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Last season didn’t end as planned. The Longwood Women’s Basketball Team was eliminated 60-37 in the quarterfinals of the Big South Tournament back in March. But that was then. Several months later, the Lancers have added some new faces to the team and seen current players continue to develop. Coach Erika Lang-Montgomery said she’s been encouraged by how the summer went.

“Excited for year three,” said Lang-Montgomery. “We had a really good summer of gelling and getting to know each other. I felt like when we got back to campus in August, we were able to pick up right where we left off. We’re definitely at that point in the season where we’re ready to compete against someone other than ourselves.”

Answering questions at the Big South Media Day, Lang-Montgomery said she’s focused on being on the other side of some close games for a change.

“A goal of mine, and hopefully for our team too, is as we go through conference play, we pull out more of those close games,” she said. “Last year, we had several that were single digit losses. If we execute a bit better down the stretch or make better decisions earlier in the game, we can win some of those.”

Last season was a time of growth and development for the Lancers, as the young team learned how to make those decisions Lang-Montgomery mentioned. They started off rough, going 1-10 in non-conference play, and running into some of those close games she referred to, like the 75-72 loss to Ohio. Conference play didn’t start much better, with the team going 2-6 in the month of January. But then something started to click, with the Lancers winning three of their last four and taking conference regular season champion High Point to the wire.

FOCUSED ON WINNING

Lang-Montgomery said another goal of hers was to win at least one game in the Big South tournament this season. She sees a stronger Lancers team suiting up, one that’s shooting better and just ready to compete.

“The energy is different, the competitiveness is different,” Lang-Montgomery said. She added that some practices got heated at times this fall, with coaches having to step in and remind everyone they’re on the same side. But she appreciated the hustle and competitive spirit all of that stems from.

“When you’ve lost as many games as we did last season, sometimes that’s rooted in you, so learning to win is important,” Lang-Montgomery said.

Part of that will to win stems from new faces on the team. Lang-Montgomery points to Jaci Bolden as one of those. Bolden, a junior-college transfer from Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina, helped the Sea Devils to a 25-4 record last season, advancing to the NJCAA Region 10 championship game as a sophomore in 2023-24. She tallied 20.9 points 4.1 rebounds and four assists per game as a sophomore.

Lang-Montgomery also singled out Lili Booker, a freshman guard from Charlotte, North Carolina.

“She’s a freshman who’s just really good at creating an open space,” Lang-Montgomery said of the 5’6” Booker.

She also gave credit to returning 6’2” sophomore forward Otaifo Esenabhalu. The Georgia native played in all 30 games last season, starting in eight. She averaged 4.9 points and 6.9 rebounds, while earning two Big South Freshman of the Week awards.

“It’s good to have her as (a) cornerstone,” Lang-Montgomery said. “I think having a year in our system (helped).”

BREAKING DOWN THE SCHEDULE

Overall, Lang-Montgomery said she’s looking forward to the season, including hosting an in-season tournament at Longwood. That’ll happen Dec. 6 to 8, when Longwood hosts the Shirley Duncan Classic, with William & Mary, McNeese State and South Carolina State all coming to Farmville.

The Lancers will play two schools that advanced to the postseason last season — Norfolk State (Nov. 7) and Florida (Dec. 15) — both on the road. The trip to Gainesville marks the third all-time matchup with the Gators and first under the direction of Lang-Montgomery, who played at Florida from 1988-92 and was an assistant coach there from 2019-21.

“We’ve got a lot of great pieces,” Lang-Montgomery said of her team, adding that she’s looking forward to getting things started over the next few weeks.

Longwood opens the season Nov. 4 at home against Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, before heading to Norfolk to take on the 27-4 MEAC-champion Spartans three days later for the second time in two seasons.