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Mariah Wilson led all players with 19 points and eight rebounds to pace the Longwood women to a 67-59 victory over UNC Asheville at the Joan Perry Brock Center on Saturday.

Wilson shot 8-for-13 from the field as the Lancers claimed their third consecutive win and 10th in the Big South, also earning their third straight over the Bulldogs (2-25, 0-14).

“We’ve been chugging away as the season goes, so I’m excited we were able to get the win at home tonight,” said Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. “It just really says a lot about how this program has developed over the last few years, so I’m happy with that.”

The Longwood women, who moved to 19-9 overall with the win, built a 38-24 advantage at halftime by shooting 11-for-19 (57.9 percent) in the second quarter. After Asheville made a run to close to within 48-43 by the end of the third frame, the Lancers were 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) in the final 10 minutes to ensure the win.

“I give Asheville a lot of credit. At this point in the year, a team that hasn’t won a game in conference, they still have a lot of fight,” said Lang-Montgomery. “They’re playing really hard for their coach, and so they forced us into some things that we didn’t want to, and we had a little trouble executing against their zone tonight, but I think when it’s all said and done, we were able to get the job done.”

Longwood women take off in second half

Malea Brown went for 13 points, a game-best four assists and three steals, while Amor Harris had nine points, rebounds and three assists. In all, 10 of the 11 Lancers to see the floor scored points and five different players dished multiple assists. The Longwood women posted 19 assists on 26 made baskets for the game, marking the 11th time this season it had 15 or more helpers.

“I just think it speaks to our depth,” Lang-Montgomery said. “That sounds like something we were doing earlier in the year, where we really were distributing the ball. We had people coming off the bench that were making contributions.”

Wilson scored eight points in a second stanza that saw Longwood tally 12 consecutive points over three-plus minutes. UNC Asheville limited the Lancers to just three baskets in the third quarter to climb as close as 46-43 inside the final minute of the period.

The Lancers, however, got scoring contributions from six players in the fourth for the victory on a night that Longwood celebrated the return of nearly 20 women’s basketball alumnae, including legendary head Shirley Duncan. The game doubled as Longwood’s Play4Kay Pink Out, raising awareness for all cancers affecting women.

“This is a day that we can honor our former players, former student-athletes who came back today,” said Lang-Montgomery. “I think we had almost 20 or so in the building with their family, and then we had coach Duncan here as well, and so that was really the icing on the cake tonight.”

‘One game at a time’

Longwood secured a 41-38 rebounding edge, got 30 points in the paint and 32 from its bench.

Dakota McCaughan recorded 15 points and six assists for UNC Asheville and Alana Swift added 13 points and five rebounds.

The Lancers are back in action Wednesday at Winthrop. Tip time is 5:30 p.m., on ESPN+.

“We’re still taking it one game at a time,” Lang-Montgomery said. “We’ve got two games left, Winthrop and Upstate, and so, just working on can we get better — little things.”