DAVIDSON, N.C. -- The Longwood women's basketball team, looking to start a winning streak, travels to Davidson to play the Wildcats Saturday at John M. Belk Arena.
STORYLINES
▪ Longwood heads to Davidson Saturday to face the 6-1 Wildcats, who are enjoying their best start in program history. Longwood's 75-72 victory at Ohio Wednesday was its first non-league true road win since beating Lamar, 62-59, in Beaumont, Texas, on Nov. 28, 2021.
▪ Longwood is 3-26 all-time against teams from the Atlantic 10 in its Division I history, which began in 2004-05. The Lancers' wins against the A10 came at Fordham (62-56 on Jan. 5, 2008), against George Mason (52-42, on Dec. 5, 2008) and versus Duquesne (77-76 on Nov. 17, 2021).
▪ Saturday's contest continues a stretch where Longwood plays nine of its first 10 games away from home. The Lancers will
travel approximately 4,534 miles in that span.
▪ Senior guard Janay Turner scored a career-high 22 points on 6-for-13 shooting Wednesday at Ohio, including going a career-best 9-for-9 at the free-throw line. Turner also came up with a clutch steal with 7.1 seconds left to help seal the win. It marked the second 20-point performance for the Lancers this season as junior guard Malea Brown also tallied 20 in the win against Chowan on Nov. 12. There have been 19 games in which a player has scored at least 20 points in the Big South this season from 13 different individuals.
▪ Longwood grabbed a season-high 51 rebounds against Ohio, marking the most since collecting 54 against Hampton March 3, 2022, a 70-61 win in the Big South quarterfinals.
▪ Davidson head coach Gayle Fulks earned her first Division I coaching role at Longwood as an assistant coach in Farmville from 2007-11.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Davidson, off to its best start in program history at 6-1, has won four consecutive games, including victories over 22nd-ranked Duke, Morgan State, Wofford and App State. The Wildcats average nearly 70 points per game and have outscored the opposition by 15.8 points per game.
Davidson has four players who average double figures in scoring, led by Charlise Dunn (14.3), Elle Sutphin (13.8), Suzi-Rose Deegan (13.0) and Millie Prior (10.3). Prior leads the team in rebounding at 7.0.
LAST TIME OUT
Longwood earned a 75-72 victory at Ohio Wednesday in a back-and-forth affair that featured 12 lead changes and four ties. The Lancers led by as many as 11 points with 5:30 remaining before the Bobcats cut the deficit to 73-72. Janay Turner stole an in-bound pass with 7.1 seconds left to help seal the win and cap her career night with 22 points on 6-for-13 shooting. Anne-Hamilton LeRoy finished with 14 points and Malea Brown had 10 to round out three in double figures. Longwood outrebounded Ohio, 51-35, with Adriana Shipp-Davis grabbing a game-high nine boards.
LAST TIME AGAINST DAVIDSON
Davidson topped Longwood, 63-53, in the last meeting between the two teams on Jan. 28, 2011 at Willett Hall in Farmville. The Lancers held a 28-26 lead at the half but the Wildcats shot over 52 percent in the second half to pull away for the win.
Morgan Smith paced the Lancers with 14 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. Davidson received a game-high 19 points, including four 3-pointers, from Ashley Lax.
FAMILIAR FACE ON THE SIDELINES
Seventh-year Davidson head coach Gayle Fulks spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Longwood under Kristin Caruso and Bill Reinson. Fulks helped the Lancers to a 40-77 (.342) record, including 16-13 in 2007-08, a mark which at the time, was the best in Longwood's Division I era.
LANCERS FOURTH IN BIG SOUTH POLL
Longwood was picked fourth in the 2023-24 Big South preseason poll, announced at the conference media day in Concord, N.C., on Oct. 17.
The fourth-place tag marks the Lancers' second-highest predicted finish since joining the league for the 2012-13 season.
High Point, the Big South runner up a season ago, was chosen first with eight first-place votes and 80 total points, followed by Presbyterian and Radford in a tie for second with 61 points. The Blue Hose earned the final nod for the top spot in the poll.
OTAIFO EARNS BIG SOUTH HONOR
Freshman forward Otaifo Esenabhalu earned Big South Freshman of the Week Nov. 20 after averaging three points and 8.5 rebounds at James Madison and Clemson. She tallied career highs of 15 rebounds and three blocks against JMU.
TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER
Fifth-year guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy is among the NCAA's active career leaders in several statistical categories. Those are: games played (125, 44th in Division I, 47th in all NCAA divisions), points (1,271, 100th in Division I and 167th in all divisions), free throws made (346, 34th in Division I and 50th in all divisions) and free throws attempted (454, 35th in Division I and 50th in all divisions).
BACK FOR MORE
Among the Lancers' four returning starters are 2023 All-South second-team selections Adriana Shipp-Davis and Anne-Hamilton LeRoy. Shipp-Davis is a preseason All-Big South first teamer this year after ranking fourth in the Big South in scoring at 13.9 points per game, while LeRoy earned a spot on the preseason second team following a season that saw her seventh in scoring (13.4).
