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The most successful program on Liberty Mountain deserves its own forum. We give Coach Green and the Lady Flames their props while breaking down their run to the Big Dance once again.
Liberty’s Allyson Fasnacht hit a 13-foot jump shot with 14.9 seconds left to seal the Lady Flames’ 53-50 win over High Point in the title game of the 2006 Advance Auto Parts Big South Women’s Basketball Championship.
Liberty (25-5) earns the Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, its 10th-straight appearance in the Big Dance. High Point’s season ends at 20-10.
Liberty opened the scoring at 19:15 on a lay-up by Karolina Piotrkiewicz and moved ahead 6-0, as the Panthers missed their first five field goal attempts before Candyce Sellars made it 6-2 at 15:25.
Both teams would then struggle from the field for the next four minutes before Liberty moved ahead 11-4 at the 9:58 mark. However, baskets by Katie Ralls, Amber Manuel and Katie O’Dell made it a one-point game at 11-10.
It was 13-12 with 7:46 to play in the first half before Sellars gave High Point its first lead of the game at 7:14 with a jumper to make it 14-13. The game was tied 16-16 at 6:53 before the Panthers reeled off a 14-5 run to close out the first stanza with the 30-21 halftime lead.
Ralls led the first-half scorers with nine points, while Piotrkiewicz had six for Liberty. The Lady Flames were held to 29.2 percent shooting in the first half on 7-of-24 shooting, while High Point was 42.9 percent from the field (12-of-28).
Liberty jumped out of the gates in the second half with a 14-0 run in first 4:16 to regain the lead at 35-30. High Point battled back and tied the game at 39-39 with 9:14 to play on Ayonna Thompson’s three-pointer.
It was tied 41-41 with 7:30 remaining before Liberty started to pull away, going up by as much as six and holding onto a two-point lead at 49-47 with 2:52 left. Roli-Ann Nikagbatse, the 2005-06 Big South Defensive Player of the Year, recorded a key steal and lay-up to give the Lady Flames a four-point margin with 2:22 remaining. But Sellars nailed a three-pointer with 2:13 left to cut the score to 51-50. Neither team would convert the next 1:45, until Fasnacht hit the insurance shot for Liberty.
High Point had one last chance to tie, starting its final possession with 15.8 seconds left. However, Thompson’s three-point attempt with two seconds left fell short, ending the game and giving Liberty its Big South 10th consecutive tournament title.
Nikagbatse scored 11 points and had eight rebounds for Liberty, while Piotrkiewicz posted 11 points and nine boards. Sellars scored 12 points to lead High Point.
Liberty shot 46.9 percent from the floor in the second half and held High Point to 19.2 percent in the same span.
Fasnacht was named Tournament MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament team with teammate Rachel Hammond, High Point’s Katie O’Dell and Leslie Cook and Winthrop’s Ashley Fann.
High Point Head Coach Tooey Loy:
“This was a good championship game. We made the early run and they came out strong in the second half. Both teams played very tough tonight. We battled Liberty inside for 40 minutes and it came down to the last minute which is what you want when you’re trying to win your first Big South Championship. I am extremely proud of our team. We came out and battled Liberty the entire game. We wanted to walk out of here with a Big South Championship, unfortunately that didn’t happen, but our players are still champions in my book. We’ve had a great season and our players have played hard all season long.”
Liberty Head Coach Carey Green:
“It was a tremendous win and great reward for a team that has faced a lot of adversity. It was great to pick up the win.”
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
Flames come from behind to keep their dynasty intact
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
March 12, 2006
The voice was soft and forgiving, the almost-whispered words floating through the air like fireflies on a muggy night.
"We've just got to show more heart," a Liberty player said as the Flames made the slow walk from the locker room to the floor Saturday afternoon at the Vines Center. Liberty trailed High Point by nine points at halftime, and the possibility of its streak of Big South tournament titles ending at nine was very real. The simple statement held great meaning.
The heart emerged early. The Flames dominated the first few minutes after the break to take control and hung on for dear life at the end. Liberty won 53-50 and captured its 10th - and most hotly contested - tournament crown in a row.
