Women’s basketball: Longwood releases Big South Conference schedule

The Big South Conference finalized its 2018-19 conference schedule Tuesday morning, which completes Longwood’s 29-game regular season women’s basketball schedule ahead of the first year under the direction of Longwood head coach Rebecca Tillett.

The Big South slate consists of an 18-game schedule, with the Lancers set to play home and away against eight different teams in the league with the conference schedule beginning January 5, 2019 and all of Longwood’s games being played Tuesday and Saturday.

“I’m looking forward to our staff’s first year in the Big South,” Tillett said. “In the past five years, teams in our conference have beaten multiple power five schools. The league is poised to take the next step and win another NCAA tournament game. There are several new coaches and two new teams, which should be exciting.”

The conference slate will see the Lancers play five of its first seven games away from the friendly confines of Willett Hall, with that stretch getting started with trips to Winthrop (Jan. 5) and Presbyterian (Jan. 12). Two teams the Lancers took three of four games from a season ago.

After a visit from Charleston Southern (Jan. 12) in Tillett’s home Big South debut, the Lancers will see its first league newcomer in Hampton (Jan. 15). That trip will mark one of three to the Hampton Roads area that the Longwood will face, playing Old Dominion (Nov. 29) and Norfolk State (Dec. 12) in the nonconference slate.

Following a visit from a Radford (Jan. 19) squad that became the second Big South program since 2013 to advance to the second round of the WNIT, the Lancers will round out its grueling seven-game stretch to open Big South play with trips to UNC Asheville (Jan. 22) and USC Upstate (Jan. 26).

A visit to Willett Hall from Campbell (Jan. 29) opens a stretch that will see the Lancers play six of eight games on its home floor with games against Gardner-Webb (Feb. 2), High Point (Feb. 5), USC Upstate (Feb 12), UNC Asheville (Feb. 19) and Hampton (Feb. 23).

On the heels of a trip to High Point (Feb. 26), Longwood will celebrate its four seniors – Kristina Antonenko, Ciarah Bennett, Ashlee Jones and Rosemary Ilang – prior to the team’s final home game against Presbyterian (March 2) before closing out the regular season with a trip to Charleston Southern (March 9).

“We’re looking forward to getting our alumnae back on campus to renew rivalries,” Tillett said. “We can’t wait to share our tough, unselfish style of play with our fans. Lancer Lunatics, stand up! See you in Willett!”

The Big South Tournament will be begin with the first round March 12 at the site of the higher seed, before the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played at split sites with the top-two seeds March 14-15. The Big South Championship game will be held at the highest remaining seed March 17.