Longwood women’s basketball recorded a historic win in Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tennessee on Saturday, March 8, defeating Radford 73-65. Four players scored double figures in an close win to secure their spot in the Big South championship game against High Point.
The Longwood Lancers women’s basketball team ran away with their quarterfinal game against USC Upstate. The semifinals pitted them against in-state rival Radford. The Lancers raced out to a 7-0 lead before Radford went on an 8-0 run of their own. The game was neck and neck throughout the first quarter, and the score was deadlocked at 20-20 at the end of the first. The second quarter was more kind to Longwood, as they had a 10-0 run in the final five minutes of the second quarter. The Lancers shot 13-for-28 in the first half and senior guard Mariah Wilson led the team with 10 points.
The Lancers won their last game against Upstate by their defense, and it was clear in this game they were using their offensive creativity to try and pull out the victory. They still had forced 12 turnovers by halftime but still were having trouble defending the three-point shot, as Radford had splashed in five by the middle of the third quarter. Despite the Highlanders' lead heading into the fourth quarter, Longwood stormed back in front as Radford went over five minutes without a made shot. Following their solid free throws, the Lancers closed out the game and won 73-65.
Sophomore guard Amor Harris led the Lancers in scoring with 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting, while graduate student point guard Kiki McIntyre had 13 points of her own and grabbed six rebounds. “Really proud of the effort my team gave for 40 minutes,” said Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. “We talked about adversity coming, and we talked about how we have to fight and we have to battle, and we did that for 40 minutes.”
Longwood faced significant pressure in the third quarter, as Radford's three pointers kept falling. “That third quarter could have knocked the wind out of us, could have knocked us down…but we had a mission and we stayed together,” said Lang-Montgomery. “We play better when we play together,” said Wilson who finished with 11 points and five rebounds.
The Lancers now face number one seed High Point on Sunday, March 9 at 6 p.m. on ESPN2. A win would mean a second trip to the NCAA women's tournament in the program's history. “It’s going to be a heavyweight fight," Lang-Montgomery said. "You've got two very good basketball clubs that want only one thing, and there's only one of them to go around."
