On their Play4Kay Pinkout and their senior day, the Longwood women’s basketball team downed UNC Asheville 72-60 in the Joan Perry Brock Center on Saturday. Five players and a team manager were celebrated as Longwood improved to 8-2 in conference play.
Longwood started out the gates well by holding the visiting Bulldogs to converting just one of their first nine shots. Graduate student guard Malea Brown converted a three-pointer to give the Lancers an early advantage. UNC Asheville frustrated the Lancers too, and took a 10-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Lancers still weren’t able to get much to work from downtown but junior forward Frances Ulysse led the Lancers with eight points at the half as Longwood held a 36-26 lead into halftime.
The Lancers gained control of the third quarter through junior guard Amor Harris as she hit an early triple and followed it up with a mid-range. With shooting percentages around 35% for both teams entering the fourth, it was Harris who dictated the final two quarters and she capped it by hitting a crucial three pointer with a few minutes left. Senior guard Jaci Bolden hit the dagger three-pointer as she extended the lead to nine with only four minutes to play. Longwood won by 12 points and extended their win streak to four games.
Harris led the Lancers with 17 points while Ulysse ended with 13 points and eight rebounds, a performance that led to the Canadian being named player of the game. “Frances [Ulysse] has been efficient for us all year,” said Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. “I talked to the team a little bit earlier this week about ‘we don’t need to be perfect, we just need to be consistent’ and she is somebody that is consistent and shows up every night.” Harris, who’s Longwood’s leading scorer on the season, secured her fifth double-digit scoring game in conference play this season and her 14th in all games.
In this game however, Longwood had to wait a little bit before the points started to flow. UNC Asheville holds their opponents to an average of 60 points per game. In their previous Big South encounter, they held Charleston Southern to just 48 points. “It was about adjusting…they were packing in the paint earlier,” said Harris. “[UNC Asheville] are a scrappy team…it’s just about fighting through fouls and making sure we move the ball.” The Lancers ended up finding their touch as the game went on, especially in the fourth where they shot 60% from the floor. “We had a big second quarter, I think seeing the ball go through the basket settled us down,” Lang-Montgomery said. “Again, we were a little flat in that third but I thought in the fourth quarter we really executed well.”
With it being senior day, Longwood honored guards Brown, Bolden, JaMya Robinson and Jasmine Peaks. Ulysse was also honored as she finished her course work in the fall semester. Student manager Justin Montgomery was also honored in the festivities. He is the son of head coach Lang-Montgomery.
Following High Point’s loss to Radford, the Lancers now sit only one and a half games behind the Panthers for the regular season title. The Longwood women’s basketball team will now face High Point on the road on Wednesday, February 11 in a massive occasion on ESPN+.
