Lady Flames Begin Beach Trip at Coastal
2/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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The Game
The Liberty Lady Flames (16-7, 10-0 Big South) begin their annual "Beach Trip" to South Carolina on Saturday, when they travel to Coastal Carolina (14-10, 6-5 Big South), one of three teams currently tied for third place in the Big South standings. Tip-off at Kimbel Arena is scheduled for 2 p.m.
What to Watch
Liberty and Coastal Carolina are two of the hottest teams in the Big South Conference. The Lady Flames have won 13 consecutive games, while the Chanticleers have been victorious in four of their last five outings.
Liberty will attempt to extend several winning streaks. The Lady Flames have posted five straight road wins, 13 straight overall victories, 14 straight Big South wins and 30 straight wins over Coastal Carolina.
The Lady Flames have played suffocating defense in recent weeks, holding 12 consecutive opponents below 55 points.
Liberty Head Coach Carey Green is 22-0 all-time against his alma mater, Coastal Carolina.
Coastal Carolina has played extremely well at Kimbel Arena this season, going 10-2 at home. Only one Big South team (High Point) has been able to leave Coastal Carolina with a win this year.
Lady Flames On The Air
All Lady Flames basketball games may be heard LIVE on WWMC 90.9 FM "The Light." Jamie Hall, celebrating his 15th year of broadcasting Lady Flames basketball, will once again be handling the courtside play-by-play duties for most road games. Josh Wood will serve as the commentator for home contests and will provide color analysis on the road.
Scouting Coastal Carolina
Coastal Carolina appears to be on its way to the program's fourth consecutive winning season. The Chanticleers ran off a 7-1 start to their year and own a 14-10 overall mark with just five regular-season games remaining.
Balanced scoring has been a key to Coastal Carolina's success this season, as four players are averaging between 9.3 and 11.2 ppg. Sydnei Moss, a 5-10 sophomore guard/forward, leads the way in both points (11.2 ppg) and rebounds (6.9 rpg). She has increased her output to 13.9 ppg in conference play.
Another player who has stepped up during the Big South portion of the schedule is Kate Jasinski, a 5-6 sophomore guard. She has scored in double figures in four of the last five games and averages 11.2 ppg against conference opposition.
Amanda Stull, a 5-9 junior guard, has been a consistent performer all season for coach Alan LeForce's team. She is averaging 10.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg, a team-high 3.0 apg and a team-best 2.3 spg. The junior made two free throws with two seconds remaining in Coastal Carolina's most recent game, Feb. 14 versus Charleston Southern, lifting the Chanticleers to a 63-62 win.
The Coaching Matchup
Liberty Head Coach Carey Green is in his 10th season with the Lady Flames, and has led his team to eight Big South titles. A four-time Big South Coach of the Year, Green owns a 229-75 career record and is the all-time wins leader at Liberty and among Big South women's basketball coaches. His career winning percentage (.753) ranked 10th among active NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches at the season's outset. Green is 22-0 all-time against Coastal Carolina, his alma mater.
Alan LeForce, in his 12th season at Coastal Carolina, owns a 173-160 career record with the Chanticleers. Coastal Carolina's season-opening win over Erskine on Nov. 14 was the 400th of LeForce's 26 seasons as a collegiate head coach. His overall record is 413-340. LeForce also coached the East Tennessee State men's basketball team for six seasons, prior to taking the reins at Coastal Carolina. He is 0-27 against Liberty.
Liberty-Coastal Carolina Series Notes
Liberty has won 30 consecutive meetings with Coastal Carolina, boosting the Lady Flames' record in the all-time head-to-head series to 40-7. Liberty's winning streak against the Chanticleers is the eighth-longest active streak in Division I women's basketball versus a single opponent.
The Lady Flames will attempt to complete a regular-season sweep of Coastal Carolina, after defeating the Chanticleers by a 65-40 score, Jan. 26 at the Vines Center. Liberty's defense limited Coastal Carolina to its lowest scoring output of the season. Meanwhile, Moriah Frazee scored 13 of her game-high and season-high 19 points during the second half to spark the Lady Flames.
