.
The others are: Air Force, Belmont, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Creighton, Dartmouth, Davidson, Drexel, Green Bay, Harvard, Marquette, Sam Houston and Princeton.
DIPPING INTO THE PORTAL
Longwood grabbed a pair of players with previous Division I experience from the transfer portal to round out the 2025-26 roster.
Jasmine Peaks, a 5-foot-5 redshirt senior guard from Palm Bay, Fla., played last season at Wichita State, appearing in 27 games for the Shockers. She averaged 2.8 points and 1.7 assists per game. Alary Bell, a 6-2 redshirt sophomore forward from Chester, Va., played two seasons at St. Francis (Pa.), playing 20 games for the Red Flash last season. Bell averaged 4.4 points and 3.8 rebounds.
HALL TO THE HALL
Former Longwood great Nikki Hall-Atkinson was announced as one of six part of the Longwood Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2025 on Oct. 7.
Hall-Atkinson played for four seasons and has her jersey number retired, as well. She led Longwood to a pair of CVAC titles and three trips to the Division II NCAA tournament. She also earned All-America honorable mention twice.
As a senior, she was the CVAC Player of the Year in 1997, and she was named to the CVAC All-Time Team.
Hall-Atkinson finished her career with 1,499 career points which is currently fifth all-time at Longwood.
Hall-Atkinson took over on the bench for Shirley Duncan during the 2005-06 season.
SUCCESS AT HOME
Head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery helped the Lancers to a 10-5 record at the Joan Perry Brock Center in 2024-25. It was Longwood's best record at home since the 2020-21 Lancers went 11-3 at Willett Hall under Rebecca Tillett and were selected to compete in the Women's Basketball Invitational after finishing 14-11 overall.
The Lancers are set to play another 15 games at home this season, including seven in non-conference action. Among those, Longwood welcomes Western Kentucky of the Sun Belt Conference Nov. 8, George Washington Nov. 17 and Troy Dec. 3. The Trojans are ranked No. 10 in the Nov. 18 mid-major top 25 poll.
She is also slated to call select games with Sam Hovan on ESPN+ this season.
LOCKED IN THROUGH 2030-31
Following the Lancers' Big South championship game appearance, trip to the postseason WNIT and 22-win season, head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery signed a six-year contract extension that will keep her in Farmville through the 2030-31 season.
Lang-Montgomery and staff coached the Big South Defensive Player of the Year in Kiki McIntyre, who set the Longwood and Big South single-season record for steals (130), and led one of the most smothering defensive units in the country, which forced 27.47 turnovers per game, good for second in the NCAA. All that helped Longwood to a 13-win improvement from 2023-24.
WINNING THE FIRST TWO
The Lancers started 2-0 this season for the first time since 2006-07 when they beat American and Norfolk State under head coach Pamela Bass.
WALKING REBOUND
Junior forward Otaifo Esenabhalu enters her third season with the Lancers tied for 10th all-time in Longwood women's basketball history in career rebounding average at 7.6 boards per game. Esenabhalu is tied with Salene Green, who played 98 games at Longwood from 1988-92.
Esenabhalu has 20 double-digit rebound games in her career and the Lancers have gone 13-7 in those contests.
MALEA STEALS
Back for her third season in Farmville, graduate student guard Malea Brown posted 83 steals in 2024-25, representing the eighth-most steals in a single season in Longwood history.
In 69 games at Longwood, Brown, who was selected to the preseason all-Big South second team this season, has 161 career steals.
She leads the team with 32 games with at least three steals and has helped the Lancers to a 20-12 (.625) record in those contests.
LANCERS SECOND IN BIG SOUTH POLL
Longwood was picked second in the 2025-26 Big South preseason poll, announced at the conference media day in Johnson City, Tenn., on Oct. 15. The Lancers earned 69 points in the balloting with one first-place vote to finish behind just High Point (77 points and six first place nods. Radford was picked third with 67 points and one first-place vote. The final vote for the top spot went to UNC Asheville, which was ninth overall with 22 total points.
It marks the first time in program history that the Lancers have earned a first-place vote in the Big South poll.
SMARTY PANTS
One of the cornerstones of the Longwood women's basketball program under head Erika Lang-Montgomery is academic success and 2024-25 was no different.
Eleven of the 13 players on last year's roster earned a spot of the Big South Presidential Honor Roll by registering a 3.0 GPA or better for the academic year. Earning the honor were: Montgomery Bedford, Jaci Bolden, Lili Booker, Olivia Bowes, Malea Brown, Otaifo Esenabhalu, Amor Harris, Kiki McIntyre, JaMya Robinson, Nalani Simmons and Frances Ulysse.
WELCOME TO PARADISE
Longwood will spend the Thanksgiving holiday at the 2025 Puerto Rico Clasico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, playing Buffalo and Stephen F. Austin on Nov. 27 and 29, respectively.
Buffalo finished 30-7 overall last season, winning the postseason WNIT. Stephen F. Austin went 29-6, winning the Southland Conference title to advance to the NCAA tournament. Both teams received votes in the preseason mid-major top-25 poll with SFA getting 63 and Buffalo picking up nine.
NON-CON SUCCESS A YEAR AGO
Longwood went 9-5 in regular-season non-conference action in 2024-25. It marked the best out-of-conference record for the Lancers since Shirley Duncan's 1987-88 squad was 10-9 outside of Mason-Dixon Conference play. That team finished 14-13 overall.
RECORD BREAKER
Longwood smashed the single-game school record for attendance on Nov. 14, packing 2,467 fans into the Joan Perry Brock Center for its 128-31 homecoming victory over Bluefield. In four home dates this season, the Lancers are averaging 1,377 per contest.
BIG, BIG, BIG WIN
For the second time this season, Longwood went over 100 points in its 128-31 homecoming victory against Bluefield Nov. 14, scoring its most points in program history. The 97-point difference was also the widest margin of victory in history. The 128 points are the third most in a game this season in NCAA Division I.
GIMME THAT
Longwood swiped 32 steals in the 128-31 win over Bluefield on Nov. 14, the most in a single game at the NCAA Division I level this season, through games of Nov. 18. In fact, the Lancers have two of the top three best totals in a single game this season, having also grabbed 30 in their season-opening 121-35 victory against Randolph on Nov. 5.
THE REAL MCCOY
With head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery on leave to attend services for a death in her family, assistant coach Landis F. McCoy stepped in as acting head coach, helping the Lancers to a season-opening 121-35 win over Randolph, his first as a Division I head coach.
Lang-Montgomery returned to the sidelines for the Nov. 8 win over WKU.
