▪ Longwood topped Randolph, 121-35, on Wednesday, scoring over 100 points in a game for the fourth time in the last three seasons. The margin of victory was the largest of Longwood's Division I era while also being the widest since at least the 1970-71 season, besting a 104-22 defeat of Bennett to close the 1988-89 season.

▪ Longwood placed five players in double figures Wednesday for the fourth time in the last two years. Olivia Bowes led the way with 21 points, while Lili Booker and Frances Ulysse added 19 apiece. Jaci Bolden and Jesstynie Scott chipped in 16 and 13, respectively. All five were career highs.  

▪ Longwood is 16-31 all-time against teams currently part of Conference USA with its most wins coming against Liberty (15). The Lancers are also 1-2 versus Jacksonville State.

▪ Longwood shot 54 percent from the field against Randolph, improving to 8-1 when shooting over 50 percent in the Erika Lang-Montgomery era.

▪ Longwood made 30 steals Wednesday, its most in at least 13 seasons. Freshman guard Jesstynie Scott swiped a game-high seven in her collegiate debut.

▪ Longwood forced 42 turnovers Wednesday. It was the 10th time in two seasons the Lancers caused at least 30 turnovers.

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
WKU returns eight players and one starter from a team that was 23-9 and advanced to the Conference USA semifinals a year ago. WKU was picked to finish fifth in the 12-team league this season.

The Hilltoppers opened 2025-26 with an 81-33 win over Division II Kentucky State. Tatum Boettjer scored a game-high 18 points, leading four in double figures, while Tia Shelling snagged 11 rebounds to pace all players.

Head coach Greg Collins is in his eighth season on the WKU bench and has 125 career wins with the Hilltoppers.  

WHAT'S AT STAKE
A win over WKU Saturday would move Longwood to 2-0 on the season for the first time since 2006-07. That season, the Lancers started 3-0, beating American on the road, before topping Norfolk State and North Florida at home in the Lancer Invitational at Willett Hall.

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 Wednesday's 121-35 win over Randolph, his first as a Division I head coach.

Lang-Montgomery will be back on the sidelines Saturday afternoon against the Hilltoppers.

 

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.

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.

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 are receiving votes in the preseason mid-major top-25 poll with SFA getting 63 votes 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.

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.

She is also slated to call select games with Sam Hovan on ESPN+ this season, including Saturday's contest against the Hilltoppers.

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. 21 in the preseason mid-major top 25 poll.
 

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.

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 currently tied with Salene Green, who played 98 games at Longwood from 1988-92.

Esenabhalu has 18 double-digit rebound games in her career and the Lancers have gone 12-6 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 65 games at Longwood, Brown, who was selected to the preseason all-Big South second team this season, has 147 career steals.

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.