[Purple Haize]

That is hitting below the belt there paly cakes! How dare you accuse me of such and lump me in the same category as OX and LUREAL!!!

[hurricane fan]

C'mon Haize. Too much after the whistle??? Maybe. Was it one sided??? Absolutely not. That chick continued to reach for the ball after the whistle. That's why she got tossed like a rag doll. Both players were out of line but by calling the tech only on KP made the call bad. I know your stance is to take the side of the official in your little striped shirts and tight pants club and I know.........that's how Mrs. Purple likes it.

[Purple Haize]

Well, here is the deal Mr Cane. If the player is continuing to reach in and take the ball AFTER THE WHISTLE., give it too her. I was always a big fan of handing the ball to my opponent after they fouled me and saying "Oh, is this what you wanted"? I was REAL popular with opposing teams. As for the pants, check out my new sig.

[jimflamesfan]

I'm trying to let this go...I really am...but if KP would've let up like Haize said, then I think the refs would have called it a jump ball and the possession arrow favored Radford...the refs were calling jump balls all night...So it seems like a no win situation.

As far as a continuation, I'll use a ice hockey analogy, where continuation is more pronounced because players are on skates. In the NHL that icing calls sometimes require a touch-up (the player has to go down and touch the puck). What often happens, is the player touches the puck...gets the whistle...and still gets crushed after the play. "By the book" it is still unsportsmanlike conduct to hit a player after the whistle...but it's assummed that you give the player a chance to finish the play...they can't stop on a dime.

And so...going back to basketball...knowing that the there is less than a minute left, and that the possession arrow favors Radford...I think most people refs would give the benefit of the doubt to the rebounder continuing after the whistle in that situation...in our case this didn't happen... And it's not the end of the world. And I need to let this go. So I'll end by saying that I hope that the girls use this loss to motivate them this offseason...and that we come back with a vengance next year. Go LU!

[thesportscritic]

LU women need to regroup after trying season

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
Wednesday, March 14, 2007


A good half-hour after Liberty lost to UNC Greensboro to finish fourth in the four-team Terrapin Classic in College Park, Md., in December, Flames forward Moriah Frazee was still full of confidence.
She suspected the competition was about to get a lot easier. Liberty played a non-conference schedule that featured five teams that will compete in this week's NCAA tournament.

Big South play had been a cakewalk for the Flames in the last 10 years, and Frazee didn't expect this season to be any different.

And why would she?

Playing on a team full of freshmen and sophomores that was missing its best player in 2005-06, Liberty breezed to a 13-1 conference record and 10th straight NCAA appearance.

A year older, Frazee didn't expect much to change for the Flames.

But what transpired over the next two months was a bit surprising to Frazee and the rest of the Big South.

Liberty lost twice to High Point. The Flames lost at home to UNC Asheville, the eventual conference tournament champion. Liberty was run off the floor in the first half at Radford, then lost to the Highlanders in the tournament semifinals a week later.

Humility served.

"I think we had a honeymoon year last year with a young team," Flames coach Carey Green said.

An early season win at Virginia, in which Megan Frazee scored 37 points, didn't do anything to soften Liberty's confidence. If anything, that win may have led Flames players to believe they were ahead of where they were supposed to be.

"The win at Virginia was extremely good, but it probably helped build our confidence, maybe a little too much," Green said. "We still needed to do some development."

The Flames sort of regressed throughout the year after the win at Virginia. Liberty hung tight in games with tournament teams Pittsburgh, George Washington and Texas-Arlington but lost to all three.

It was a year of growing pains, Green said, one that ended with Liberty at 19-12, its worst record since the 2000-01 Flames went 18-12.

Liberty was ripe for the picking, and a deep Big South full of senior-laden teams took advantage.

But was this a one-year blip or a sign that Liberty is no longer the Big South's pre-eminent women's basketball power?

Green certainly will use the latter as motivation to his young team, which played overconfident for much of the season.

"I'm excited to know that there are lessons that we've learned throughout this year," Green said. "I don't think we're going to forget them."

