PHILADELPHIA -- The
Longwood women's basketball team continues its two-game road swing Thursday in Philadelphia, visiting "the Cathedral of College Basketball," playing Penn at the Palestra. Tip is slated for 6 p.m., and will be streamed on ESPN+ with Dan Fritz on the call.
STORYLINES
▪ Longwood shot 15-for-30 with six 3-pointers in the first half at Charlotte on Monday, jumping out to a 43-38 edge at the break over the American Conference school. The Lancers extended the lead to as many as 18 points with under than three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
▪ As has been become the norm for the Lancers under fifth-year head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery, the Lancers are again among the nation's best in causing turnovers. Through games of Nov. 9, Longwood ranks sixth in the NCAA, forcing 33.3 turnovers per game. Longwood finished sixth in the category in 2025-26, second in 2024-25, 49th in 2023-24 and 40th in 2022-23.
▪ Jesstynie Scott posted nine steals, eight points, six assists and four rebounds against the Apprentice School in the opener last Monday. Her steal total is tied for the third most in a single game so far this season, trailing just Coastal Carolina's Olivia Klanac with 11 and Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame with 10. Radford's Cherish Haywood also grabbed nine in a game last week.
▪ Longwood's 27 steals against the Apprentice School are tied with Arkansas, Portland, Northern Colorado and South Carolina State for eighth most in NCAA Division I through the first week and a half of play.
SCOUTING THE QUAKERS
Penn sports a 3-0 record after opening with wins over Swarthmore (110-27), Drexel (71-70) and Norfolk State (72-56). The Quakers are averaging 84.3 points per game while holding opponents to just 51, a scoring margin of plus-33.3. The Quakers have recorded 65 assists against just 23 turnovers, good for a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio. Penn averages only 7.7 turnovers per game, compared to 18.3 by their opponents. Penn owns a plus-12.7 rebounding margin, averaging 41.3 boards per game while limiting opponents to 28.7. The Quakers have collected 47 offensive rebounds thus far. Tina Njike leads Penn with 12.7 points per game, followed by Mataya Gayle (12), Rachel Thatcher (11.7) and Brooke Suttle (10.7).
LAST TIME OUT
Longwood carried a six-point lead into the fourth quarter Monday, but Charlotte erupted for 29 points in the final period to rally past the Lancers 86-72 at Halton Arena.
The Lancers led 65-59 entering the fourth quarter after building an advantage behind a strong third-period performance. However, Charlotte shot 66.7 percent in the final 10 minutes while holding Longwood to just 2-of-11 shooting from the floor. Longwood extended its lead to 54-36 with 2:58 remaining. McKayla Hosley and Nal'La Bennett provided a significant spark in doing so.
Hosley finished with a team-high 18 points, adding three assists, three steals and three rebounds. Bennett scored 14 points, knocking down four 3-pointers while shooting 4-for-5 from the field. Shakira Gresham added 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers, while contributing four assists and two steals.
ALL-TIME AGAINST THE IVIES
Although Thursday represents Longwood's first meeting with Penn in women's basketball, the Lancers are 4-2 against Ivy League institutions all-time.
THIRD IN BIG SOUTH POLL
Longwood was chosen to finish third in the 2026-27 Big South Women's Basketball Preseason Poll with 63 points. The Lancers sit behind High Point and Radford, which tied for the top spot with four first-place votes and 75 points each.
PRESEASON ALL-BIG SOUTH
For the fourth consecutive season, the Lancers had a presence on the preseason All-Big South first team, as sophomore guard
Jesstynie Scott claimed the recognition. An All-Freshman Team selection last year, Scott averaged 7.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 17.4 minutes per game. She was named Big South Freshman of the Week four times (Nov. 10 and 17, Dec. 1 and Jan. 26) in her debut campaign.
Scott joins
Amor Harris in 2025-26 and
Adriana Shipp-Davis in 2024-25 and 2023-24 in recent history on the preseason all-conference first team.
DOUBLE-DIGIT TRIPLES
Longwood hit 10 3-pointers on Monday at Charlotte, marking the first time this season and the eighth time in the four-plus seasons head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery has been in charge of Lancers the team has canned double-digit triples in a game. Longwood made at least 10 triples in six games last season.
NEW FACES
Longwood features a roster of no fewer than nine newcomers, including six transfers, three of whom boast previous NCAA Division I playing experience.
Nal'La Bennett, a 5-foot-6 guard from Sicklerville, N.J., played 30 games with one start as a freshman for Stony Brook of the Coastal Athletic Association last season, averaging 3.4 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game for a team that finished 18-15 overall and 12-6 in the league, advancing to the league semifinals.
McKayla Hosley, a 6-foot sophomore forward and native of Columbus, Ga., appeared in six games in her freshman season at Georgia Southern.
Shakira Gresham, a 5-foot-9 junior guard from Atlanta, spent her freshman season of 2024-25, at Mississippi Valley State in the SWAC before transferring to Northwest Florida State, where she averaged 5.7 points and 1.1 rebounds in 11 games as a sophomore. With the Devilettes, she averaged 2.5 points and 1.2 rebounds per game.
