| Game 21 • Longwood (14-6, 5-2) at Gardner-Webb (6-15, 3-4) |
| Date & Time |
Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026 (7 p.m.) |
| Location |
Boiling Springs, N.C. Paul Porter Arena) |
| Game Notes |
Longwood | Gardner-Webb |
| Live Stats |
Live Stats |
| Live Video |
ESPN+ |
| Social Media |
@LongwoodLancers | @LongwoodWBB |
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. -- The
Longwood women's basketball team heads to Gardner-Webb and Paul Porter Arena Wednesday looking for its fourth consecutive win against the Runnin' Bulldogs. Tip time is 7 p.m., on ESPN+.
STORYLINES
▪ Gardner-Webb leads the all-time series with Longwood, 19-14, since it began in the 1991-92 season. The Runnin' Bulldogs are 14-3 in Boiling Springs, N.C., however, Longwood took last season's meeting at Paul Porter Arena, 75-46, shooting 51.6 percent from the floor.
▪ Jesstynie Scott earned her fourth Big South honor this season, winning Co-Freshman of the Week Monday. She averaged 16 points, five steals and 2.5 rebounds in two games.
▪ Longwood is one of eight teams in Division I to use the same starting lineup in all its games this season. The others are: Cornell, North Dakota State, Northwestern State, Oklahoma, Rice, UC Davis and Youngstown State. Of that group, only Cornell (7-11) is below .500.
▪ Longwood ranks inside the top 10 in NCAA Division I in three team statistical categories through games of Jan. 26. They are: bench points per game (fourth, 33.1), turnovers forced per game (sixth, 25.2) and steals per game (ninth, 14.2). The Lancers are also 12th in the country in turnover margin at plus-8.6.
▪ Otaifo Esenabhalu recorded her fifth consecutive and ninth double-double of the season against Winthrop on Jan. 14 with 10 points and 10 rebounds. She currently ranks in a tie for 19th in the NCAA in the category and now has 18 career double-doubles. Furthermore, Esenabhalu leads the country in double-doubles off the bench, with all nine coming in a reserve role this season.
SCOUTING GARDNER-WEBB
Losers of three of its last four games, including at home against Presbyterian and on the road at High Point last week, Gardner-Webb is 6-15 overall and 3-4 in the Big South, tied for fifth in the standings.
GWU is led by Amina Gray, averaging 11.4 points per game, while Amira Ofunniyin paces the team in rebounding, grabbing 6.5 boards per game.
Gardner-Webb is 45th in the NCAA in steals per game (10.8).
LAST TIME OUT
Longwood erased a five-point second-half deficit, exploding for 34 in the third quarter for a 74-50 win over USC Upstate Friday.
Longwood rebounded from a slow start in the first half to shoot 11-of-22 in a decisive third quarter that saw Longwood turn up its defensive pressure to force 14 turnovers in the stanza, including one on six consecutive possessions during a 10-0 run early in the period. LU forced 38 turnovers on the day. The win stopped a two-game skid for the Lancers.
Freshman Jesstynie Scott led all players with a career-high 20 points while tying her career best with seven steals. Otaifo Esenabhalu added 10 points and a team-best eight rebounds. Malea Brown chipped in with nine points, three steals and two assists and Jaci Bolden added eight points and three assists.
FRESHMAN PHENOM
Guard Jesstynie Scott claimed her fourth Big South Freshman of the Week honor of the season on Jan. 26, sharing the award with Radford's Georgia Simonsen, averaging 16 points, five steals and 2.5 rebounds. Scott also claimed the award the first two times it was given on Nov. 10 and 17 as well as Dec. 1 this season.
Kyla McMakin earned a program-record seven citations for Big South Freshman of the Week in 2019-20.
TURNING 'EM OVER
Longwood forced a season-high 51 turnovers against Bluefield on Nov. 14. Longwood has now forced at least 30 turnovers 14 times in the last two seasons under Erika Lang-Montgomery and staff. The Lancers are 12-2 (.857) in those games.
SCORING IN BUNCHES
The Lancers rank 29th in the NCAA in scoring, averaging 78.4 points per game. Longwood has put together nine 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.
FASTEST TO 10
With the Jan. 3 victory over Presbyterian to improve to 10-4, the Lancers reached double-digit wins in the fewest amount of games in their Division I history. In 2002-03, Division II Longwood accomplished the feat in 13 games, finishing the season 27-5 overall.
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.
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. 7 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 26 double-digit rebound games in her career and the Lancers have gone 19-7 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 84 games at Longwood, Brown, who was selected to the preseason all-Big South second team this season, has 192 career steals.
She leads the team with 38 games of at least three steals and has helped the Lancers to a 25-13 (.658) 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.
NINE NON-CON WINS
Longwood closed the regular-season non-league portion of its schedule at 9-4 overall for the second consecutive season. Last year's Lancers were 9-5 before the Big South schedule began.
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 eighth 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 third most in a single game at the NCAA Division I level this season, through games of Jan. 26. In fact, the Lancers have two of the top four 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.
50 WINS
Head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery claimed her 50th victory at Longwood in the 83-63 win at Charleston Southern Jan. 7. She is currently 53-60 overall at Longwood, including 30-27 in the Big South.