Liberty's development was hindered by nagging injuries to key players in the backcourt. Allyson Fasnacht never found a groove this season due to an assortment of lower back and hamstring injuries. Rachel Hammond had back issues that kept her out of games as well.

In the second half of the tournament loss to Radford, Megan Frazee went down with an injury to her left knee. Players and coaches feared the worst, considering she had missed the back half of her freshman season with torn ligaments in that same knee.

But Green confirmed Tuesday that the injury is a deep bone bruise. Painful? Certainly. But not catastrophic.

Liberty loses four seniors, including three who were at least part-time starters this season.

The Flames will welcome a freshman class for the first time in two years, and Green expects Rachel McLeod, a guard from Houston, to make an immediate impact. She's the first home-schooled athlete in Texas to be invited to compete in the state's all-star game.

The nucleus of the team will be made up of juniors - the Frazee triplets, Rebecca Lightfoot and Hammond. Green also expects big things out of 6-foot-5 forward Egle Smigelskaite, who struggled with back problems this season but started playing very well in practice at the end.

"People will be surprised with her," Green said. "She had an epidural (injection to alleviate back pain) at the beginning of the year, and it really set her back. I really believe in that kid there."

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... 7171&path=

[pointguard4christ]

That makes me want to cry, reliving this whole last season.

[thesportscritic]

That makes me want to cry, reliving this whole last season.

reliving this season would make me angry all over again. but i agree with you on what you said.

[pointguard4christ]

Now that you said it I don't know whether to cry or to be angry. Maybe I'll just be both.
Or maybe I'll just be sangry! (sad and angry at the same time)

[BJWilliams]

Just saw that High Point's stay in the WNIT didn't last long Lost 72-45 to UNC Charlotte (known simply as Charlotte now)

[thesportscritic]

Just saw that High Point's stay in the WNIT didn't last long Lost 72-45 to UNC Charlotte (known simply as Charlotte now)

not surprised by that result

[Fumblerooskies]

The school is still known as UNC Charlotte...
http://www.uncc.edu/
...their athletic teams are trying to get the "Charlotte 49ers" identity.
http://charlotte49ers.cstv.com/

[BurningFlame]

while it hurts that the streak of big south championships is over, i'm definately looking foward to next year to start a new one, Can't wait to see the progress Egle makes as she is definately my fave player and remember all the ability she showed before the injurys

[thesportscritic]

UNC-Asheville stay in the NCAA tournament is a short one as they are dismantled by LSU 77-39 tonight at the Erwin Center in Austin Texas. SLY did you get a chance to see that game down in texas? Marist, a team LU played back in December in the Terrapin classic upset Ohio State 67-63 in the NCAA tournament.

[BJWilliams]

According to the ESPN writeup, UNCA had one of their guards Ana Baker tip against Sylvia Fowles (Baker is 5'6", Fowles is 6'6")

[pointguard4christ]

I would have liked to see that one. Any idea why the coach did that?

[olldflame]

Teams used to do that against Wilt all the time, and if I'm not mistaken, one or 2 of our opponents may have done it against Katie . Since they don't have anyone who could actually contest Fowles for the tip, it doesn't matter who jumps center. They try to position their bigger girls to intercept it after she tips it.

[thesportscritic]

I would have liked to see that one. Any idea why the coach did that?

baker could have stepped back if Fowles was going to tip the ball forward and UNCA would steal the ball. That game was horrible.

[TIMSCAR20]

Except Baker wouldn't be allow to get the tap. The person jumping center cannot recover the ball 1st. in that case she wouldn't be of any value in terms of recovering the jump ball. The best thing for her would be to sprint to her man (woman) or get back on D.

[ATrain]

Marist becomes the third 13-seed to make the Sweet 16, after Texas A&M and Liberty.

[thesportscritic]

how will Marist fair against Tennessee though? they do have much better ball handlers than LU does. It shall be interesting.

[ATrain]

I'm predicting Marist gets crushed by the Lady Vols.