Coastal Carolina's last victory over Liberty came on Feb. 19, 1996, at Kimbel Arena. Tina Boester totaled 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists, leading the Chanticleers to a 70-55 conference victory, which completed a season sweep of the Lady Flames. Since then, Liberty has won 11 straight games at Kimbel Arena.
Fabulous in February
Liberty has won 88 of its last 93 games played during the month of February, dating back to the 1997 Big South Championship. The only teams to defeat the Lady Flames in February since then are High Point (three times), UNC Asheville and Winthrop.
Liberty owns a 169-121 all-time mark during the year's second month, including a 69-5 record under Carey Green. The Lady Flames went 6-1 in February last season and have six February contests on the schedule in 2008-09. Liberty is 3-0 so far this month.
In a Class All Her Own
Megan Frazee was tabbed Big South Women's Basketball Player of the Week on Feb. 16, after tallying 31 points and 10 rebounds in a win at Gardner-Webb (Feb. 9). Her fourth Big South Player of the Week award this season was the 16th of her career, setting a new conference record.
Former Liberty standout and current WNBA player Katie Feenstra previously held the record, collecting 15 Big South Player of the Week distinctions during her career (2002-05).
In Select Company
Megan Frazee is averaging 20.0 ppg and 10.0 rpg this season, making her one of only two players in the nation posting at least 20 points and 10 rebounds per outing. The other member of the short list is Ohio State sophomore Jantel Lavender (21.2 ppg, 10.8 rpg.)
Recipe For Success
Liberty has won 13 consecutive games, and the following are a few keys the Lady Flames' success.
-- All 13 opponents have been held below 60 points.
-- All 13 opponents have shot below 45 percent from the field.
-- Liberty has outrebounded 11 of 13 opponents by 11 boards or more.
-- Megan Frazee has averaged 19.5 ppg and 10.0 rpg, since returning from an ankle injury which sidelined her for eight games.
-- Liberty is shooting 36.0 percent from three-point range and averaging 4.2 triples per contest, as compared with 27.5 percent and 2.8 triples per game before the streak.
-- Liberty is scoring 14.6 more points in the paint than its opponents, on average.
Accurate Avery
Avery Warley has made 10 consecutive field goal attempts, entering Saturday's contest. She sank all three of her field goals at Gardner-Webb on Feb. 9, before shooting a perfect 7-for-7 in a home win over Winthrop on Feb. 16.
Warley, the Big South leader in field goal percentage at .598, also shot 7-for-7 during a home win over East Tennessee State (Jan. 13). Including that performance, the redshirt freshman made nine straight field goal tries between Jan. 10-17.
Coach Green Versus the Big South
Liberty head coach Carey Green has enjoyed considerable success versus the Big South during his first nine seasons with the Lady Flames. His teams are 146-13 against Big South opponents, including 122-12 in the regular season and 24-1 in the Big South Championship.
Green has never lost to his alma mater, Coastal Carolina (22-0), or Charleston Southern (21-0) during his time at Liberty.
Winning Streaks
The Lady Flames are currently on an 13-game winning streak, as they have not lost a game since falling at No. 19/20 Vanderbilt on Dec. 22.
The streak is tied for the fifth longest in program history. Here is a look at the Lady Flames' longest winning streaks, eight of which have come with Carey Green as head coach.
1) 28 games (Nov. 21, 1997 - Feb. 28, 1998)
2) 22 games (Dec. 21, 2002 - March 9, 2003)
3) 19 games (Jan. 6, 2004 - March 13, 2004)
4) 14 games (Jan. 28, 2006 - March 11, 2006)
5T) 13 games (Dec. 29, 2008 - Present)
5T) 13 games (Jan. 5, 2008 - Feb. 23, 2008)
5T) 13 games (Jan. 24, 2002 - March 2, 2002)
8T) 12 games (Jan. 15, 2005 - Feb. 21, 2005)
8T) 12 games (Jan. 23, 1999 - Feb. 27, 1999)
10) 11 games (Feb. 3, 2000 - March 4, 2000)
Home Wreckers
Liberty became the first visiting team to come away from Gardner-Webb's Paul Porter Arena with a win, posting a 58-51 victory over the Bulldogs on Feb. 9. Gardner-Webb had won its first nine home games of the season.
