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Senior Adriana Shipp-Davis scored a game-high 17 points, adding eight rebounds, to lead the Longwood women to a 66-45 victory over Radford in a critical Big South Conference contest at the Joan Perry Brock Center Saturday.

Shipp-Davis shot 7-for-14 from the field, helping the Lancers (8-19, 5-9 Big South) win their second game this week and for the sixth time in seven outings against the in-state rival Highlanders (11-17, 7-7).

Longwood also received 11 points from fellow senior guard Kiki McIntyre on a night the program honored its six senior student-athletes and one graduating student manager. McIntyre tied her career-high with eight steals, also chipping in four assists.

“I was just super proud of our team,” Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery said.

“Tonight obviously was important for a lot reasons – senior night, you’re playing your in-state rival who you lost to the first game by five – there was a lot of reasons to be excited about this game and I loved how our team showed up and responded to the challenge.

“Really, I’m so proud, not just of our team, but just our fans and our community,” Lang-Montgomery continued. “This crowd was great tonight. It was so electric. They were loud, they were engaged, I really think they were the X factor tonight for us.

Breaking down the game 

The Lancers never relinquished the lead, holding advantages of 13-5 after the first quarter, 27-20 at halftime and 50-30 through three. Longwood limited Radford to just 27.5 percent from the field, LU’s best defensive effort in Big South play this season. The Highlanders also hit just one of their 19 attempts from 3-point range, while the Lancers forced 25 turnovers and swiped 18 steals, its second-highest total in the latter category this season.

“We’ve stressed our defense all year and how that has to be the catalyst for our offense, and I just feel like our team really bought into to the scout and to our preparation for tonight.”

In all, nine players contributed points with six scoring at least seven apiece. Junior Malea Brown scored eight, including a halfcourt heave at the halftime buzzer. Freshman forward Otaifo Esenabhalu tallied seven points and corralled 14 rebounds as well. Esenabhalu’s night on the glass helped the Lancers to a plus-10 margin on the boards with 42 caroms overall.

Longwood shot 43.1 percent as a team, connecting on 22-of-51 shots from the field and 20 of its 28 shots from the free throw line.

Up next for Longwood women

The Lancers play a final regular-season home game Wednesday when they host Gardner-Webb at 7 p.m., at the Joan Perry Brock Center.

“I don’t want to look yet,” Lang-Montgomery said, referring to preparations for the Runnin’ Bulldogs. “I want to enjoy this a little bit longer and we’ll start to get ready for them on Monday.

“It was a good night for Longwood.”