HIGH POINT, N.C. -- Alone atop the Big South standings and riding a six-game winning streak, the Longwood women's basketball team travels to High Point Wednesday.
STORYLINES
â–ª A win Wednesday would give the Lancers a 5-0 start in the Big South for the first time in history. Longwood last won its first five conference games in the 2000-01 season, when head coach Shirley Duncan led LU to a 21-7 overall record, including 19-3 in the Division II Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference. Â
â–ª Saturday's game is the 39th between the Lancers and Panthers. High Point leads, 35-13, overall and 21-7 at home. The last Longwood win in the series was a 77-64 triumph in High Point on Jan. 25, 2022.
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Mariah Wilson was named Co-Big South Player of the Week Monday, averaging 20 points, five rebounds and three steals per game. Wilson shot 63.6 percent from the field, 44.4 percent from downtown and made all eight free throws for the week. After
Kiki McIntyre also earned Co-Big South Player of the Week Jan. 6, it marked the first time Longwood claimed Big South Player of the Week honors in consecutive weeks since Jan. 11 and 18, 2021, when Kyla McMakin and Akila Smith did so.
â–ª Longwood is creating 26.72 turnovers per game this season, which is tops in the NCAA, as of games played through Jan. 13. The Lancers have also forced the most total turnovers (481) of any team in the country. Further, Longwood has caused more turnovers than the opposition in 15-of-18 games this season, going 12-3 in those contests. Longwood also leads the Big South in turnover margin at plus-7.5, which is 20th in Division I.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
High Point is 8-9 overall and 3-1 in the Big South after a 64-52 loss at Gardner-Webb Saturday. Shakira Baskerville had 13 points and Nevaeh Zavala 16 rebounds to lead HPU.
Aaliyah Collins is sixth in the league in scoring, averaging 11.6 points per game while Zavala averages 5.2 boards per game, the 11th-best total. Collins is tied for third in the conference in steals per game with 2.6.
LAST TIME OUT
Four Longwood players scored double figures to as the Lancers stayed perfect in Big South Conference action with a 77-59 victory over Winthrop Saturday.
The win, Longwood's sixth consecutive and ninth in 10 games overall, improved the Lancers to 4-0 in the league for just the second time in history, joining the 2021-22 conference championship team.
Longwood shot over 50 percent from the field for the second straight game and third time in 2024-25. As they did Wednesday at UNC Asheville, the Lancers scored the game's first 10 points, ran out to a big first-quarter lead and never looked back.
Mariah Wilson scored a team-best 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting, while
Amor Harris added 16,
Kiki McIntyre 13 and
Frances Ulysse 11 off the bench. Longwood shot 51.7 percent (30-for-58) for the night and was 9-for-21 (42.9 percent) from 3-point range.
FIVE TIMES SIX
Five Longwood players are averaging double-figure points per game during the Lancers' six-game winning streak, including
Amor Harris (15.5),
Mariah Wilson (13.8),
Kiki McIntyre (11.7),
Frances Ulysse (10) and
Olivia Bowes (10).
LU has outscored the opposition by an average of 26.3 points per game in the stretch. The Lancers have also shot 49.3 percent from the field while limiting opponents to just 35.7 percent from the floor.
Longwood is averaging 17.5 steals per game and has forced 27.8 turnovers per game during the streak, as well.
MCINTYRE BIG SOUTH HONOR
Kiki McIntyre was named Co-Big South Player of the Week on Jan. 6, averaging 12 points, six steals and 3.3 rebounds per game in a 3-0 week. Her 10 steals against Presbyterian Jan. 2 tied the Big South record for steals in a league game, last accomplished by Towson's Tanya Belair, on Dec. 17, 1993 against Winthrop. It also tied her for the third most steals in Division I women's basketball this season.
HARRIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Amor Harris was named Big South Player of the Week Dec. 10 after earning MVP in the Shirley Duncan Classic. Harris averaged 17 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Her 24 field goals and 51 points in the tournament were the second and 10th most, respectively, in the NCAA for the week ending Dec. 9.
