MDIVIVVY wrote:DE-FENSEexactly that is what it will take to snuff out Winthrop on Friday.
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MDIVIVVY wrote:DE-FENSEexactly that is what it will take to snuff out Winthrop on Friday.
Flamesfanva wrote:Coach Green and the women will be prepared and will come away with the win.He will definitely have this team well prepared. The advantage for us is that our starters rested for the majority of the game and winthrop has to travel to our house. Nice image by the way flamesfanva. Where did you get that at?
March 7, 2006 · Lynchburg, Va.
Liberty picked up its 22nd-straight victory against Charleston Southern and began its journey for its 10-straight Advance Auto Parts Big South Women’s Basketball Championship with a 62-46 victory over the Lady Buccaneers this evening in the Vines Center.
With the win, the Lady Flames improved to 23-5 on the season and picked up their 26-straight tournament win, while the Lady Buccaneers end the season with a 7-21 record overall.
Liberty jumped out quickly on Charleston Southern as a put back and a free throw by Moriah Frazee (Fr., F, Xenia, Ohio) gave the home team a four-point lead, 5-1. However, it was a lead that would be short lived as a Keena Wicker layup capped off a 12-5 run for the visitors and gave them a 13-10 lead with 11:57 to go.
The Lady Flames responded, as Egle Smigelskaite (So., F, Klaipeda, Lithuania) took a pass from Allyson Fasnacht (So., G, Salem, Va.) and knocked down a jumper to ignite a 19-6 run and give Liberty a 10 point lead at the 3:19 mark.
A jumper and free throw later by Shaunte Small cut the lead to seven, but Michelle Parker’s (Jr., G, Miami, Fla.) jumper with 38 seconds remaining sent Liberty into the half up 11, 33-22.
Charleston Southern came out of the half looking to trim the lead back and give Liberty its first loss in the Vines Center this season as Wicker scored eight of the Lady Buccaneers’ next 11 points pull her team to within six (39-33), but a Smigelskaite jumper and Rachel Hammond’s (Fr., G, Clearwater, Fla.) four-point play pushed the margin back to 11 with 10:14 to go.
Liberty extended its lead to 15 on two of Parker’s team-high 13 points and Charleston Southern was forced to trade fouls for free throws over the final two minutes of the contest as the Lady Flames won their 12-straight tournament game at home and improved to 10-3 in the first round of the Advance Auto Parts Big South Women’s Championship.
Parker led the way for Liberty, connecting on 5-of-8 shots from the field and all three of her attempts from the free throw line to finish with 13. Karolina Piotrkiewicz (Jr., F, Calais, France) grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, while recording eight points.
For Charleston Southern, Small collected a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Wicker tallied a game-high 18 points, going 8-of-15 from the field and 2-of-4 from the line. Deborah Cherry led all players with seven assists.
The Lady Flames advance to the semifinals of the tournament where they will take on the Eagles of Winthrop on Friday at 6 p.m. in the Vines Center, followed by High Point and Coastal Carolina at 8:30 p.m. for the right to play for championship on Saturday afternoon.
Liberty Coach Carey Green
“It’s March Madness and we have to respect everyone. This one’s over and now it is time to move on and prepare for Winthrop.”
“ With [Keena] Wicker in there, it was a difference. [Shaunte] Small stepped up her game too and really did a good job, so you have to give them credit, they came to play.”
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
March 8, 2006
For someone who is just 5-foot-8, Liberty guard Michelle Parker can soar. And once she gets in the open floor, forget about stopping her.
Charleston Southern got the message during Tuesday night's Big South tournament quarterfinal game at Vines Center.
Parker, a reserve who scored a season-high 13 points, supplied Liberty with several bursts of energy on a night when the Flames surprisingly lacked a lot of bounce. Her transition game was crucial to helping Liberty pull away in the first half, and the Flames held on for a 62-46 victory against the eighth-seeded Buccaneers.
Top-seeded Liberty will host No. 4 Winthrop in Friday's first semifinal at 6 p.m.. No. 2 High Point will face No. 3 Coastal Carolina in the second game.
"We have a lot of depth on the team, and I think people on the bench can really pull through at times," Parker said. "It may be difficult, but we're relied upon to get the job done."
Parker's athleticism was on display in the final four minutes as the Flames slogged their way to their 26th straight conference tournament victory.
Trailing 53-40, the Bucs tried a long inbounds pass from the baseline to guard Danielle Baskin, who stood between the 3-point line and half court.
Parker eyed the ball the second it went in the air and timed her jump perfectly. She tipped it away from Baskin with her right hand and immediately sprinted for the basket. Another two points were in the bank, and LU led 55-40 with 3:32 left.
"I just got in the air and read the ball," Parker said.
