The Opening Tip
• Longwood enters the Big South tournament as the third seed, their highest ranking since joining the conference, as they take on UNC Asheville in the quarterfinals.
• Five Lancers were honored with Big South postseason awards, highlighted by two members of the All-Big South First Team in
Kyla McMakin and
Akila Smith. Smith also was named the Defensive Player of the Year.
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Tra'Dayja Smith earned All-Big South Honorable Mention honors,
Adriana Shipp was named to the Big South All-Freshman team, and
Mallory Odell earned a Big South All-Academic Team nod, the first time the team has had five players earn postseason recognition since joining the Big South.
• Monday's game marks the second-consecutive season in which the Lancers will host a postseason game, as they hosted Presbyterian in 2020.
• With 12 conference wins, Longwood blew past the program-record of eight Big South wins, set in 2012-13 and matched last season.
Last Time Out
• For the first time as Big South opponents, Longwood (13-10, 12-6 Big South) toppled High Point 85-69 in the Millis Center.
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Tra'Dayja Smith and
Akila Smith powered the way to the win, with the two combining for nearly 50 points.
Tra'Dayja Smith stuffed the stat sheet with a career best 20 points while tying a career high with 10 boards in addition to six assists. Her counterpart on the interior,
Akila Smith, who set a career-high with 32 points in the first game of the series, added 27 more tonight, hitting 13-of-19 field goals while totaling two steals and a block.
• The dynamic duo were part of a Longwood offense that had four players reach double digits, as
Kyla McMakin added 15 points while
Adriana Shipp chipped in 13. Shipp added a career high 15 rebounds as well to help Longwood outrebound High Point 50-25.
• The Lancer defense also clamped down after halftime, holding a potent High Point attack that came in averaging north of 70 points per game to 26 points on .310 shooting (9-29) in the final 20 minutes.
By The Numbers
• Two Lancers set their new career-high in points in the series against first place High Point.
Akila Smith scored 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting and 10-of-12 from the free throw line, while
Tra'Dayja Smith racked up 20 points in a game two win.
• Longwood's offense leads the Big South in scoring in conference games, totaling 71.8 points per game, one of two teams, along with High Point, to average more than 70 points per game. The Lancers have scored at least 80 points eight times, going 7-1, with the five of those wins being by double digits. The team scored at least 80+ only three times in 2019-20.
• The Lancer offense has pounded the offensive glass, ranking second in the Big South with 13.4 offensive boards per game.
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Akila Smith leads the charge to the offensive glass for the Lancers. Her 3.9 rank 20th nationally and second in the Big South. She has grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in a game three times this season and is one of five players on the team to have at least 25 offensive rebounds with
Brooke Anya (28),
Mallory Odell (25),
Kyla McMakin (27) and
Adriana Shipp (31) joining her.
• Smith also gobbles up defensive rebounds at a high rate and is 20th in the nation in total rebounds (235), averaging 10.2 boards per game. That rebounding prowess coupled with a deft touch around the basket has allowed her to rack up 13 double-doubles, tied for 11th most in the nation.
• On defense, the Lancers are active and disruptive. They are 13th in the nation in total blocks with 125 and lead the Big South with 5.6 blocks per game.
• Smith is nationally ranked across a wide variety of categories. She is fourth in blocks (79) and third in blocks per game (3.4) while also tying for 11th in double-doubles, with 13. Plus, she is 20th in total rebounds (235) and 12th in field goal percentage (.584). In addition, she is one of only 11 players to have notched a triple-double this season. . She has had at least four blocks in a game nine times this season and has 172 career blocks, surpassing
Heather Tobeck's career record of 158.
• Against ETSU, Longwood forced 32 turnovers, the most in a single game in the team's three seasons under head coach
Rebecca Tillett.
• The Lancers also boast the one of the top turnover margins in the Big South, thanks to an offense that turns the ball over only 14.3 times per game, third lowest in the Big South, coupled with a defense that forces 16.4 turnovers per game (fifth in the league). Senior point guard
Tra'Dayja Smith keys the offense, leading the Big South with 5.4 assists per game while posting a 1.6 assist to turnover ratio.
• Longwood has been lights out from the free throw line this season. The team leads the Big South with a .773 shooting percentage (283-366) from the charity stripe. Three players rank in the top six in the league, with
Tra'Dayja Smith third (.873, 69- 79),
Kyla McMakin fourth (.866, 84-97) and Anne- Hamilton LeRoy sixth (.792, 80-101).
• Point guard
Tra'Dayja Smith tied a single-game program record with 15 assists in the game one victory over Charleston Southern. As a team, the Lancers set a season-high mark with 23 helpers in the game, and totaled 41 assists in the two-game series with the Bucs.
Series History
• The Lancers and Bulldogs meet for the 23rd time in program history
• Longwood dropped both matchups on the road to Asheville, but has since won 10-of-14 conference games since their last meeting.
• Monday's game will be the first matchup between the two teams at Willett Hall this season, where the Lancers have gone 9-1 against Big South opponents in 2021.
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Akila Smith picked up a pair of double-doubles in the season series against the Bulldogs, totaling 23 points and 29 rebounds across two games.
#GoWood