Last season, the Lady Flames won in difficult venues like North Carolina A&T's Corbett Sports Center and Xavier's Cintas Center. Liberty was the only visiting team to win at North Carolina A&T in 2007-08, and the Aggies have won 17 straight home games since that Nov. 16, 2007 contest.
Nation's Longest Winning Streaks
Liberty has won 13 games in a row, which was tied for the eighth-longest current winning streak among NCAA Division I women's basketball games, entering the weekend.
No. 1 Connecticut has won a nation-best 26 consecutive games.
Liberty in the National Rankings
During Liberty's winning streak, the Lady Flames have been surging upward in the NCAA national statistical rankings. Liberty now ranks in the top 10 nationally in three statistical categories. The Lady Flames are listed No. 3 in rebounding margin (+11.6) and No. 10 in both field goal percentage defense (.344) and scoring defense (53.3 ppg).
Liberty and No. 16/17 Xavier are the only two teams in the nation which rank in the top 10 of all three of those categories.
Miss Consistency
Megan Frazee has scored in double figures in each of her last 59 games, dating back to Jan. 27, 2007. It is the longest such streak of her career and the second longest ever by a Liberty player. Elena Kisseleva owns the program record, tallying 10 or more points in 62 straight contests, spanning the 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons.
Miss Consistency, Part 2
Megan Frazee's streak of 59 straight games scoring in double figures ties her with Utah's Morgan Warburton for the second-longest active streak in the nation, among Division I women's basketball players. Robyn Fairbanks of Utah Valley State tops the list, as the nation's leading scorer has reached double digits in 75 consecutive outings.
Chasing Another Record
Megan Frazee has posted eight double-doubles this season, including one in each of her last four outings, pushing her career total to 44. Katie Feenstra owns the program record, with 49 career double-doubles.
Clamping Down on Defense
The Lady Flames have held 74 consecutive opponents under 50 percent field goal shooting. The last Liberty foe to sink more than half of its field goal attempts was Marist, at the Maryland Terrapin Classic on Dec. 29, 2006.
Liberty is off to a good start defensively in 2008-09. Seventeen of the Lady Flames' first 23 opponents have shot below 40 percent from the floor. Liberty leads the Big South and ranks No. 10 nationally with a .343 opponents field goal percentage.
The Lady Flames are 15-2 this season when their opponents shoot under 40 percent from the field, but 1-5 when their foes make at least 40 percent of their field goal tries.
Milestone Victory
Liberty is 500-403 all-time in women's basketball, since the inception of the program in 1975-76. The Lady Flames picked up win No. 500 in program history, Feb. 16 versus Winthrop. Here is a look at some of Liberty's milestone triumphs.
Win No. - Date - Opponent - Score
100 - 12/9/86 - Bluefield - 107-55
200 - 2/10/96 - UNC Asheville - 72-70
300 - 1/13/01 - Winthrop - 74-63
400 - 2/5/05 - High Point - 72-49
500 - 2/16/09 - Winthrop - 63-48
Playing with a Lead
Liberty has not trailed often during its last eight games. The Lady Flames led five of those contests from wire to wire, and their opponents have held the lead for only 6:57 of the last 320 minutes of action.
Less Than a Point Per Minute
Liberty held Radford to 15 first-half points on Feb. 2, marking the sixth time this season, the Lady Flames have limited their opponent to fewer than 20 first-half markers. Liberty has gone on to win all six contests.
During the Lady Flames' current winning streak, they have outscored their opponents by an average score of 30.9 to 21.5 in the first half.
Locked In
Megan Frazee has made 63.3 percent (31-of-49) of her field goals during the last three games, boosting her season field goal percentage to a career-high .521.
