PITTSBURGH -- The Longwood women's basketball team heads to Pittsburgh to face Duquesne at the Kerr Fitness Center on the La Roche University campus Thursday at 11 a.m.
STORYLINES
▪ Longwood heads to Duquesne on Thursday for the second of a two-game series that began in the 2021-22 season. The Lancers slipped by the Dukes, 77-76, on Nov. 17, 2021 in that one. LU led, 24-7, after the first quarter, but was outscored, 48-34, in the second half.
▪ Duquesne had two scoring opportunities in the final minute, but Kyla McMakin stole the ball from Megan McConnell on the first of those, and McConnell missed a potential go-ahead jumper in the closing seconds.
▪ Longwood is 7-37 (.159) against teams currently part of the Atlantic 10 since the 1981-82 season. The Lancers' most recent wins against the A10 came at Fordham (62-56 on Jan. 5, 2008), against George Mason (52-42, on Dec. 5, 2008) and the win over the Dukes in 2021.
▪ Thursday'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. LU's current seven-game road trip is the second longest in nation this season. Middle Tennessee completed an eight-game trip from Nov. 18-Dec. 10, traveling four states and the Bahamas in 35 days, playing to a 6-2 record.
▪ Senior guard Janay Turner scored a career-high 22 points on 6-for-13 shooting Nov. 29 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.
SCOUTING THE DUKES
Duquesne enters Thursday's contest at 5-3 overall and on a two-game winning streak with victories over Fordham, 75-73 in overtime, in its Atlantic 10 opener on Dec. 5, and Kent State, 89-82 in double OT, on Sunday.
Megan McConnell leads Duquesne, averaging 13 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, while Nae Bernard and Amaya Hamilton chip in with 12.5 and 11.4 points, respectively. McConnell is tops in Division I, playing 41 minutes per game.
As a team, the Dukes, who were picked fifth in the 15-team A10, lead the league in defensive rebounds per game (29.4), 3-pointers made per game (9.4) and 3-pointers attempted per game (28.1).
LAST TIME OUT
Stony Brook limited the Lacers to just 26 percent shooting, forced 21 turnovers and three Seawolves scored 16 points apiece in an 85-49 SBU victory Monday.
Stony Brook opened the game with a 9-0 run, led 18-6 after the first quarter, 43-18 at halftime and 68-28 after three while holding Longwood to just 17 made field goals.
Adriana Shipp-Davis tallied 11 points on 4-for-12 shooting. Anne-Hamilton LeRoy scored nine points, while Frances Ulysse registered a career-high nine in 20 minutes off the bench for Longwood.
NOTING THE WIN AT OHIO
Longwood's 75-72 victory at Ohio Nov. 29 was its first non-league true road win since beating Lamar, 62-59, in Beaumont, Texas, on Nov. 28, 2021.
Longwood grabbed a season-high 51 rebounds against the Bobcats, marking the most since collecting 54 against Hampton March 3, 2022, a 70-61 win in the Big South quarterfinals.
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.
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 (127, 45th in Division I, 48th in all NCAA divisions), points (1,290, 104th in Division I, 174th in all divisions), free throws made (351, 34th in Division I) and free throws attempted (460, 35th in Division I).
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.
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.
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BENCH
Longwood's non-starters are averaging 25.8 points per game, a figure that is second in the Big South and 61st overall in in Division I. UNC Asheville leads the league in the category at 27.7 points per game.
Longwood has outscored the opponent bench in two games this season against Chowan Nov. 12 and at Stony Brook Monday.
RECORD BOOK TALK
Fifth-year guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy, the newly minted school-record holder in career made free throws (351), is also seventh in free-throw percentage (76.3) and 12th in career points (1,290), 14 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 167 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 38 times in her career, leading the Lancers to an 18-20 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 127 games and 93 starts, the Seneca, S.C., native is 99-for-329 from 3-point range, good for 30.1 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 35.5 (11-for-31) percent from distance.
As a team, the Lancers are second in the Big South in 3-point field goal percentage at 30.8 percent, good for 179th in the country.
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 Nov. 29, 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.
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 6.0 rebounds per game through seven 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.
FREE THROWS WIN BALLGAMES
Longwood leads the Big South in free throws made per game at 12.12, a figure that is 153rd in the nation.
Individually, Janay Turner ranks sixth in the league in free trow percentage (74.3).
LU LEADS LEAGUE IN STEALS
As a team, the Lancers rank first in the Big South in steals per game (11.4), which is 33rd in the nation.
Junior guard Malea Brown is third in the league and 148th in nationally in steals, averaging 2.0 per game.