HOME, SWEET HOME
Longwood opened its home slate Nov. 12 with an 88-59 victory over NCAA Division II Chowan on Homecoming and Alumni Weekend. The game was the first in women's basketball at the new Joan Perry Brock Center, made possible by an initial $15 million gift from Brock, a 1964 alumna and philanthropist. Prior to moving next door to the JPB, the Lancers competed in Willett Hall, opened in 1980, compiling a 312-202 (.607) record in the building since the 1981-82 season.
POUTINE, PLEASE
Hailing from Montreal, Quebec, freshman forward Frances Ulysse is the first player from north of the border to suit up for Longwood in its Division I history, which began in 2004-05. Ulysse averaged 15.2 points and 9.2 rebounds in 2022-23 at Vanier College, earning regional all-star honors.
Since the 2010-11 season, only eight other foreign-born student-athletes have played for the Lancers. They are: Mina Jovanovic, of Smederevska Palanka, Serbia, from 2010-12, Mieke Elkington, of Hamilton, New Zealand, from 2011-13, Jovana Vukovic, of Bar, Montenegro, in 2016-17, Rosemary Ilang, of Abuja, Nigeria, from 2017-19, Kristina Antonenko, of Moscow, Russia, from 2017-19, Milou Vennema, of Groningen, Netherlands, from 2018-23, Andrijana Reljic, of Sarajevo, Bosnia, from 2019-21 and Geassy Germano, of São Paulo, Brazil, from 2021-23.
RECORD BOOK TALK
Fifth-year guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy, the newly minted school-record holder in career made free throws (346), is also eighth in free-throw percentage (76.2) and 12th in career points (1,271), 33 points from tying Florence Holmes (1981-85) for 11th in history.
Additionally, senior guard Janay Turner turned in the seventh best single-season mark for free-throw percentage in 2022-23, hitting 83.6 (92-of-110) of her freebies in her first season in Farmville. Turner's mark ranked 69th in the NCAA a season ago.
NEXT TO 1,000?
Redshirt-senior guard Adriana Shipp-Davis comes into play needing 191 points to reach the 1,000-point milestone for her career. The 2023 Preseason All-Big South First Team honoree posted 21 double-figure scoring games, including seven with 20-plus points, last season. She has scored in double digits 37 times in her career, leading the Lancers to an 18-19 record in those games. When Shipp-Davis goes for 20 or more, which she's done eight times, Longwood has played to a 4-4 record.
Shipp-Davis turned in a career high of 26 points in a 75-65 victory over UNC Asheville on Jan. 11, 2023 while shooting 9-for-14 from the field that day.
CENTURY MARK
Fifth-year guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy is just one made 3-pointer from 100 for her career. In 125 games and 91 starts, the Seneca, S.C., native is 99-for-326 from 3-point range, good for 30.4 percent.
TURNER FROM DOWNTOWN
On the heels of shooting a career-best 5-for-5 from 3-point range in the 88-59 win over Chowan Nov. 12, Janay Turner is shooting 45.5 percent from distance (10-for-22).
As a team, the Lancers lead the Big South in 3-point field goal percentage at 33.7 percent, good for 93rd in the country.
TOPS IN BIG SOUTH IN SCORING
Longwood leads the Big South in scoring average at 66.5 points per game, which is 181st in the nation.
TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK
Longwood leads the Big South in turnover margin at 0.17 (190th nationally). The Lancers commit an average of 19.8 turnovers per game (fifth best in the league), while forcing 20, which is second in the conference and is 56th in the country.
OTAIFO ON THE GLASS
Freshman forward Otaifo Esenabhalu has made an impact on the on the boards for the Lancers in the early going this season. The Valdosta, Ga., native leads Longwood with 6.7 rebounds per game through six games.
Esenabhalu is one of just two players in the Big South to secure 15 or more boards in a game this season when she grabbed that many at James Madison on Nov. 15.
Marissa Gasaway of Winthrop collected 17 rebounds at South Carolina State on Nov. 17 and 16 against UNC Wilmington on Nov. 29.
LEROY, BROWN STEALS LEADERS
Fifth-year guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy and Malea Brown are tied for second in steals per game in the Big South with 1.8.
As a team, the Lancers rank first in the league in steals per game (12.5), which is 16th in the nation.
TURNER PROVIDES SCORING
Aside from Anne-Hamilton LeRoy and Adriana Shipp-Davis, a third starter from the 2022-23 season who averaged double figures returns to the fold in Janay Turner. A 5-foot-8 senior guard from Chicago, Turner registered 10.9 points per game, scoring double digits in 16 of 29 contests. Turner matched her then-career high of 20 points, originally set at Norfolk State in the 2021-22 season, three times for the Lancers last season.
She set a new career high in the win over Ohio Wednesday, scoring 22 points on 6-for-13 shooting, also going a perfect 9-for-9 at the free-throw line.
WILLIAMS DEPENDABLE AT POINT
Senior Bailey Williams is also back for her second season for the Lancers after becoming a steady and reliable point guard in 2022-23. Williams averaged 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game while starting in all 30 contests. She played 30.8 minutes per game, a figure that was good for 13th overall in the Big South last season.
A strong defender as well, Williams finished 25th in the conference, swiping 1.1 steals per game. She twice collected a career high of four steals in a game last year – in an 80-70 home victory over Charleston Southern on Jan. 4 and a 97-64 win against USC Upstate on Feb. 15, also at Willett Hall.