Harris was the second LU player this season to claim weekly honors, joining
Frances Ulysse, who was named Co-Big South Player of the Week Nov. 18.
NON-CON SUCCESS
Longwood went 9-5 in regular-season non-conference action. It marked the best out-of-conference record for the Lancers since Shirley Duncan's 1987-88 squad was 10-9 outside of Mason-Dixon Conference play. That team finished 14-13 overall.
WINNING THE BIG SOUTH OPENER
The Lancers beat Presbyterian, 68-56, Jan. 2, winning for just the fifth time in the first game of Big South Conference play since joining the conference for the 2012-13 season.
LUCKY 7
The Lancers played half of their 14 non-conference games in the Joan Perry Brock Center this season. That reflects a stark contrast from 2023-24 in which Longwood played seven consecutive non-league games away from Farmville from Nov. 15 at James Madison to Dec. 17 at William & Mary, traveling approximately 4,534 miles in that span.
Longwood finished regular-season non-conference play 9-5, including going 5-2 at home.
FIVE IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Longwood has had five players score double figures in three games this season. The Lancers first accomplished it in a 80-66 win at Queens on Nov. 18, then at UNCW on Dec. 29, an 84-68 victory. LU also did it Wednesday at UNC Asheville, a 95-51 win.
LANCERS SEVENTH IN BIG SOUTH POLL
Longwood was picked seventh in the 2024-25 Big South preseason poll. The Lancers earned 30 points in the poll, ahead of Presbyterian (23 points) and UNC Asheville (17).
High Point was chosen first with five first-place votes and 76 total points, followed by Radford with 57 points and one first-place nod and Charleston Southern with 55 points. Winthrop in fourth, Gardner-Webb in sixth and the Blue Hose in eighth received the remaining first-place votes.
LET'S PLAY TWO!
Forward
Montgomery Bedford, who was recruited to Farmville to play women's lacrosse for the Lancers, walked onto the women's basketball team this fall. Bedford is believed to be one of just four dual-sport student-athletes on Division I women's basketball rosters this season.
The others are Santa Clara forward Lauren Glover (women's volleyball); Cincinnati guard Daylee Dunn (track and field) and Cal State Fullerton guard/forward Samantha Schuler, (track and field).
Bedford is the first two-sport athlete to play women's basketball at Longwood since Mallory Odell did it from 2017-21 (softball).
MS. 1,000
Guard Kiki McInytre reached 1,000 career points Dec. 29 at UNCW with a layup at the 4:42 mark in the second quarter. She now has 1,055 in her time at Longwood (2023-25) and Division II St. Leo (2020-23).
FIRST TO 10 WINS
The Longwood women's and men's basketball teams combined for a 10-4 record to start the season. Longwood was the first of 13 institutions in Virginia that sponsors both sports to double-figure victories.
Norfolk State also started 10-4 with the Spartans' women's team collecting a 57-54 win at the SEC's Missouri on Nov. 10.
The Lancers (26 wins) are second in the state behind NSU (28), as of Jan. 14.
REVISITING THE DUNCAN CLASSIC
Longwood won three games in three days Dec. 6-8 in the Shirley Duncan Classic, its first home in-season tournament since 2010-11.
Amor Harris scored a career-high 23 points on 10-for-19 shooting off the bench to lift the Lancers to a 67-60 win over South Carolina State in the opener.
Harris added a team-high 12 points Saturday as Longwood overcame a 10-point third-quarter deficit to beat William & Mary for the first time since 2013, 53-44.
Longwood then rolled to an 81-54 victory over McNeese Sunday, receiving 16 points, and nine steals to go with seven assists from
Kiki McIntyre.
Harris earned MVP honors while McIntyre and
Otaifo Esenabhalu – who recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds against the Cowgirls – were named to the all-tournament team.
As a team, the Lancers caused 31.7 turnovers and tallied 18.3 steals per game in the tournament.
