FARMVILLE, Va. – For the second time in program history, Longwood is moving on to the semifinals of the Big South Women's Basketball Championship.
 
Extending a record-breaking season that has seen the Lancers (14-10) set program records with 12 Big South wins, a third-place Big South finish, and a .565 regular-season Big South winning percentage, No. 3 seed Longwood rode its Big South-leading offense to an 83-69 win over No. 6 seed UNC Asheville in the conference quarterfinals Monday evening in Willett Hall.
 
Now moving on to the Big South semifinals for the first time since their inaugural season in the league in 2013, the Lancers will face No. 2 seed Campbell this Thursday, March 11, on the Fighting Camels' home court in Buies Creek, N.C.
 
"I think for us, it's another step in where we're trying to go," said Longwood head coach Rebecca Tillett. "This team in particular has big dreams. All the women since I've gotten here, and even the alums that reach out and keep in touch with us, want to see this program continue to rise. I think this is another step in that direction.
 
"We were talking, and in some ways, this quarterfinal win seems like one of the hardest ones—the nerves are there, and you really want to play well out of the gate in a tournament. And I think you saw that in the first five minutes of the game for us. Once we settled in, you could see the game plan and execution and all those things. But it just feels so great for our women. They wanted this bad, and they worked hard to get it."

Earning Longwood that semifinal matchup Monday night against UNC Asheville (10-14) were four double-figure scorers, with All-Big South first-team guard Kyla McMakin leading the way with 19 points. Among those was the 1,000th point of her career, making the two-time All-Big South honoree the fastest player in Longwood women's basketball history to join the 1,000-point club, doing so in just 54 career games.
 
"We like to say that every time we have five women on the floor that there's someone hard to guard," said Tillett. "We want all five to be hard to guard, and as long as everyone stays within their skillsets and works together, they're able to do that.
 
"I'm really excited for [Kyla]. She's such a gifted scorer, and like we've talked about before, what we love about her most is that she does more than that.
 
Big South Defensive Player of the Year Akila Smith also contributed her conference-leading 14th double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while All-Big South honorable mention honoree Tra'Dayja Smith scored 18 and fellow backcourt mate Anne-Hamilton LeRoy added 16.
 
Smith, who ranks third nationally with 3.4 blocks per game and fourth in the Big South with 2.0 steals, lived up to her Defensive Player of the Year resume as well, racking up three more rejections and two swipes to help hold the Bulldogs to a .325 shooting clip from the floor. Her performance included putting the clamps on fellow All-Big South First Team member Nadiria Evans. The senior was held to just nine points on 4-of-15 shooting, just her second game this season in single-digit scoring, in large part due to Smith's tenacious defense.
 
"I thought it was really important that Akila doesn't foul out," said Tillett. That was something we talked about coming into the game. The way she's playing right now, opponents have to scheme, they have to do something. I think what all coaches would like is for her not to be in the game, so it was important for her to manage that. She guarded [Nadiria] Evans for the majority of the game and lived up to the confidence the coaches gave to her in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. She just played incredible defense and was incredibly efficient on offense."
 
That widespread offensive effort built Longwood, who ended with a field goal percentage of .527 (29-55), a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half and contributed to the Lancers' sixth double-digit win over a Big South foe this season, this time avenging a regular series sweep by the Bulldogs on Dec. 30-31.  
 
Asheville got off to a hot start on Monday, scoring 13 of the game's first 17 points to take a 13-4 lead at the 6:31 mark in the first quarter. The early Bulldog run was spearheaded by Kai Carter, who scored eight of her game-high 24 points in that stretch.
 
However, the Lancers quickly worked to erase that lead. Trailing 15-10 at the media timeout, Longwood ended the quarter on an 11-0 run to surge in front, 21-15 at the end of the first quarter. Tra'Dayja Smith scored nine in the period, hitting both of her shots and all four of her free throws.
 
"All day, and this week, I'd been thinking, and our staff had been thinking, we felt like our team was a little bit nervous," said Tillett on the slow start. "We just came off a great victory over High Point at their place. You would think your confidence level would be high, but when you're trying to do new things, when you're trying to do historic things, it takes a little bit of courage to do great things. We kept saying we want to be the best, and so that goes with it, a little bit of healthy nerves. I think we settled down after that media, and we came out and executed with a little bit more poise."
 
Longwood carried that momentum into the second quarter, where Akila Smith got going offensively. The versatile junior hit 4-of-5 shots from the field, scoring eight points along with two assists, two blocks and a steal to stake the Lancer lead to 38-27 at the break.
 
The Lancers extended their lead in the third quarter, holding Asheville to just 6-of-19 shooting in the third period and outscoring them 24-17. This culminated in the largest lead of the game for Longwood, as Allysah 'Cookie' Boothe's long ball inflated the Lancer lead to 57-36 with 2:01 left in the frame.
 
"Cookie brings so much joy when she enters the game, and what's so special about this team is every single woman celebrates every other woman's accomplishments," said Tillett on Boothe, who hit 2-of-3 shots from three in over 17 minutes off the bench. "It's not like someone makes a good play and everybody forgets. Everybody remembers, every single time. And I think what she does, is she brings that positivity. Even if she makes a mistake, her response is, 'Ok, I better make another play.' I think people really respect that from her."
 
The Bulldogs did not go away, rallying with a 16-5 run to end the third and start the fourth quarter to trim the Longwood lead to 10, 62-52. However, Anne-Hamilton LeRoy ensured that would be as close as they would get.
 
LeRoy dashed into the paint, rising to finish a contested layup through the contact of Asheville's Abigail Wilson for a conventional three-point play to stop the Bulldog run and bring the Longwood lead to 65-52. The Lancers would not concede another impactful run, as they held their double-digit lead the rest of the way, knocking down 9-of-10 free throws during that stretch to ice their 83-69 win.
 
"I thought Anne had some really good play for us that we needed," added Tillett. "And that was after being in early foul trouble. You want players to be able to be resilient even after things don't go their way early."
 
Monday's win improved Longwood's record in Willett Hall to 11-3, including 10-1 against Big South opponents. The 11 home wins are the most the Lancers have notched in their Division I era, and is tied for the most in the Big South with High Point. Their next game will come on the road at Buies Creek, where they split the regular season series against Campbell. Their two games against the Fightin' Camels were decided by a combined three points, with Kyla McMakin's buzzer-beater three giving the Lancers a 54-52 victory in the most recent matchup on Jan. 10.
 
"[Campbell] is always so well-prepared to defend you, so you have to be creative on offense," said Tillett on their looming semifinals opponent. "Then you have to find ways to stop them, so we will be watching a lot of film between now and Thursday. We're really excited and love the matchups with them."

The semifinals showdown with Campbell will be on Thursday, March 11 in Buies Creek. Opening tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
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