JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The offense came in spurts, but the defense never failed for Longwood women's basketball in a gritty 72-58 win in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Air Force Reserve Big South Basketball Tournament.
Jesstynie Scott was a jolt of energy whenever for the Lancers (21-9), who won their third straight. The freshman was scintillating while leading Longwood with 17 points, and she added five of the team's 13 steals.
Malea Brown fit seamlessly as well and stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds and five steals.
"Being able to read the ball, and other teammates having pressure on ball handlers, forcing tough passes for me to read and get steals," Brown said about what keyed her five steals.
"Like she said, reading the basketball [is key]," Scott added. "And if somebody is crossing over, I'm going to stick my hand out, see if I can pick it, but it usually just comes natural for me and Malea."
The duo were part of a disruptive Longwood defense that made life difficult for UNC Asheville (12-18).
"Wow, that was a good one, a good way to start off the conference tournament," said Longwood Head Coach
Erika Lang-Montgomery. "I was really pleased with the effort down the stretch. I thought our players really were gritty, very resilient. Tynesha [Lewis] has done a great job with her program [UNC Asheville]. They have made big leaps and bounds from last season. That didn't really feel like we were playing a sixth seed. That was a really good basketball team that we just beat."
Longwood forced 19 turnovers and contested every shot, hounding Asheville and holding the Bulldogs to 28 percent shooting from the floor.
That was enough to hold off 21 points and 12 boards from Nia Green and 10 points and 11 rebounds for Journee McDaniel for UNC Asheville. The duo helped Asheville hang around with the rebounding battle, but Longwood's duo of
Otaifo Esenabhalu and
Frances Ulysse muscled down double-doubles of their own to help Longwood win the battle on the glass.
Ulysse booked 16 points and 10 rebounds while Esenabhalu hoovered up 13 boards to go with 11 points of her own.
The Lancers lived in the paint.
With Brown and Scott knifing to the basket, and Esenabhalu and Ulysse doing damage on the block, Longwood put up 50 points in the painted area. The repeated rack attacks provided life on a night when the outside shot refused to go down easy.
"Otaifo is a rebounding machine for us," said Lang-Montgomery. "Another double-double for her tonight is awesome, but Frances as well. Them together are a formidable pair. They are strong together, and they handle their own inside."
Brown scored all 10 of her points in the first half as Longwood never trailed. The graduate student had four of the team's eight steals as well in the opening 20 minutes.
Yet when Longwood needed a big bucket, it was the freshman who delivered. With the lead trimmed to three late in the first half, Scott drained her first three of the game, and she hit her second when Asheville had trimmed the lead to five in the third quarter.
She added timely steals as well, with two in the first half and three more after halftime for her ninth game this season with five or more steals.
"I woke up feeling great," Scott added. "Definitely listened to my gospel music, but also, leading up to this, my teammates, they definitely helped me, pushed me in practice, especially my coaches. They just always stay on me and always say have the next play mentality."
Now, the Lancers are moving on to the next game, a match up with second-seeded Radford in the semifinals for the second straight season after the two teams split the regular season series.
Tip is set for 8:30 p.m. at the Freedom Hall Civic Center, and the game will air on ESPN+.
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