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[AdrianaLongwood’s Adriana Shipp-Davis knows her college basketball career is winding down. But rather than be sad, the 5’10 redshirt senior guard says she’s grateful for the experience and being able to etch her name in the record books.

One week after collecting her 500th career rebound in a game at Winthrop, the Chesapeake native from Deep Creek High School joined the 1000-point club during a Feb. 17 matchup against Presbyterian.  As she has done time and time throughout her career with the Lancers, Shipp-Davis attacked off the dribble and scored with relative ease.

“Thankfully while the game was happening, I wasn’t thinking much about it,” Shipp-Davis explained.  “The defender didn’t have a great close out.  I’m dominant right-hand, so I just took it to the basket.  I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw my parents going crazy.  I didn’t know until I saw my parents’ reaction and thought to myself ‘Finally, I got that out of the way.’”

Shipp-Davis became just the 142nd player in Big South history to get to 1000 career points and 80th in the conference’s history to amass 1000-plus points and 500-plus rebounds.

“People always talk about getting it, but it’s actually a lot harder than you think it would be,” Shipp-Davis added of the milestone of 1000 points.  “As you get closer and more people keep talking about it, there’s a little bit more pressure.  I’m glad I don’t have to think about it anymore.”

‘She puts in the work’ 

Coach Erika Lang-Montgomery recognizes the milestone as a particularly huge one, given that she came up just short – less than 100 points – on achieving it during her playing career at the University of Florida in the ultra-competitive SEC.  Missing part of her senior season kept her in part from getting there. 

“That stung, and the other reason was because I was a horrific free-throw shooter.  If I had made my free-throws, I would’ve gotten it,” Lang-Montgomery stated.

“I’m always excited when I have players that hit it because it’s just a testament to how much work they put it into the game and how they find ways to impact their basketball programs.  Adriana is a very passionate and dedicated player.  She puts in the work, trains hard and is somebody that will stay after practice to shoot or get there early and get shots up if she has time.  [Adriana] makes time to excel on the court because she wants to be one of the best players on the floor.

“She wants to learn the game more and find ways to get better.  [Adriana] spends a lot of time watching film, working on different things that can help us in our offense as well as our defense.  She finds a way to use her voice to motivate her teammates.  Obviously, it all shows in her play every day.”

Adriana Shipp-Davis feels at home

From the moment Adriana Shipp-Davis arrived in Farmville, she felt right at home, adjusting fine to redshirting as a freshman along with being asked to play some guard at first and then at forward.

“When I first got to Longwood, I felt it was small, but so is Deep Creek.  I liked that feeling about it and the people here.  I got comfortable right away,” Shipp-Davis commented.

“I’ve just gone and been able to hang wherever my coaches have put me.  It’s mainly been about being able to adapt.  I could always score, but I’ve been trying to work at being more consistent.  I think last year and some of this year I’ve been able to do that.  We obviously want to have a better record than what we have, but I think we’re trending in the right direction.”

During the 2021-22 campaign, Longwood achieved its first ever Division I NCAA Tournament appearance, beating Campbell 86-47 in the Big South Conference Tournament Championship and then won an opening round game, 74-70 over Mount St. Mary’s.  The Lancers had a 22-12 overall record that season.

Shipp-Davis earned Second Team All-Big South honors in 2022-23, elevating her play with averages of 13.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while making 25 starts.  

Plenty of memories have been made.

“I’ve really enjoyed school and the people I’ve met.  Getting a new arena was really cool and probably the highlight winning the Championship my junior [year] with the parade that came after that because the whole town of Farmville came,” Shipp-Davis said.  “Winning it the same year the men won it was really cool, too, and I feel is rare.” 

Adriana Shipp-Davis looks ahead

With three wins in their past four games, Longwood heads into the Big South Conference Tournament with a 9-20 overall record, 6-10 in league play and the No. 7 seed before a matchup on March 7th against No. 2 seed USC Upstate.

Regardless of how this season ends, a legacy has been established by the driven guard from the Tidewater area just a few hours away.

“We haven’t had the season thus far that we had hoped and anticipated, but sometimes that’s a part of building.  You take those lumps on the front end to help you mature and grow on the back end.  I definitely think when she looks that she’ll be able to say she was a part of it all,” Lang-Montgomery remarked.  

“She was on the building side on the first half of her career.  They won the Championship in 2022.  Then, it’s a new coaching staff and some new teammates.  So she’s been through the waves of it and she’ll definitely say she left her footprint on the program.”

Shipp-Davis technically has another year of eligibility, though is unsure of what her status will be beyond the 2023-24 campaign.

“Basketball is going to be in my life.  I’m just not sure in what capacity yet,” noted Shipp-Davis.

“I hope that the people know that I cared about Longwood, cared about Farmville and have a sense of pride when I play because it’s important to me.  I also hope that the people of Farmville that come to our games know that I really appreciate it, they’re like a part of me now and I’m going to miss them when I’m done.”