[jimflamesfan]

It just seemed like a continuation...they showed a replay and both Big South announcers (not LU) seemed to agree that you've got to let that go.

The girl annoucer said something like, "She may have pulled her a little, but You've gotta expect a physical play there and let it go" or something like that...I didn't even see the pull down...it's just that she sortof threw the ball into the other player.

If you want to go by the book...they missed a double-dribble on the RU's previous basket.

But thanks for the explanation. I'm still bitter. I'm trying to get over it now. I think I'll be okay tomorrow.

[thesportscritic]

At times we just looked lost out their. Like BigSm. said on another thread we just don't have the talent we should.

This team has not gotten any better since the sweet 16. Last season they were lost without Megan and by some miracle won last year. This year no megan and still this team looked lost out there. We are a freakin turnover machine. Something has to change in this program to go to the next level.

[krh44]

I am not trying to be negative but A ten year run, sweet 16th birth and First round pick - we should be where WU in mens hoops or atleast better off talent wise. Hopefully this was our down year and next year we won't say 12 in a row but 11 out of 12!

[ATrain]

The big question for this team is: What went wrong after the UVA win?
Is it that ESPN is just a jinx, or what happened behind the scenes/off the court?

[thepostman]

I am disappointed we lost...I thought we would pull this one out...I really did....but I also knew that with the way the girls have played lately you never know...

I have said the entire second half of the season that I think the whole media coverage thing was distracting this team...they are human and when all the focus is on the triplets jealousy takes over...Its human nature like it or not....now that is not the complete reason for the season going the way it did, but I know it had to play a huge role in this whole thing

I had a conversation with GMTM about this same issue a month and a half ago, and told him if we continue to let things distract us we will not being winning another championship this year

TURNOVERS!!!

All season long this has been what has killed us....that has got to be fixed in the offseason...I am not sure how you coach that.....



Well, the streak had to end sometime...its a shame it ended now...but it happens and this program is still solid....nothing to get THAT worried about...now if it continues next year, thats when I'll begin to worry

[bigsmooth]

would everyone quit with the excuses?!!!! the tech did not cost us the game. the thought of fire carey green threads are ridiculous. the bottom line is we relied way to much on megan this year, we turn the ball over way to much, and we cannot put teams away. this team got progressively worse this year, and the coaching staff will need to work hard to get this team abck to where they have been. i congratulate the ladies on a good season and a great run. let's start one again next year.

[bigsmooth]

Darden’s Last-Second Bank Shot Enables Radford To Defeat Liberty, 57-55, In Big South Championship Semifinals
Rachel Hammond sparked the Lady Flames with eight second-half points, including a pair of three-pointers.
March 9, 2007
Asheville, N.C.

Radford junior Kelli Darden’s bank shot as the final buzzer sounded gave the No. 2 seed Highlanders a come-from-behind, 57-55 win over No. 3 seed Liberty in the semifinals of the Big South Championship, Saturday night at UNC Asheville’s Justice Center.

Radford’s second victory over the Lady Flames in seven days pushes the Highlanders’ record to 20-10, giving them their first 20-win season since the 1991-92 campaign.

Liberty’s season ends at 19-12. The setback snapped a 29-game Big South Championship winning streak and, for the first time in 11 years, a team other than the Lady Flames will represent the Big South Conference in the NCAA Division I Tournament.

Unlike their meeting with the Highlanders last Saturday, the Lady Flames opened the game shooting well from the field, making four of their first five field goal attempts. Consecutive perimeter connections by Megan Frazee ignited an 8-0 Liberty run. Michelle Parker closed the burst with two outside jumpers of her own, the second of which made it 12-6, Liberty at 13:49.

On the other hand, Radford, which scored 47 first-half points in its most recent meeting with Liberty, went 6:38 without a point before Sarah Stephens made a basket from the paint with 10:30 remaining in the opening half.

The Lady Flames also controlled the rebounding margin early, grabbing 12 of the game’s first 14 rebounds.

Megan Frazee recorded a double-double in the first 12:05 of play, as the sophomore hauled in her 10th rebound and put it back for her ninth and 10th markers, pushing the Liberty advantage to 18-10. The double-double was her 13th of the year and her third consecutive.

Radford would get no closer than five the remainder of the half, as Liberty continued to put the clamps on at the defensive end of the floor. Radford was limited to 37 percent (10-of-27) from the field before halftime and had three shots rejected. The Highlanders were also just 16.7 percent (1-of-6) from the charity stripe.

The Lady Flame advantage reached 11 when Molly Frazee made the second of back-to-back hoops at 1:58, making it 26-15, Liberty.

Radford then notched seven of the half’s last nine points. A Corrie Fertitta free throw with 18.6 seconds left cut Liberty’s halftime advantage to 28-22.