FIRST TWO AGAIN
The Lancers won their first two games of the season for a second consecutive year after beating the Apprentice School, 96-27, and Virginia Union, 59-33.
Longwood opened 2024-25 with wins over Randolph and Western Kentucky, as well. The only other group to accomplish the feat at the Division-I level were the 2005-06 Lancers, coached by Pamela Bass. That team opened 3-0, in fact, winning at American and beating Norfolk State and North Florida in the Lancer Invitational at Willett Hall.
PACKING 'EM IN
Longwood led the Big South in attendance for the second straight season, averaging 1,160 fans per game over 15 home dates. A total of 17,396 people came through the turnstiles at the Joan Perry Brock Center for the season, good for 149th most nationally.
The 2,091 fans who witnessed Longwood defeat Virginia Union, 59-33 on Friday for Homecoming & Alumni Weekend repressented the second-largest crowd in the three-plus-year history of JPB.
SCOTT STEALS IT
Longwood guard Jesstynie Scott returns for her sophomore season to lead a defensive unit that ranked seventh in the NCAA in steals per game in 2025-26, swiping 13.7.
Individually, Scott led the Big South and finished 27th in the country with 92 total steals, which also tied for the fourth-best total in a single season at Longwood with Brenda Fettrow during the 1979-80 season. Scott also finished tops in the Big South in steals per game at 2.97, good for 18th in the NCAA, last year.
HEY, FRIEND!
Former Alabama standout and NCAA Division II head coach Betsy Harris was named an assistant coach for the Lancers in May, rounding out the 2025-26 coaching staff.
Harris most recently was the head coach at East Central Community College, an NJCAA institution in her hometown of Decatur, Miss., from 2022-24. Prior to that, she enjoyed an eight-year run with Florida Southern, won two consecutive Sunshine State Conference titles and was named league coach of the year three times, while coaching against her new boss, Erika Lang-Montgomery at Flagler. The two also played against each other in the Southeastern Conference when Lang-Montgomery was at Florida, Harris led the Crimson Tide to three straight NCAA tournaments and the 1994 Final Four as a senior.
AMBASSADOR ERIKA
Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery is one of 30 coaches and administrators part of WBCA Ambassador Program in 2026-27.
The aim of the initiative is to unite coaches, administrators and basketball professionals nationwide who are passionate about advancing women's basketball. this season's ambassadors serve the organization as trusted voices — sharing opportunities, promoting membership and events and connecting the coaching community with the resources and programming that help it grow.
SUCCESS AT HOME
Head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery and staff helped Longwood to a 12-3 mark at the Joan Perry Brock Center in 2025-26, its best record at home at the Division I level. It was Longwood's best record at home since the 2002-03 Lancers went a perfect 14-0 under legendary coach Shirley Duncan. That team finished 27-5 overall, won the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference and advanced to the second round of the Division II NCAA tournament.
The Lancers are set to play 13 games at home this season, including five in non-conference action. Among those, Longwood welcomes George Mason of the Atlantic 10 on Nov. 24 and Furman of the Southern Conference on Dec. 5.
GETTING NOTICED
Longwood received votes in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll in eight different weeks last season.
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. The 2024-25 Lancers were 9-5 before the Big South schedule began.
SERVANT LEADER
Junior guard Lili Booker was announced as a recipient of the 2026-27 Kay Yow Servant Leader Award on Oct. 26. The full 2026-27 Servant Leader Class of upwards of 90 student-athletes across all levels of women's college basketball will be revealed by the organization in December and celebrated during a special event at the end of the season, where the fund will also name a Servant Leader of the Year. The recognition will honor one student-athlete whose impact and leadership stand out among this year's honorees.
The Kay Yow Cancer Fund was founded in honor of former NC State head coach Kay Yow, who had a 22-year battle with breast cancer before passing away in 2009. She helped set up the fund in 2007 to support advanced research, extend the quality of life for those battling cancer, serve the underserved and unite people.
As part of the fund's outreach, the Kay Yow Servant Leader Award was created in 2024 to honor student-athletes who best embody the characteristics of Coach Kay Yow – people with a servant's spirit and a commitment to selfless leadership both on and off the court and athletic field.
Recipients of the Servant Leader Award are people of great character who put the needs of others before their own, who uplift others and who do it with grace and humility. They are nominated by their coach and are people who exemplify Yow's spirit and who reflect her resolve, grace, generosity and servant's heart.
CLUTCH IN CLASS
The Lancers earned a Women's Basketball Coaches Association Academic Top 25 Special Mention for the second consecutive season in 2025-26, the organization announced in July.
The WBCA Academic Top 25 recognizes NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA and two-year college women's basketball teams across the nation that carry the highest combined GPAs inclusive of all student-athletes on their rosters for the entire season. The 2025-26 season was the 31st in which the WBCA has compiled the honor rolls.
Teams must have a 3.0 combined GPA to be qualified for WBCA Academic Top 25 consideration.
The Lancers posted a 3.493 cumulative GPA during the 2025-26 academic year. Eleven members of the roster carried a 3.0 or higher GPA.
