BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. -- The Longwood women's basketball team travels to take on Gardner-Webb at Paul Porter Arena Wednesday. Mark Binetti and Stephen Giles will have the call on ESPN+.
STORYLINES
▪ Wednesday marks the 29th meeting between Longwood and Gardner-Webb, dating to a 88-78 Runnin' Bulldogs' victory to open the 1991-92 season at Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs. GWU holds a 13-2 edge in the series at home. Longwood's last win against the Bulldogs was an 86-75 victory on Jan. 22, 2022 in Farmville.
▪ The Lancers shot 50 percent from the field for the second time under second-year head coach
Erika Lang-Montgomery Saturday at Presbyterian, connecting on 24-of-48 shots. Longwood was 11-for-19 (57.9 percent) in the second half, nearly allowing LU to complete its second consecutive comeback victory after being down by as many as 12 points with just over 11 minutes to play.
▪ Longwood had four players score in double figures for the second time in three games at Presbyterian on Saturday after last accomplishing the feat Feb. 18, 2023 at Radford in a 65-63 win.
▪ Despite the loss Saturday, Longwood won four specialty stats categories, topping Presbyterian in points off turnovers (20-9), points in the paint (34-22), fastbreak points (7-0) and bench points (17-2).
▪ Anne-Hamilton LeRoy is currently 36th all-time in the Big South in scoring with 1,400 points – just two points from passing Coastal Carolina's Brooke Weisbrod for 35th – and is one of 141 players in league history to score 1,000 career points. LeRoy is ninth all-time in scoring at Longwood. She is also fourth all-time in the Big South in games played with 137, making her 100th start Jan. 10 at Radford.
SCOUTING GARDNER-WEBB
Gardner-Webb comes into play at 2-16 overall and 1-4 in the Big South Conference after a 61-50 loss at Winthrop Saturday. The Eagles outscored GWU, 36-18, in the second half to erase a seven-point third quarter lead.
Forward Andrea Martinez earned Big South Freshman of the Week on Monday, averaging 8.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in a pair of losses. She grabbed 17 rebounds against Radford, tying the most boards in a single game by a player in the Big South this season.
Ashley Hawkins leads Gardner-Webb at 14.9 points per game while Ramatoulaye Keita is tops on the team with 7.2 rebounds per game. Hawkins is atop the Big South in minutes per game (33.64), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.12), assists (93) and assists per game (5.2).
LAST TIME OUT
Janay Turner's 3-point shot from a sideline out-of-boards play caught glass and Presbyterian held on, 69-66, topping Longwood at the Templeton Center Saturday.
Longwood had possession on the left sideline with 2.9 seconds remaining after two PC free throws, but the Blue Hose defended well, forcing the Turner miss.
Longwood had a chance to tie the game with 7.1 seconds on the clock, but graduate guard Anne-Hamilton LeRoy converted just 1-of-2 free throws seconds before the final play.
LeRoy led four in double digits with a game-high 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting, and the Lancers shot 50 percent, but PC drained 10 3-pointers to sneak away with the victory.
TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
Longwood's non-conference slate was set up to be a challenge and it proved to be. The 10 non-league teams who defeated the Lancers this season own a combined record of 112-66 (.629), as of Tuesday.
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 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 (137, 37th in Division I, 39th in all NCAA divisions), points (1,400, 97th in Division I, 163rd in all divisions), free throws made (375, 35th in Division I) and free throws attempted (492, 36th 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.
CRASHIN' THE BOARDS
Freshman forward Otaifo Esenabhalu has grabbed at least eight rebounds per game in five of the last eight games, dating to Dec. 22 against Georgia Southern when she collected nine. Esenabhalu is averaging 6.4 boards in that span, with an average of 6.8 in six Big South Conference games to rank sixth in the league. She is tied for sixth in offensive (2.3) and ninth in defensive (4.5) rebounds.
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BENCH
Longwood's non-starters are averaging 21.3 points per game, a figure that is third in the Big South and 104th overall in Division I.
Longwood has outscored the opponent bench against Chowan Nov. 12, at Stony Brook Dec. 11, at Charleston Southern Jan. 6, versus UNC Asheville Jan. 13, against USC Upstate Jan. 17 and at Presbyterian Saturday.