Megan Frazee finished the opening stanza with 10 points and 10 boards, pacing all players in both categories. Parker added half a dozen tallies for Liberty, which shot 48.1 percent (13-of-27) from the floor in the opening half and out-rebounded its in-state rival, 23-11.

Kelli Darden, who sparked Radford’s half-ending surge, led her team in both points (6) and rebounds (3) before the break.

Allyson Fasnacht scored the first five points of the second half, including her team’s initial three-pointer of the evening. Her left-handed, fast break lay-up 1:02 into the half enabled Liberty to extend its lead to double digits again, 33-22.

Radford cut its deficit to one, 37-36, as the result of an ensuing 14-4 run. Darden scored seven points during the surge, which ended with a Corrie Fertitta free throw with 11:21 left.

Rachel Hammond stemmed the tide with a three-pointer from the corner on Liberty’s next possession. Another Hammond triple at 8:41 pushed the Lady Flame advantage back to 43-36.

The Highlanders battled back once again, trimming the Liberty lead to a single point again, 49-48, when Pullen made a pair of foul shots with 2:49 remaining in the half.

After a Moriah Frazee put-back, Radford tallied three-straight points, knotting the score at 51 on a Fertitta charity toss at 1:29.

Liberty reclaimed the advantage on its next trip, as Karolina Piotrkiewicz converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:08 left, making the count 54-51.

Piotrkiewicz rebounded a missed Highlander shot and was fouled but was assessed a technical foul at the same time, giving Johnette Walker two free throws, both of which she made.

Fasnacht, shooting in Piotrkiewicz’s place after the senior was disqualified on her fifth foul, split a pair of foul shots, giving Liberty a 55-53 advantage with 55.3 seconds left.

Fertitta tied the score at 55 apiece with 39 seconds remaining. Then, a Liberty missed shot set the stage for Darden’s heroics. She banked in a shot from the right block as time expired to give her team a hard-fought win. Officials reviewed the play and ruled that the ball left her hand before the clock hit 0.0 seconds. Radford had not led since the score stood at 6-4 during the opening two minutes of the game.

Darden led all players with 19 points and paced the Highlanders with seven boards. Walker added 13 points a trio of steals.

Megan Frazee ended up with 10 points and 13 rebounds, but missed the final 13:54 of the game due to a knee injury. Hammond stepped forward in her absence, notching eight of her 10 markers after the intermission.

The Lady Flames’ backcourt stalwarts, Fasnacht and Parker, played brilliantly, combining for 16 points and eight assists while committing just three combined turnovers in 67 total minutes of work.

Liberty grabbed 19 offensive rebounds on its way to a 45-26 edge under the glass. However, the Lady Flames slipped to 32.3 percent (10-of-31) shooting after halftime and ended up at 39.7 percent (23-of-58) for the game.

The game ended the careers of Liberty seniors Jamie Feagin, Leslie Jones, Parker and Piotrkiewicz. The quartet won 95 games and three Big South Championships during their time in Lynchburg.

Radford will meet the host team, No. 4 seed UNC Asheville, in the 2007 Advance Auto Parts Big South Championship title contest, Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Justice Center. The winner of the game will earn the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA Division I Tournament.

Radford Head Coach Jeri Porter:
“I am so proud of these kids. They played through a lot of adversity tonight. It goes back to heart. We made plays and got stops late in the game and Kelli was able to finish it off with a great effort. This may have been the best Radford/Liberty game I have been involved in all my years associated with these two programs.”

”At a timeout with six minutes to go, I told the kids it was up to them. It was going to come down to which team wanted it the most and we were able to get a stop and score in the final seconds.”

Liberty Head Coach Carey Green:
“I want to congratulate Radford University for advancing to the championship round, they have a very good team. I thought we played well tonight. We rebounded well, our defensive was good all game but we could have executed better on offense. Once again I would like to congratulate Radford.”

[El Scorcho]

So does this mean we'll have Fire Carey Green threads going now?

could happen.

It had better not. Seriously. That would be ridiculous and completely out of line.

[krh44]

For sure. I am sure he was joking.

[krh44]

would everyone quit with the excuses?!!!! the tech did not cost us the game.

Come on Smooth give us atleast 24 hrs to get it out of our system - 10 yrs is a long time

[PAmedic]

ANy see the Tech. they called on KP - what a joke?

completely blown...but that chick has screwed us all year long. we still didn't deserve to win because we should have put them away at the end of the first half

YES

***

I've had the overnight to reflect, and I'll leave it at this:

Good luck to the seniors, thanks for many great years of making LU proud. Lots of good memories.

Hoping you all look back fondly on your career here.

in the end, its just a game...

