FARMVILLE, Va. — The Longwood women's basketball team outscored visiting Winthrop by 20 points after halftime, shooting nearly 53 percent, and seven different players scored double figures for a 100-79 victory at the Joan Perry Brock Center on Wednesday.
The Lancers, who are receiving votes in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll for the second time this season, broke open a game that featured seven ties and seven lead changes in the first half to post 100 points for a third time this season after trailing by as many as 10 points in the first quarter.
Reigning Big South Co-Player of the Week Malea Brown went over 20 points for the second consecutive game and Otaifo Esenabhalu recorded her fifth consecutive double-double and ninth of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds as the Lancers' improved to 13-4 overall and 4-0 in the league with a seventh straight win.
Brown scored 21 with five assists and four steals, going 7-for-12 from the floor with six 3-pointers in eight tries.
"If you went back and did a DNA swab, you would find Malea sweat in every corner, every inch of this basketball court," Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery said of Brown. "She just gives us such a boost. She's a stat stuffer. I can't say enough great things about Malea."
Longwood went 15-for-30 as a team from distance on the night, adding 25 assists and 11 steals. Winthrop (10-9, 3-2) shot 62 percent in the first half, going 20-of-32 from the floor, vaulting to a 20-10 lead with 3:17 remaining in the first quarter, before Longwood found its footing. The Lancers posted 28 points in the the third quarter and 27 in the fourth to put the game out of reach after holding a slim 45-44 advantage at the half.
"Well, there's no place like home," Lang-Montgomery said. "I think being back at home was really important to us to come in and have a good showing. We just had a really successful night moving the ball and shooting the ball. When I look at this box score and I see our shooting percentage and I see the amount of people in double-digit scoring and the assists, that's a great night."
Frances Ulysse had 14 points, four rebounds and two steals, while JaMya Robinson registered 12 points, Amor Harris and Jaci Bolden had 11 each. Jesstynie Scott added 10 points.
"This team is a family," Lang-Montgomery said. "We spend a lot of time on our shooting and so we don't want to hesitate when we have open shots, and that's a message that we've been preaching a long time — that we're better to shoot it than to pass it up. And so tonight you could see that hard work pan out and I'm so happy for our team."
Longwood forced 25 Winthrop turnovers, scoring 26 points off of them, and received 34 more from its reserves.
Winthrop won the rebounding battle, 39-33, including 18-13 on the offensive glass.
Amourie Porter paced four Eagles in double digits with 21 points on 9-of-18 shooting in the loss.
Longwood is back in action Saturday, hosting High Point at 2 p.m., on ESPN+.
