FARMVILLE, Va. — Sophomore forward Otaifo Esenanhalu came off the bench to notch her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds, but Navy earned a 75-61 win over the Longwood women's basketball team at the Joan Perry Brock Center Saturday.
Esenabhalu, who came into play 25th in the NCAA in double-doubles this season, collected 10 points and 10 rebounds in the second half for her fifth career double-double to help the Lancers try to climb out of an 11-point halftime deficit. Navy, though, staved off the comeback effort to improve to 6-0 on the year.
"I'll give Navy credit," Longwood head coach
Erika Lang-Montgomery said. "They're a great basketball team. They came out, really set the tone early. We were slow to match their aggressiveness in that first quarter, but I thought our team came back, responded well the rest of the way, tried to make it a little bit more interesting, but fell short this afternoon."
The Midshipmen received a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds from reigning Patriot League Player of the Week Zanai Barnett-Gay and another 18 points, seven boards and six blocks from Kate Samson in the win.
Senior guard
Mariah Wilson added a career-high-tying 13 points for Longwood on 6-for-10 shooting to lead the Lancers (4-3) in their first loss on home court this season.
Malea Brown and
Kiki McIntyre each scored nine points.
"She's an energy spark for us, and so she really sets the tone in that area and I thought she really worked hard to try to get our team going," Lang-Montgomery said of Wilson. "She made some big plays and was really able to find some openings to get to the rim, get to the basket, had some big stops, even some deflections, things that don't show up on the stat sheet, so I thought she had a good afternoon for us."
Longwood won the opening tip, scored first on a bucket inside from
Frances Ulysse and stayed with the Mids early. But Navy closed the first quarter with a 9-0 run, keeping the Lancers off the scoreboard for the final 5:25 of the period to lead, 18-7, after one.
The Midshipmen held that advantage through the end of the half, going 7-for-11 from the field in the second quarter, leading, 36-25, at the break.
Navy grabbed its largest lead of the day at 19 midway through the third as Barnett-Gay knocked down a pull-up jumper for a 46-27 edge. Longwood outscored the visitor, 10-5, over the final five minutes of the frame, ending it with an putback from Esenabhalu, to shave the deficit to 51-37.
Longwood, however, was unable to get back to within striking distance down the stretch as the lead never slipped below double figures despite the Lancers connecting on 9-of-14 attempts from the field in the final 10 minutes.
Navy shot 43.5 percent on the day compared to 42 percent for Longwood and outrebounded the Lancers, 45-33, with 21 boards coming on the offensive glass.
Longwood next hosts Elon Tuesday at 6 p.m., on ESPN+.