[WinthropEagleFan]

I just wanted to tip my cap to the LU women's team. 10 years in a row is an amazing feat in any league...to put that in some sort of perspective, since the day I started at Winthrop back in 96-97, I've never seen anybody else win the league until this season. And I'm sure the team will be right at/near the top again next year.

[flameshaw]

ANy see the Tech. they called on KP - what a joke?

completely blown...but that chick has screwed us all year long. we still didn't deserve to win because we should have put them away at the end of the first half

YES

***

I've had the overnight to reflect, and I'll leave it at this:

Good luck to the seniors, thanks for many great years of making LU proud. Lots of good memories.

Hoping you all look back fondly on your career here.

in the end, its just a game...

Just a game? You mean it is not life and death? Oh, yea i forgot that is football. April 21st.....almost here.

[bigsmooth]

im not dissing everyone krh, but i think we like to make too many excuses for this team. in reality, we were not that good this year. it was a great run! i hope we can start a new one next year, but we just did not do what it takes to win the title this year. simple as that.

[thesportscritic]

im not dissing everyone krh, but i think we like to make too many excuses for this team. in reality, we were not that good this year. it was a great run! i hope we can start a new one next year, but we just did not do what it takes to win the title this year. simple as that.

we were a turnover machine all season. The team lacks speed. The offense is too legalistic at times in my opinion.

[FlameNForest]

It's just a shame Megan got hurt, because after all the struggles this year we would've easily won last night and been in position to win the championship again. Of course, that was the main problem this year - we relied way too much on just one player.

It had to come to end sometime, but at the start of the season, knowing everyone was returning including a healthy Megan, I never would've expected them to struggle this year like they did. Must've been alot of problems behind the scenes or something.

Hopefully they'll refocus and come out much stronger and improved next year.

[pointguard4christ]

I don't know, It's like everyone wasn't even trying this season. I don't know what this game looked like, I didn't get to watch it, but we still should have won, even without Megan. We did last year.
Does anybody know what exactly happened to Megan's knee? Was it the same one from last year?

[jimflamesfan]

would everyone quit with the excuses?!!!! the tech did not cost us the game. the thought of fire carey green threads are ridiculous. the bottom line is we relied way to much on megan this year, we turn the ball over way to much, and we cannot put teams away. this team got progressively worse this year, and the coaching staff will need to work hard to get this team abck to where they have been. i congratulate the ladies on a good season and a great run. let's start one again next year.

That tech DID cost us the game. It came in the last minute and made a four point swing in a game that was won by two. I am positive LU wins if that call isn't made. I do not know what game Bigsmooth was watching. But that's just my opinion.

Yes, the girls couldn've played better. And calls go both ways and you can't blame the refs...but I thought it was okay to complain about officiating on a message board...I wasn't personally attacking the refs, I just think it was a bad call...and to say that call didn't change the outcome of the game is ridiculous IMO

I'll stop now...but I actually thought the girls were trying hard to win that game...just a bunch of things didn't go their way. I hope things go better next year

[bigsmooth]

jim... i was watching the same freakin game you were. we had 21 turnovers and radford converted that into 12 points. that cost us the game. enough excuses about the technical. it was a by the book call!!!!

[jimflamesfan]

You said, that T didn't cost us the game. Therefore, you're saying that we lose that game regardless whether the T is called or not. That is not a correct statement.

Regardless whether it was the right call, I'm just arguing that it did change the outcome of the game. That's not to say it was the wrong call - but in your post you said that that T did not cost us the game...but it did. So in your opinion it was a deserved T - but it still cost us the game. To say that T didn't change the outcome of the game is still wrong...that's not to say that there was a whole lot that LU could've have done to put the game away. And refs miss calls - both ways - they missed a call on Hammond (who had a good game)...and so those things even out. So LU deserved to lose. But that T did change the outcome...to just say that it didn't is wrong IMO.

[BJWilliams]

Let's not forget who we are talking about here:

LU's Big South postseason dominance comes to an end

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
March 10, 2007

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Megan Frazee sat on the bench, left knee wrapped in ice, unable to help her Liberty teammates as the Flames' lead in their Big South tournament semifinal game Friday night against Radford slowly slipped away.

And as players on the Radford bench erupted in pandemonium after Kelli Darden's fall away jumper with one second left gave the Highlanders a 57-55 victory, ending a 10-year run of Liberty tourney titles, Frazee burst into tears.

Sisters Moriah and Molly put their arms around Megan, helping her off the Justice Center floor. Reality had hit both sides.

"You'll have to excuse us, we're a little out of breath," said Radford coach Jeri Porter, a Liberty alum. Just last Saturday, Porter beat her alma mater for the first time. Friday, her Highlanders broke Liberty's 29-game tournament win streak, and the broad smiles on the faces of RU's faces showed their appreciation for the accomplishment. The Highlanders will meet UNC Asheville in today's championship game.

