FARMVILLE, Va. -- The Longwood women's basketball team welcomes UNC Pembroke to the Joan Perry Brock Center Sunday at 1 p.m.
The game is the Lancers' annual Teddy Bear Toss to benefit
Gleaning for the World. Fans are encouraged to bring plush toys to be thrown on the court at halftime. One plush can be exchanged for one free ticket.
STORYLINES
▪ Longwood and NCAA Division II UNC Pembroke meet for the fourth time in history Sunday with the Braves holding a 3-1 advantage in the series. The The teams last played Nov. 29, 1992 in Farmville with the Lancers coming away with a 65-57 victory at Willett Hall.
▪ Erika Lang-Montgomery is 10-10 in her career against UNCP, having played the Braves twice a year in the Peach Belt Conference in 10 seasons as coach of Flagler from 2009-19.
▪ Guard Jesstynie Scott claimed her third Big South Freshman of the Week honor of the season on Monday, averaging 8.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game in wins over Buffalo and Stephen F. Austin in the Puerto Rico Clasico. Kyla McMakin earned a program-record seven citations for Big South Freshman of the Week in 2019-20.
▪ The Lancers rank inside the top 10 in the NCAA in three team statistical categories through games of Dec. 5. They are steals per game (seventh, 15.3), turnovers forced per game (ninth, bench points per game (ninth, 25.7) and bench points per game (ninth, 33.6). Longwood is also 17th in the country in 3-point field goal defense (23.5 percent) and 21st in turnover margin (plus-7.7 per game).
▪ Otaifo Esenabhalu recorded her third double-double of the season in the victory over SFA last Saturday with 11 points and 15 rebounds to rank 27th in the NCAA in the category. She now has 12 career double-doubles. Malea Brown picked up her second career double-double versus Troy Wednesday with 17 points and a career-best 12 rebounds.
SCOUTING THE BRAVES
UNC Pembroke, from NCAA Divsion II Conference Carolinas, is 1-6 on the season, with its only win coming against Young Harris at home on Nov. 22, 77-71 in conference play. The Braves are coming off of a 52-49 loss at Virginia Union in Richmond on Saturday. Bre'Asia Washington paced UNC Pembroke with 17 points and 10 rebounds in the defeat.
Anastasia Sinclair is UNCP's top scorer, averaging 10.6 points per game while Grace Ikenegbu is the team's best rebounder, pulling down 8.3 boards per contest.
Sunday's game is a countable game for the Lancers and an exhibition for the Braves.
LAST TIME OUT
Longwood put a scare into Troy Wednesday morning at the Joan Perry Brock Center in front of 1,649 fans, mostly school children, for Education Day. The Lancers built a 23-point first-half lead on the strength of 53 percent shooting and 10 made 3-pointers, but the Trojans, of the Sun Belt Conference, who are ranked No. 4 in the latest CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, caught fire after halftime, coming all the way back to squeak out a 86-83 victory. Junior guard Amor Harris scored a career-high 26 points, including 20 in the first half with four triples, and graduate student guard Malea Brown added a double-double of 17 points and career-best 12 rebounds to lead the Lancers.
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 IN BUNCHES
The Lancers rank 45th in the NCAA in scoring, averaging 78.2 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.
She is also slated to call select games with Sam Hovan on ESPN+ this 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. 4 in the Nov. 25 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.
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 21 double-digit rebound games in her career and the Lancers have gone 14-7 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 74 games at Longwood, Brown, who was selected to the preseason all-Big South second team this season, has 169 career steals.
She leads the team with 33 games of at least three steals and has helped the Lancers to a 20-13 (.606) 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 spent the Thanksgiving holiday at the Puerto Rico Clasico in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, topping Buffalo, 68-64, and Stephen F. Austin, 68-60.
Longwood shot better than the opposition in each game, finishing 37.7 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range. Longwood also posted 17.0 assists and 11.5 steals per game in the event, while also turning the opponent over an average of 24.5 times per game.
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 fourth 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, tied for 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.
