DURHAM, N.C. – It hasn't taken long for Longwood women's basketball junior forward Kristina Antonenko to adjust to Division I college basketball.
Making her second straight start in just her second game at the D-I level, Antonenko erupted onto the scene matching Longwood's all-time Division I scoring record with a game-high 33 points, as the Lancers fell to N.C. Central 87-75 Tuesday morning at McDougald-McLendon Arena.
N.C. Central's Jayla Calhoun and Rodneysha Martin scored 25 and 23 points, respectively, to eclipse Antonenko's 33-point outburst and lead the Eagles (1-0) to the first win in the head coaching debut of Trisha Stafford-Odom. In addition, Martin collected her first double-double of the season with 10 rebounds to go along with her 23 points. Calhoun and Martin were joined in double figures by Caira Benton, who finished the game with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Antonenko finished the afternoon 14-of-20 from the floor to go along with five rebounds and a steal in 34 minutes of playing time, as she was joined in double figures by senior forward Autumn Childress who collected her first double-double of the season with 16 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. The performance from Childress was just six points shy of matching her career-high, as she has scored in double figures in four of her last nine games dating back to the 2016-17 season.
"Kristina and Autumn were terrific offensively," said Longwood (0-2) head coach
Bill Reinson. "It's a shame we wasted their efforts."
A junior college transfer who played her first two seasons for first year Longwood assistant coach
Antwon Harris at Highland Community College, Antonenko matched the 33 points that Becky Fernandes finished with during the 2009 season against NJIT, tying Longwood's Division I single game scoring record. The 33-point outburst from the Moscow, Russia product marks the most from any Lancer in the Big South era, as she becomes the league's first player this season to finish a game with 30-plus.
"My teammates deserve a lot of credit for my individual performance today," Antonenko said. "It's cool to set the Longwood Division I scoring record but basketball is a team game and my teammates helped me make plays. If the team can continue to play like this, we can win some games."
The duo of Calhoun and Martin led an N.C. Central offensive surge that saw the Eagles shoot .441 (30-of-38) from the floor en route to an 87-point mark that marks the most points scored from an NCCU team since the 2013-14 season.
Tuesday's game marked the first of four Education Days – two inside Willett Hall and two on the road -- that the Lancers will take part in this season, matching Gardner-Webb for the most in the Big South. Seven of 10 teams in the Big South will play at least one Education Day game this season.
With six of her 33 points coming in the opening four minutes of the game, Antenanko helped the Lancers race out to an early 10-4 lead. However, N.C. Central responded with a 24-6 run over the final five minutes, 40 seconds of the period in a run that was fueled by a combined 16 points from Benton and Martin.
Longwood trimmed an 11-point halftime deficit to one courtesy a 15-5 run over the opening 4:32 of the third quarter, as Antonenko led the charge with 11 points in the period. However, Calhoun and Martin each scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, including a 6-of-6 performance from Calhoun at the charity stripe to hand Stafford-Odom her first win as the Eagles head coach.
"We battled back a number of times and had a couple of opportunities to get over the hump, but we weren't patient enough to get a good look," Reinson said. "Sometimes the game comes down to the willingness to stop people one-on-one. We didn't do that today. When you put 75 points on the board, you should win most games."
After playing two straight games on the road to open the season, the Lancers will make their debut inside Willett Hall Saturday, Nov. 18 in a rematch of Longwood's 72-59 win over UMass-Lowell a season ago. That game is set for a noon tip and will be broadcast on the Big South Network.
#GoWood
