Season isn’t over for Longwood women, as team earns WNIT bid

Published 5:02 pm Friday, March 14, 2025

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The record-setting season for the Lady Lancers will continue. Led by graduate guard Kiki McIntyre, the nation’s steals leader and the Big South Defensive Player of the Year, the Longwood women will take their up-tempo and dynamic style of play to the 2025 Triple Crown Sports Postseason WNIT.

The team will learn their first-round opponent in the 48-team field on Monday.

First held in 1998 and in its 27th season, the Postseason WNIT features 11 automatic qualifiers and 37 at-large selections, flexing a mix of Power 4 conferences as well as ascending mid-major programs.

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Winners of six of its last eight games, including making a run to the Big South Conference title game for the third time in history, Longwood grabbed one of the first two automatic bids for the event, joining Lindenwood out of the Ohio Valley Conference.

“We are excited for the opportunity to continue our season representing the Big South in the WNIT,” Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery said. ‘It is a testament to the hard work put in by our players and staff this season. We grew throughout the year, persevered through moments of adversity, but continued to stay together. I couldn’t be more proud of this team and the steps forward we took together this year.”

Third time for Longwood women

Longwood, sitting at 22-11, has now been selected for postseason play at the at NCAA Division I level for the third time after advancing to the second round of the 2022 NCAA tournament and earning an invite to the Women’s Basketball Invitational following the 2020-21 season. The Lancers were unable to compete in that event due to COVID-19 protocols within the program.

Lang-Montgomery has orchestrated a 13-win improvement over both of her first two seasons in Farmville to become the first in Longwood women’s basketball history to earn Big South Coach of the Year honors, guiding the Lancers to more than 20 wins for the second time at the Division I level and eighth time in at least 56 seasons, dating to 1969-70.

Through games of March 13, Longwood leads the NCAA in turnovers forced per game (24.61), total turnovers forced (812) and is fourth in the country in steals per game at 13.5, while limiting the opposition to just 59 points per game.

Offensively, the Lancers boast a balanced attack with no fewer than five players averaging at least eight points per game.