The Longwood women’s basketball team lost heavily, 81-58, to in-state rival Radford in the semifinals of the Big South tournament. The game marked an unfortunate end to an otherwise strong season where the Lancers finished at a record of 21-10 overall and 11-5 in-conference.
The match started as expected with both teams trading baskets in a wildly fast-paced game. Longwood could not sustain their offensive success, though, as they were consistently frustrated by Radford’s stellar paint defense. Longwood had 12 points in the paint compared to Radford’s 24. Overall at half, the Lancers were shooting 8-34 from the floor, one of their worst performances of the year. The Lancers trailed 36-24 at the half.
Things got much worse for Longwood in the third quarter as Radford’s star freshman forward Georgia Simonsen continued to wreak havoc on their defense. Shots were consistently falling for Radford, and for the Lancers, it was the exact opposite. Longwood shot 5-15 from the floor in the third quarter, while Radford shot 11-15. After the third quarter, the Highlanders led by 26, and the writing was on the wall.
Radford would end up winning the game by 23 points — one the largest margins of victory in Big South women’s semifinal history.
Statistically, the Lancers were led by Graduate guard Malea Brown and Redshirt senior guard Jasmine Peaks in scoring. They scored 16 and 13, respectively. The Highlanders had three players in double-figures — with Simonsen finishing with 20, and Cate Carlson and Joi Williams ending the evening at 16 and 15, respectively.
“I’m disappointed that we didn’t perform better for 40 minutes,” said Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. “We definitely didn't show up the way we wanted to show up tonight, and so I'm disappointed because I have an amazing group of young women. Five seniors that will be leaving us. I'm disappointed that they don't get to move forward in this tournament.”
Among the five seniors are Brown and Peaks. The former has been at Longwood for three years. “I've been here for a while, and I like the Longwood community, my teammates and my coaches,” Brown said. “They make you feel at home when you are far away from home.”
“All of them are part of the turnaround,” said Lang-Montgomery of her five seniors. “[Malea] is able to say that she had a hand in the turnaround. For her to have [nine wins] in her first year and then have back-to-back twenty win seasons says a lot about her character and who she is.”
Peaks is a senior in her final year of eligibility but came to Longwood this season. “[With] Jasmine, we were lucky to find her in the portal last spring. She started almost every game for us this year and I can’t say enough about both [Brown and Peaks].”
“We jokingly say that our family, we're a variety pack. There's different types of chips in our box,” Lang-Montgomery said. “We've got a lot of unique personalities, and that's what I will miss the most. Every day was a fun day.”