Parker, whose previous best this season was a 10-point effort at Virginia Tech, scored seven points in a three-minute span in the first half, helping the Flames extend a 19-17 lead to 26-19.
Charleston Southern (7-21) was game, getting as close as six points early in the second half, but the Bucs had heavy legs by the end of the game and couldn't complete the comeback, as evidenced by Deborah Cherry's air balled jumper from the free-throw line with 6:16 left.
Charleston Southern gave the Flames a different look than in the regular-season matchups between the teams, both won by LU. Buccaneers forward Keena Wicker, who missed 11 Big South games due to a university-imposed suspension, scored 18 points and kept CSU in the game.
"She got a lot of open looks today," said Liberty forward Karolina Piotrkiewicz, who had a game-high 12 rebounds. "We didn't do a very good job of getting out on her."
Liberty coach Carey Green graded his team's effort a C, and Parker admitted that her team wasn't as focused as it needed to be before tipoff.
"I guess we weren't as mentally prepared as we usually are," Parker said. "We didn't' come out excited. But once that spark came, everything came together."
Charleston Southern hung with one of the nation's toughest rebounding teams on the glass, something that irked Green and Piotrkiewicz. Liberty outrebounded the Bucs by 18 in the first meeting and by a whopping 30 boards in the second. But Liberty only held a 41-35 edge Tuesday, thanks mostly to a season-best 10 rebounds from Shaunte Small.
"We weren't hustling for all 40 minutes," Piotrkiewicz said. "Everyone just tends to forget it; we still have to stay on the boards. Today, we definitely forgot to go to the boards every once in a while."
Green found plenty of things to nitpick about after the game, but he was happy enough to see his team advance to the tournament's semifinals.
"Whew," he said.
Now on to round two.
Big South Tournament
Liberty 62, Charleston Southern 46
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN (7-21)
Wicker 8-15 2-4 18, McCoy 1-5 0-0 3, Small 5-11 2-3 12, Baskin 0-1 0-0 0, Tolbert 2-11 2-2 6, Caldwell 0-0 0-0 0, Atmore 0-1 0-0 0, Potts 1-2 0-0 3, Cherry 1-4 2-2 4. Totals 18-50 8-11 46.
LIBERTY (23-5)
Piotrkiewicz 3-7 2-2 8, Mor. Frazee 1-6 2-4 4, Nikagbatse 1-5 2-2 4, Watkins 1-5 0-1 2, Fasnacht 1-2 7-9 9, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Parker 5-8 3-3 13, Feagin 1-2 0-0 2, Hammond 2-8 1-1 6, Smigelskaite 2-5 0-0 4, Lightfoot 2-3 0-0 5, Bream 0-0 1-2 1, Mol. Frazee 2-7 0-0 4. Totals 21-58 18-24 62.
Halftime: Liberty 33, CSU 22. 3-point goals: CSU 2-10 (McCoy 1-1, Potts 1-2, Baskin 0-1, Atmore 0-1, Tolbert 0-5), Liberty 2-12 (Hammond 1-3, Lightfoot 1-2). Rebounds: CSU 35 (Small 10), Liberty 41 (Piotrkiewicz 12). Assists: CSU 14 (Cherry 7), Liberty 9 (Fasnacht 4). Blocked shots: CSU 6 (Small 5), Liberty 4 (Mor. Frazee 2). Steals: CSU 8 (Wicker 3), Liberty 12 (Parker 3). Turnovers: CSU 19 (Wicker 6), Liberty 12 (Nikagbatse, Lightfoot 3). Total fouls: CSU 21, Liberty 11. Fouled out: None. A: 611.
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
March 10, 2006
More than ever, Liberty relied on its scant few veterans during its 62-46 Big South tournament quarterfinal win over Charleston Southern Tuesday night.
Several of Liberty's freshmen had off nights against the Bucs as they had their first taste of Division I postseason basketball.
Forward Moriah Frazee, went 1-for-6 from the floor. Her sister Molly was 2-for-7. Guard Rachel Hammond was 2-for-8.
The senior-less Flames turned to juniors Karolina Piotrkiewicz (eight points, 12 rebounds in 19 minutes) and Michelle Parker (13 points) and sophomore Allyson Fasnacht (nine points) to steady the team.
Chalk it up to a learning experience, Flames coach Carey Green said. He's not too worried about it becoming a trend.
"I had a concern that we would play like this and maybe get ourselves in trouble," Green said Tuesday night. "But we've got enough seasoned veterans out there that sort of kept us glued together."
Liberty will face a similarly youthful bunch tonight when it meets Winthrop in the tournament semifinals. The Eagles start three freshmen.
"They have a young team that can play very emotional and play off those emotions to give them an extra boost," Green said. "We respect them very much."
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
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