SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Longwood women's basketball team travels to USC Upstate and the G.B. Hodge Center Saturday at 4 p.m., in the midst of a eight-game winning streak, looking to maintain its unbeaten Big South record.
STORYLINES
â–ª A win would extend the Lancers' program-best Big South start to 7-0. Longwood last won its first seven conference games in the 1996-97 season, when head coach Shirley Duncan led LU to a 25-5 overall record, including 18-2 in the Division II Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference. Â
â–ª The game is the 25th between the Lancers and Spartans since 1979-80. USC Upstate leads, 13-11, overall and 6-2 in Spartanburg. The teams split the two regular-season meetings last year, each winning at home. Upstate, though, beat Longwood, 60-37, in the Big South tournament quarterfinals on March 7 to end the Lancers' season.
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Kiki McIntyre leads the NCAA in steals with 77 through games of Jan. 23. She also ranks third in the country in steals per game (3.85).
â–ª Longwood is creating 26.15 turnovers per game this season, which is tops in the NCAA, as of games played through Jan. 23. The Lancers have also forced the most total turnovers (523) of any team in the country. Further, Longwood has caused more turnovers than the opposition in 17-of-20 games this season, going 14-3 in those contests. Longwood also leads the Big South in turnover margin at plus-7.1, which is 20th in Division I.
â–ª Longwood is receiving votes in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 for the second consecutive week. The Lancers have earned three votes in each of the last two polls. Longwood last appeared in the final poll of the 2021-22 season.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
USC Upstate (4-15, 1-5 Big South) has lost its last two games at Gardner-Webb and High Point and sits eighth in the league standings.
The Spartans are led in scoring and rebounding by Rebekah Gordon, averaging 9.6 points and 8.4 boards per game. Her rebounding average is second in the Big South, and she has collected three double-doubles this season.
Cassie Gallagher, winner of three Big South Freshman of the Week honors, is averaging 8.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
LAST TIME OUT
Amor Harris hit a pull-up jumper with five seconds on the clock to vault Longwood to a 56-51 victory over Radford in on Wednesday.
Tied at 51-all with 12.9 seconds left, the Lancers worked the ball to Harris on a sideline out-of-bounds play, who knocked in an 18-footer for the lead.
Harris scored a team-best 15 points on 7-for-16 shooting and
Kiki McIntyre added 14, including three third-quarter 3-pointers, while
Mariah Wilson tallied nine points and three assists, to help Longwood escape with the win.
Neither team held a lead larger than six points in a game that featured 11 tie scores and eight lead changes.
FOUR TIMES EIGHT
Four Longwood players are averaging double-figure points per game during the Lancers' eight-game winning streak, including
Amor Harris (14),
Mariah Wilson (13),
Kiki McIntyre (11.4) and
Olivia Bowes (10).
LU has outscored the opposition by an average of 20.9 points per game in the stretch. The Lancers have also shot 47.3 percent from the field while limiting opponents to just 36.8 percent from the floor.
Longwood also is averaging 15.8 steals per game and has forced 26.1 turnovers per game in the skein, which is currently tied for the 17th longest active winning streak in Division I with UConn, Southeastern Louisiana, Fairfield and North Carolina A&T.
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 is currently tied for the fourth 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.
CONSECUTIVE BIG SOUTH HONORS
Mariah Wilson was named Co-Big South Player of the Week Jan. 13, 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.
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 1,076 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 (30 wins) are tied with NSU for second in the state, behind George Mason (31).
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 Jan. 11. 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 14-13 under Lang-Montgomery when they make at least five 3-pointers in a game.
REBOUNDING MACHINE
Sophomore
Otaifo Esenabhalu is currently 38th in the NCAA in total rebounds with 173. She is also 72nd in rebounds per game at 8.7. She ranks first in the Big South, in both categories.
Esenabhalu is also second in the Big South with nine 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 steals per game this year, which currently leads the NCAA.
Kiki McInytre is also tops in the nation in total steals with 77,
Mariah Wilson is second in the Big South and 14th in the country with 56 steals and
Malea Brown is third in the league and 25th nationally with 51 steals. McIntyre is third in the country in steals per game at 3.85.
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 16 of the first 20 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 16 of the 20 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 30.1 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.
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