It all started with those first few minutes, when the Flames had to display the heart of a champion under great pressure and adversity. After scoring four points in the first 10 minutes, High Point caught fire and threatened to run the hosts off the floor. The Panthers led 30-21 at the break, and Liberty was reeling.
The Flames were called for five first-half charges. They were careless with the basketball. They shot horribly (29.2 percent), and High Point was soaring.
"We knew we could play better," said Liberty guard Allyson Fasnacht, the tournament MVP who scored nine points and had five assists. "It was just as a collective group coming together and saying, 'Hey, this is the championship game, we need to pick it up. All of us.'"
High Point (20-10) knew the charge was coming. The Panthers led Coastal Carolina by seven points at halftime in the semifinals and had to ward off the Chanticleers Friday night.
Fasnacht scored the first basket of the half, and after the Flames got a defensive stop, Fasnacht hit an ugly 3-pointer that momentarily sat on the rim before slinking in. The lead was cut to 30-26, and High Point began to tighten. Liberty scored the first 14 points, blanking High Point until Katie Ralls sunk a jumper with 15:20 left.
"They're a good team, and they weren't going to just take off and let us win easily," Ralls said.
From there, it was nip and tuck. Liberty (25-5) led 47-41 with six minutes left, but High Point refused to fold. Even with top scorer Katie O'Dell and top gunner Leslie Cook struggling, the Panthers were determined to have a shot at the end.
And after Fasnacht hit a 10-foot jumper with 16 seconds left to put Liberty up 53-50, the Panthers did.
But Cook was out of the picture. She went 0-for-4 and scored all four of her points from the free-throw line.
As had been the case all afternoon, Liberty's Roli-Ann Nikagbatse was Cook's doppelganger, clinging to her like a second skin. O'Dell, who was held to six points on 2-of-14 shooting, was the second option. She was blanketed.
Finally, Ayonna Thompson heaved an NBA 3-pointer with one second remaining that missed everything. The buzzer sounded, and Liberty's Jamie Feagin pointed to the crowd and began the celebration.
Candyce Sellars, who led the Panthers with 12 points, could only cover her face in her jersey.
The tears flowed copiously from players on the visiting bench. High Point came as close as anyone to ending Liberty's run, but fell painstakingly short.
"We had our chances," High Point coach Tooey Loy said. "That's what you want when you want to win your first Big South championship. It just wasn't our night tonight. I'm extremely proud of my kids. We battled for 40 minutes and we had just as good of a chance to win it as Liberty did. No regrets."
After Liberty coach Carey Green wrapped up his session with the media, one littered with talk about the Flames possibly grabbing the highest NCAA tournament seed in their history, he had one more task.
"They're waiting for you," an LU staffer said.
A lone strand of net hung from the rim, and Green's players waited for him to come back to cut it down. He wouldn't come out and say it, but one could sense this title was more special than any of the other championships he's won at Liberty.
A year after four seniors led the Flames to the Sweet 16, and two months after his leading scorer succumbed to a season-ending knee injury, the Flames were the last ones standing at the end.
"This team, they've got their own identity," Green said. "I'm very proud of this group."
Big South Tournament Championship Liberty 53, High Point 50
Halftime: High Point 30, Liberty 21. 3-point goals: High Point 5-16 (Sellars 2-4, Thompson 2-4, Ralls 1-1, Cook 0-2, Brockmyer 0-1, O'Dell 0-4), Liberty 3-10 (Fasnacht 1-1, Lightfoot 1-1, Hammond 1-4, Piotrkiewicz 0-1, Nikagbatse 0-1, Watkins 0-1). Rebounds: High Point 30 (Cook 6), Liberty 48 (Piotrkiewicz 9). Assists: High Point 7 (Ralls 3), Liberty 12 (Fasnacht 5). Blocked shots: High Point 0, Liberty 3 (Mor. Frazee, Parker, Feagin). Steals: High Point 7 (Manuel 2), Liberty 6 (Nikagbatse 2). Turnovers: High Point 14 (O'Dell 5), Liberty 19 (Fasnacht 5). Total fouls: High Point 14, Liberty 18. Fouled out: None. A: 898.
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
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