FARMVILLE, Va. -- The Longwood women's basketball team hosts Norfolk State at the Joan Perry Brock Center Sunday at 2 p.m. Blaine McCormick and Justin Dalton will have the call on ESPN+.
STORYLINES
â–ª Longwood hosts Norfolk State to close the calendar year Sunday. The Lancers are 1-3 on New Year's Eve in their Division I era, which began in 2005-06. Longwood's last victory on the final day of the year was a 71-47 triumph over NAIA member Milligan in 2016.
â–ª Today marks the 17th meeting between Longwood and Norfolk State, dating to a 54-35 Spartans' victory on Feb. 27, 1975 in Lynchburg. NSU has won the last four games in the series with the last LU win Nov. 17, 2006, a 67-55 victory in the Lancer Invitational.
â–ª Longwood guard Janay Turner spent the 2021-22 season at Norfolk State, appearing in all 28 games with six starts. She averaged five points and 1.6 rebounds, scoring double figures six times for a team that advanced to the postseason WNIT, finishing 17-12 overall.
â–ª Anne-Hamilton LeRoy is currently tied for 45th all-time in the Big South in scoring with 1,330 points and is one of just 141 players in league history to score 1,000 career points.
â–ª Longwood's non-conference slate was setup to be a challenging one and has proven tobe. The nine teams who have beaten the Lancers this season own a combined record of 62-41 (.602) on the year, as of Thursday.
â–ª Longwood concluded the second-longest road trip in Division I women's basketball Dec. 17 at William & Mary. The Lancers played seven consecutive games away from the Joan Perry Brock Center, traveling approximately 4,534 miles in that span. Middle Tennessee completed an eight-game trip from Nov. 18-Dec. 10, traversing four states and the Bahamas in 35 days, playing to a 6-2 record.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
Norfolk State enters play Sunday at 9-4, having won its last two games, including a 96-55 decision against UNC Wilmington in Norfolk on Thursday. The Spartans, who are ranked No. 19 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, won the MEAC last season at 26-7 overall and 11-3 in conference play.
Norfolk State currently leads the MEAC in 10 statistical categories as a team, including scoring margin (plus-3.2), scoring defense (57.6 points per game), field goal percentage (38.2) and rebound margin (plus-3.0), among others.
Kierra Wheeler leads the team with 17.9 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, while shooting 53 percent (87-for-164) from the floor.
LAST TIME OUT
Anne-Hamilton LeRoy scored a season-high 23 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, but Longwood fell to Georgia Southern, 87-65 Dec. 22 at the Joan Perry Brock Center, in the Lancers' first home game in 40 days. LeRoy moved to 11th all-time at Longwood in scoring with 1,330 points on the day she was honored for eclipsing 1,000 career points last season.
Georgia Southern received a game-high 25 points and 10 rebounds from Terren Ward for her eighth consecutive double-double as the Eagles won their eighth straight game.
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 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 (130, 44th in Division I, 47th in all NCAA divisions), points (1,330, 95th in Division I, 159th in all divisions), free throws made (361, 34th in Division I) and free throws attempted (472, 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).
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BENCH
Longwood's non-starters are averaging 23.7 points per game, a figure that is third in the Big South and 87th overall in Division I. UNC Asheville leads the league in the category at 29 points per game.
Longwood outscored the opponent bench against Chowan Nov. 12 and at Stony Brook Dec. 11.
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 Montréal, Québec, 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 (361), is also eighth in free-throw percentage (76.5) and 11th in career points (1,330), five points from passing Chelsea Coward (2009-13) for 10th.
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 141 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 hit her 100th career 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter against Georgia Southern Dec. 22, finishing 2-for-5 from distance on the day. In 130 games and 95 starts, the Seneca, S.C., native is 101-for-336 from 3-point range, good for 30.1 percent.
SHUFFLING THE DECK
Longwood has employed four different starting lineups in 11 games so far this season. The combination of Malea Brown, Anne-Hamilton LeRoy, Janay Turner, Otaifo Esenabhalu and Laney Bone has started most often, beginning five games for the Lancers. Brown, LeRoy and Turner have each started in all 11 games while Esenabhalu has drawn eight starts, Bone six and Frances Ulysse five.
CONTROLLING THE BOARDS
Longwood has played to a 5-3 record when it outrebounds its opponent in two seasons under head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. The Lancers are 2-1 when doing so this season with a combined plus-26 rebounding margin in their two victories.
SHIPP-DAVIS EARNS FIRST START
Redshirt-senior guard Adriana Shipp-Davis made her first start of the season Dec. 17 at William & Mary and responded well. The Chesapeake, Va., native led the Lancers in scoring with 12 points and grabbed three rebounds in 21 minutes of action. She was 4-for-10 from the field, including going a season-best 3-for-5 from 3-point range in what was the 52nd start of her career. Shipp-Davis has scored double figures in five of 11 games this season, including three of the last five.
TOPS IN BIG SOUTH SCORINGÂ
Longwood leads the Big South in scoring average at 61.5 points per game, which is 247th in the nation.
TWENTY-POINT SCORERS
Graduate guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy scored a team-high 23 points against Georgia Southern Dec. 22, becoming the third Longwood player to tally at least 20 in a game this season. She joined Janay Turner (career-high 22 Nov. 29 at Ohio) and Malea Brown (20 Nov. 12 versus Chowan).
So far this season, there have been 30 games in which a player has scored at least 20 points in the Big South from 17 different individuals.
FREE THROWS WIN BALLGAMES
Longwood leads the Big South in free throws made per game at 12.82, a figure that is 120th in the nation. The Lancers also lead the league in free throw attempts (18.18), which is 117th best in the country. The Lancers are second in the league in free throw percentage (70.5), which is 167th nationally.
Individually, Janay Turner ranks third in the league in free throws percentage (78.8, 160th in Division I), fourth in free throw attempts (52, 144th in Division I) and fifth in free throws made (41, 112th in Division I).
LU LEADS LEAGUE IN STEALS
As a team, the Lancers are first in the Big South in steals per game (10.9), which is 34th in the nation.
Junior guard Malea Brown is second in the league and 181st nationally in steals, averaging 1.91 per game.
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 40.5 percent (17-for-42) from distance.
As a team, the Lancers are second in the Big South in 3-point field goal percentage at 31 percent, good for 175th in the country.
OTAIFO ON THE GLASS
Freshman forward Otaifo Esenabhalu has made an impact on the boards for the Lancers in the early going this season. The Valdosta, Ga., native leads Longwood with 5.5 rebounds per game through 11 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.
TURNER PROVIDES SCORING
Janay Turner, a 5-foot-8 senior guard from Chicago, registered 10.9 points per game, scoring double digits in 16 of 29 contests in 2022-23. 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.
