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Senior guard Malea Brown posted her second 20-point game of the season and grabbed a game-high-tying eight rebounds for the Longwood women, but Radford pulled away in the fourth quarter for an 80-67 win at the Dedmon Center on Saturday.

The Highlanders shot 50 percent from the floor and hit 13 3-pointers on the way to their fifth consecutive win. Trailing by five at the start of the final quarter, Amor Harris knocked down a jumper for the Lancers to cut the deficit to 61-58 before Radford engineered a 10-2 run over the next two-plus minutes, opening a double-digit lead with five minutes remaining.

Radford (11-13, 8-3) grew the lead to as many as 15 in the final moments to split the season series with its in-state rival. Longwood (16-8, 7-3) has now dropped two games in a row for the just the second time this season.

With the win and High Point’s victory over UNC Asheville, both teams climb over Longwood into a tie for the top spot in the Big South standings.

“I think Radford is playing some really good basketball,” Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery said. “I mean, it proves they’ve won, you know, their last however many. They shot the ball extremely well tonight and are playing well together — 22 assists on 28 baskets is an incredible stat line. They were the better team today.”

Breaking down the numbers

Brown shot 8-for-18 from the field, tallying her fourth career 20-point game, helping the Lancers shoot over 46 percent in the first half. Radford, however, was 46 percent from distance in the contest against the Lancers, who entered play 11th best in NCAA Division I at guarding the 3-point line, allowing the opposition to connect at a just 25-percent rate.

“They did a good job of spacing us out, putting us into rotation and finding open shooters,” Lang-Montgomery said of Radford’s effort from beyond the arc. “The same shots that they got at our place, they connected on them today.”

Longwood, which was down, 23-18, after the first quarter and 41-36 at the half, tied the game, 43-43, at the 7:29 mark of the third when Frances Ulysse canned a pair of free throws. Lili Booker pulled her team even at 46-all with two more from the line, but Joi Williams responded with a quick trey to ignite a 10-4 run and give Radford a a six-point edge with three minutes to go in the quarter.

Wiliams led all players with a career-high 23 points, including going 5-for-11 from 3-point range.

The Longwood women held a 36-33 advantage on the glass, pulling down 14 offensive rebounds, while collecting 16 second-chance points. LU also scored 32 points in the paint and made 18 free throws.

Harris finished with 14 points and Mariah Wilson added 10. Ulysse registered eight points and seven boards.Taylor Napper scored 14 points and Makayla Firebaugh 12 for the Highlanders.

“It was a basketball game with two very good teams,” said Lang-Montgomery. “We did a lot of things well tonight with outrebounding them, got to the free-throw line, shot it well from there.

“They made big plays,” Lang-Montgomery continued. “The couple of plays that stand out in my mind were late game when they were on the free-throw line and we had an opportunity, they missed, and we didn’t box out, and they came up with those rebounds. They were the tougher team on the floor.”

Up next for Longwood women

Next up, the Lancers host High Point Wednesday at the Joan Perry Brock Center at 7 p.m., on ESPN+.