STUDENT-ATHLETES
Kiki McIntyre and
Bailey Williams were named to the 2023-24 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team®. To be eligible, student-athletes must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 and be starter or key contributor to their team.
THREE'S COMPANY
The Lancers went 9-for-21 (42.9 percent) from 3-point range against Winthrop Saturday. It marked the third time this season and fifth in head coach
Erika Lang-Montgomery's Longwood tenure that the Lancers made that many from distance.
Longwood also went 9-for-20 (45 percent) at Norfolk State on Nov. 7 and 9-for-27 (33.3 percent) Nov. 10 against Hood
Longwood buried 10 from downtown in an 88-59 homecoming win over Chowan Nov. 12, 2023 and nine more in a 77-64 loss at Presbyterian on Feb. 8, 2023.
The Lancers are 13-13 under Lang-Montgomery when they make at least five 3-pointers in a game.
REBOUNDING MACHINE
Sophomore
Otaifo Esenabhalu is currently 40th in the NCAA in total rebounds with 150. She is also 88th in rebounds per game at 8.3. She ranks first and second, respectively, in the categories.
Esenabhalu is also second in the Big South with eight double-figure rebounding games.
BAND OF THIEVES
Longwood made a season-high 25 steals in its 105-38 victory over Webber International Dec. 18. The Lancers have now secured at least 15 steals in a game 17 times under
Erika Lang-Montgomery. The Lancers are 15-2 in those contests. Longwood is averaging 15.5 steals per game this year, which currently leads the NCAA.
Kiki McInytre is also tops in the nation in total steals with 71,
Mariah Wilson is second in the Big South and 10th in the country with 52 steals and
Malea Brown is third in the league and 26th nationally with 46 steals. McIntyre is third in the country in steals per game at 3.94.
Longwood led the Big South and finished 21st in the country in steals per game at 10.7 last season. McIntyre led the league at 2.77 per game, good for 20th in the NCAA, while she collected 83 total steals, which also led the league and was 29th in the country.
SPREADING THE LOVE
In 15 of the first 18 games of the season, at least eight players put their names in the scoring column.
In the Nov. 10 102-21 homecoming victory over Hood, 12 of the 13 players on the roster scored points.
BENCH PRODUCTION
Longwood outscored the opponent bench in 13 games in 2023-24 and has done so in 15 of the 18 games this season.
The Lancers posted an overwhelming 62-8 edge from its reserves – the largest margin of the season – as Longwood drubbed Webber International, 105-38 on Dec. 18.
Longwood is averaging 31.9 bench points per game in 2024-25, good for ninth in NCAA Division I and first in the Big South.
CONSECUTIVE DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Otaifo Esenabhalu posted back-to-back double-doubles in the wins over Hood on Nov. 10 and at American on Nov. 13.
She tallied 12 points and 13 rebounds against the Blazers and game highs of 10 points and 13 boards versus the Eagles. They were the first consecutive double-doubles for a Longwood player since Akila Smith accomplished the feat on two separate occasions in the Lancers' Big South championship season of 2021-22. Smith last did it at North Carolina A&T (Dec. 29, 2021) and Presbyterian (Jan. 1, 2022), both Longwood victories.
Esenabhalu has five double-doubles on the season and seven in her career.
MATCHING BEST D-I START
The Lancers won three of their first four games to start the season for only the third time at the Division I level.
Longwood won its first three games of the 2006-07 season, beating American, Norfolk State and North Florida, before falling at William & Mary that year.
 In 2013-14, the Lancers dropped the opener at Seton Hall before defeating William & Mary, Utah Valley and Xavier.
ULYSSE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore forward
Frances Ulysse was named Big South Co-Player of the Week on Nov. 18. She averaged 12.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in a 1-1 week that featured Longwood's first win over American since the 2006-07 season.
WINNING THE FIRST ONE
The Lancers' season-opening 81-70 win against Lincoln (Pa.) on Nov. 4 at the Joan Perry Brock Center marked Longwood's first victory to begin a season since defeating Campbell, 71-48, in the Lancer Classic at Willett Hall on Nov. 12, 2010.
