JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — The Longwood women's basketball team is moving on to in the Big South championship semifinals.
Second-seeded Longwood used sweltering defense and a balanced scoring attack to overwhelm No. 7 USC Upstate, 56-37, at the Freedom Hall Civic Center Thursday to earn its first win in the conference tournament since claiming the event in 2022, also as a No. 2 seed.
"Wow, this is a great feeling just to sit up here and have a win after two seasons of having an L, said Longwood head coach Erika-Lang Montgomery, who picked up her 150th win in 13 seasons as a head coach with the result. "And so this is a really good feeling, but it really is a testament to these young ladies and the amazing team that I get to coach every day. And so I'm just incredibly thankful that we were able to put it all together tonight."
The Longwood frontcourt tandem of sophomores
Frances Ulysse and
Otaifo Esenabhalu combined for 28 points and 21 rebounds and the Lancers forced 32 USC Upstate (9-21) miscues, turning them into 24 points to leave no doubt in the outcome after the two regular-season meetings were decided by three total points and won by the Spartans.
"I think [the team] decided that there wasn't going to be a third time, Lang-Montgomery said. "And so we just had a different kind of motivation. I mean, this is the time of year where you either get it done or you don't.
"And so I told them before — I didn't say it tonight — but I've told them before. It's like Yoda says, 'do or don't, there is no try.'"
With the win, Longwood (21-10) advances to the semifinals to face the winner of the game between third-seeded Radford and No. 6 Gardner-Webb Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
Ulysse scored 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds while Esenabhalu posted her sixth double-double of the season and eighth of her career with 13 points and a season-high-tying 14 rebounds to pace the offense.
Longwood bolted to a 17-2 lead through the first quarter and expanded it to 23-2 midway through the second quarter as USC Upstate missed its first 19 shots from the field. The Lancers led, 30-12, at halftime and 43-20 at the end of the third period.
The Lancers outrebounded Upstate, 44-36, with an 18-12 advantage on the offensive glass.
"Well, this is the time of year that every possession matters, said Lang-Montgomery. "Our assistant coach, Landis McCoy. He talked to me earlier in the week about starting both of them together. We had played them some at various times of the year on the floor together, but because of upstate size and how poorly we had rebounded last week at our place, thought that that might give us an advantage."
It marked the eighth time this season Longwood forced at least 30 turnovers.
"We've been pretty consistent with it all year," Lang-Montgomery said of the press. "Being able to force turnovers, to be able to score from those turnovers. This is the time of year you do want it to be at its best. You want to peak this time of the year. So I'm super, super proud that it came together tonight."