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 (375), is also eighth in free-throw percentage (76.2) and ninth in career points (1,400), three points from passing Cassie Ensley (1990-95) or eighth.
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 69 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 43 times in her career, leading the Lancers to an 18-25 record in those games. When Shipp-Davis goes for 20 or more, which she's done nine times, Longwood has played to a 4-5 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 137 games and 103 starts, the Seneca, S.C., native is 101-for-343 from 3-point range, good for 29.4 percent.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
With 20 points and 15 rebounds versus Norfolk State Dec. 31, Adriana Shipp-Davis tallied the 13th double-double in the Big South this season and first for Longwood. She is one of 12 players in the league to achieve the feat this season.
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.
SHOOTING TRENDS
Longwood fell at Presbyterian, 69-66, Saturday while shooting 50 percent (24-for-48) overall as a team and 57.9 percent in the second half. The Lancers limited Upstate to 49 percent on the night, as well, and are now to 9-4 overall under head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery and 4-4 in 2023-24 when outshooting the opposition.
SHUFFLING THE DECK
Longwood has employed five different starting lineups in 17 games so far this season. The five-player group of Kiki McIntyre, Anne-Hamilton LeRoy, Janay Turner, Fances Ulysse and Adriana Shipp-Davis has started a team-high seven consecutive games and are 2-5 together.
LeRoy and Turner have started in all 18 games while Ulysse has started 12 times
CONTROLLING THE BOARDS
Longwood has played to a 6-3 record when outrebounding its opponent in two seasons under head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. The Lancers are 3-1 when doing so this season with a combined plus-20 rebounding margin in their four victories.
SHIPP-DAVIS SPARKS LANCERS
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 eight of 18 games this season, including six of the last 11.
SECOND IN LEAGUE IN SCORING
Longwood is second in the Big South in scoring average at 61.5 points per game, which is 249th in the nation.
20-POINT SCORERS
Anne-Hamilton LeRoy scored a game-high 22 points at Presbyterian Saturday for her second 20-point game of the season Janay Turner (20 Jan. 17 versus USC Upstate and 22 Nov. 29 at Ohio) also has multiple 20-point games for Longwood . The Lancers now have six games of at least 20 points this season.
There have been 54 games in which a player has scored at least 20 points in the Big South from 21 different individuals.
FREE THROWS WIN BALLGAMES
The Lancers lead the league in free throw attempts (18.72), which is 86th best in the country. Longwood is second in the Big South in free throws made per game at 12.17, a figure that is 125th in the nation. The Lancers are sixth in the league in free throw percentage (68), which is 247th nationally.
Individually, Janay Turner ranks fourth in the league in both free throws attempted (87, 93rd in Division I) and free throws made (63, 110th in Division I).
LANCERS LEAD LEAGUE IN STEALS
As a team, the Lancers lead the Big South in steals per game (10.6), which is 37th in the nation.
Junior guard Kiki McIntyre leads the league in steals per game (2.22, 79th in Division I) and steals (40, 65th in Division I). Fellow junior guard Malea Brown ranks fourth in the league and 208th nationally in steals per game at 1.78.
BIG SOUTH FIELD GOAL SHOOTING
Through six games, Longwood is second in the league in field goal percentage in Big South games, shooting 42.4 (137-of-323).
TURNER FROM DOWNTOWN
Janay Turner went 5-for-7 from 3-point range in the Jan. 17 win over USC Upstate, matching her career high for 3-point makes in a game, and is shooting 39.7 percent (31-for-78) from distance on the year.
As a team, the Lancers are fourth in the league in 3-point field goal percentage at 30.8 percent, which is 190th nationally.
OTAIFO ON THE GLASS
Freshman forward Otaifo Esenabhalu has made an impact on the boards for the Lancers this season. She leads Longwood with 5.7 rebounds per game through 18 games.
Esenabhalu is one of just seven 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. Adriana Shipp-Davis also pulled down 15 Dec. 31 against Norfolk State, tying her career high.
THE ROAD GOES ON FOREVER
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.