Liberty's players seemed a bit shellshocked, but they handled the loss with dignity.

"It probably won't sink in for the next couple of days," LU guard Allyson Fasnacht said. "We had a good look on our end, they had a good look on theirs, and theirs fell. We played our heart out and we never quit until the end. They hit a shot and we didn't. That's how it goes."

Liberty played the last 14 minutes without Frazee, who sustained a lower calf injury, LU coach Carey Green said, while battling for a rebound. Her left knee and leg were heavily wrapped with ice, and she was never comfortable enough to re-enter the game. She finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds in 21 minutes, and her presence was sorely missed in the second half.

"She crashed the offensive boards really hard," said Darden, who scored a game-high 19 points. "For us, getting defensive rebounds and pushing it, that's how we work. She's their go-to player, and once she was out, they weren't crashing as hard. It seemed like part of them was missing."

Even without Frazee, Liberty managed to hold a slim lead for most of the second half. Radford (20-11) used an 8-0 run to get within 37-36 with 11:21 left, but Rachel Hammond drilled a 3-pointer on the next possession to put Liberty up 40-36. Liberty (19-12) pushed the lead back to seven twice before Radford rallied to tie the game at 51 with 1:29 left on a Corrie Fertitta free throw.

Liberty's Karolina Piotrkiewicz scored a tough inside basket while Fertitta fouled her with 1:08 left, then hit the free throw to put LU ahead 54-51. Then, a wild exchange on the other end pushed the momentum in Radford's favor.

Radford's Johnette Walker missed a 3-pointer and Piotrkiewicz and Walker tangled for the rebound. Officials called Walker for a foul, but Piotrkiewicz continued to fight for the ball. She hit Walker after the initial foul, and per NCAA rules, any foul committed in a dead ball situation is a direct technical foul.

Instead of Liberty going to the free throw line trying to build on a three-point lead, Radford and LU each got two free throws. Walker made two, and Fasnacht made one of two. Radford had the ball down 55-53, and Fertitta hit a runner in the lane to tie it at 55 with 38 seconds left.

"I don't think I've seen that call at that stage of a game," Green said.

Liberty missed its chance at a go-ahead basket when Michelle Parker missed a leaner with about 20 seconds left.

"It's a play where we had a ton of different options, and one of them was for Michelle to take her girl off the dribble," Fasnacht said. "She had done that a couple of times during the game. It was a great shot, it just didn't fall."

Fertitta rebounded Parker's miss, and Radford called timeout. Walker set up just inside half-court, dribbling the clock down to less than five seconds. She found Darden, who slipped underneath two defenders and flung the ball at the goal. When the ball went through the net just before the buzzer sounded, Radford's celebration began.

"I almost lost it, and I heard somebody yell, 'two! one!'," Darden said. "I just kind of threw it up there."

For the first time in 19 years, Green won't be coaching in the NCAA tournament. It's an odd feeling, one he's not sure how to handle yet.

"It was the NBA playoffs, when Charles Barkley said he was going to go fishing (after being eliminated)," Green said. "That's something I could do. But I don't think I really care to go fishing. I'd rather still be playing. I don't care how big the fish is. It wouldn't be enough."

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... th=!sports

[TIMSCAR20]

I have not read the whole thread or even half of it but I have to say this: Turnovers were a problem but believe it or not we averaged more turnovers last year in a winning season than we did this season. Turnovers were not the only problem this team had. I don't know what happened. Truth is our margin of victory last tournament was under 10 for 2 of the 3 games I believe. That gap was closed last season. We just thought that with Megan back, they would be better than last year. They will be back to competing for a championship next year and I wish coach Green the best. KP, Michelle, Jamie, we will miss you guys. Thanks for a great run.

[TIMSCAR20]

Sorry Leslie Jones, I forgot to thank you too

[Purple Haize]

Sue Blaugh I believe was the official tha tmade the "T" call and it was a GREAT CALL.. WAAAY to much after the whistle contact. I had no problem with it whatsovever, IN fact, Mrs. Purple and I whistled her for one at the same time! Frustration can do that to a player.
here is something to put in your thinking caps: Jerri Porter (Wiley) was there to START the 10 year run and she was there to END the 10 year run.. WOW
We have surpassed Winthops Men's team in terms of dominance. After all 10 IN A ROW is more than their Men's team has, AND we have a Sweet Sixteen appearance, not a "Golly if it wasn't for those pesky last second bombs" Although they got a sweet draw this year.
This was a one year abberration. The offseason is a great time to work on the locker room stuff and team building. We STILL have the best talent in the league (Get over yourself on that one smooth ) So I see another 10 year run in the making

[bigsmooth]

ok kool-aid drinker.