WBB Game Day Central: Longwood
1/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Complete Game Notes (PDF format)
Live Video Streaming (Big South Network)
Live WWMC Radio Broadcast
Live Stats
Home Game Information
Longwood Women's Basketball Webpage
The Game
Liberty (9-4, 1-1 Big South) will continue its five-game homestand with a Tuesday evening contest against Route 460 rival Longwood (4-13). Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Vines Center, as the Lady Flames seek their fifth straight win in the all-time head-to-head series with the Lancers.
Last Time Out
The Lady Flames clamped down on defense during Saturday evening's Big South contest against Winthrop at the Vines Center. Liberty held the Eagles without a made field goal for a 14:36 stretch, spanning both halves, enabling the Lady Flames to claim their first Big South win of the season, 67-38.
On Deck
Liberty will resume its Big South Conference schedule Saturday at 4 p.m., when Presbyterian visits the Vines Center for the first half of a doubleheader with the Flames men's basketball team. Liberty is 3-0 all-time against the Blue Hose on the hardwood.
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 16th year of broadcasting Lady Flames basketball, will once again be handling the courtside play-by-play duties for road games. Nick Pierce and Josh Wood will serve as the primary commentators for home contests.
Lady Flames On TV
For the seventh season in a row, the Flames Sports Network (FSN) plans to broadcast all 15 home women's basketball games. FSN's regular announcing team will consist of Ray Jones on play-by-play and Jamie Hall on color.
Scouting Longwood
A young Longwood team, featuring only one senior and one junior, enters Tuesday's game on a five-game losing streak. The Lancers are only 1-10 when playing away from Willett Hall this season, but that one win was notable. Longwood claimed a 76-68 victory at High Point, the current Big South Conference leader, in a game played Dec. 18 at the Millis Center.
Six Lancers average between 6.6 and 10.2 points per game, led by Chelsea Coward, a 6-1 freshman guard/forward. The native of Mechanicsville, Va., is Longwood's lone double-digit scorer, at 10.2 ppg. Krystal Garrison, a 5-8 junior guard, has made a team-high 31 triples and posts 9.1 ppg. Becky Fernandes, the team's lone senior and a 5-7 guard, paces the Lancers in both rebounds (4.5 rpg) and assists (3.8 apg).
The Coaching Matchup
Liberty Head Coach Carey Green is in his 11th season with the Lady Flames, and has led his team to nine Big South titles. A five-time Big South Coach of the Year, Green owns a 246-81 career record and is the all-time wins leader at Liberty and among Big South women's basketball coaches. His career winning percentage (.752) ranked ninth all-time among NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches at the season's outset. Green is 3-0 all-time versus Longwood.
Kristin Caruso is 28-45 in her third season as Longwood's head coach and 60-124 in seven total years of collegiate head coaching. She served four years as Marist's head coach (1998-2002) and was a standout player at UConn (1987-90). Caruso has never coached against Liberty.
Caruso was placed on an indefinite paid leave of absence on Jan. 6, making assistant Mike Davis the acting head coach for the team's recent losses at Campbell and Davidson. Davis, in his first year on the Lancers' staff, was most recently an AAU coach in Richmond and played basketball at Virginia Tech from 1991-94.
Liberty-Longwood Series Notes
Longwood owns a 15-11 lead in the all-time head-to-head series between the pair of Commonwealth foes, which dates back to Jan. 25, 1979. However, Liberty has won all four meetings with the Lancers since becoming a Division I program, by an average of 27.5 points per contest.
Tuesday's game will be the teams' first matchup since a Jan. 5, 2007 contest at the Vines Center. Liberty shot 58.6 percent from the field, on its way to an 82-48 triumph over the Lancers. Two of the three Frazee triplets reached double digits for the Lady Flames, as Molly tallied a game-high 14 points and Megan added a dozen markers. Keiva Stall paced Longwood with 13 points.
The Lancers' most recent victory over Liberty was a 95-88 triumph in Farmville, Va., Feb. 12, 1988. That was one of many close contests between the Lady Flames and Lancers during the 1980s. The former Mason-Dixon Conference rivals played 13 games which were decided by single digits, including a trio of overtime contests.
Longwood is Liberty's second-most common non-Big South opponent in program history, trailing only VCU (31 games).
New Year's Resolution
Liberty owns a 157-106 all-time record in January contests, including a 73-9 mark under head coach Carey Green. The Lady Flames' 70-65 setback at Gardner-Webb on Jan. 2 snapped a streak of 17 consecutive January wins for the Lady Flames.
Liberty is scheduled to play nine games this January, including five contests at the Vines Center. The Lady Flames, 2-1 so far this month, currently own a 39-game home winning streak during the month of January, since a 77-72 setback versus Elon, Jan. 13, 2000.
Competing Against the Commonwealth
Tuesday's game against Longwood will be the Lady Flames' third contest against a Commonwealth opponent this season. Liberty is 0-2 versus Virginia opponents in 2009-10, suffering setbacks against a pair of teams which have spent time in the Top 25 this year, James Madison and Virginia.
Liberty still has two Big South tilts scheduled against Radford, on Feb. 1 and March 5.
Trouble on Tuesday
Liberty defeated North Carolina A&T by a 57-51 count, last Tuesday at the Vines Center. However, the Lady Flames are still below .500 in Tuesday contests thus far in 2009-10, going 2-3.
Liberty, which is 7-1 on all other days of the week, has lost to James Madison, Auburn and Virginia in Tuesday tilts.
Amber Accumulates Assists
Senior Amber Mays tallied a career-high 10 assists during Saturday's 67-38 victory over Winthrop, the most by a Lady Flame since Nov. 22, 2002. That evening, Daina Staugaitiene dished out 10 helpers in a 90-35 season-opening win over Morgan State.
Mays is now averaging 4.7 assists per contest on the year. No Liberty point guard has averaged that many assists for an entire season since 1997-98, when Sarah Wilkerson distributed 5.1 apg.
Defense Causes a Drought
Part of a stellar defensive outing Saturday versus Winthrop, Liberty held the Eagles without a made field goal for a span of 14:36, including parts of both halves. During that time, the Lady Flames forced 10 turnovers and 12 missed shots and posted a 30-4 run.
Balanced Attack
Junior Dymond Morgan scored a career-high 11 points during Saturday's triumph over Winthrop, becoming the eighth different Lady Flame to score in double figures this season.
Five-Game Homestand
After not playing a single home game for an entire month, the Lady Flames are in the midst of five straight home tilts at the Vines Center, during a 14-day stretch (Jan. 5-18). This is Liberty's longest homestand of the season and the Lady Flames' longest run of home contests since January 2006. The 2005-06 Liberty squad played five straight games at the Vines Center twice during that season.
Liberty Versus Non-Conference Opposition
Liberty is 8-3 against non-conference opponents this season, boosting its all-time non-conference ledger to 274-296. The Lady Flames have won 15 of their last 18 non-Big South tilts at the Vines Center.
Liberty's best-ever season against non-conference foes came in 1997-98, when the Lady Flames went 14-1 outside the Big South. Liberty's lone non-conference setback that season came to eventual national champion Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Turning Up the Heat in the Furnace
The 2009-10 campaign is the 18th season the Liberty women's basketball team has called the Vines Center its full-time home. The "Furnace" has served as a favorable venue for the Lady Flames over the years. Liberty is 193-52 (.788) all-time at the Vines Center, including 10-2 last season.
The Lady Flames are 5-1 to start this year's 15-game home schedule and are 101-10 in their last 111 home games, dating back to the 2001-02 season.
Impressive Individual Effort
Devon Brown scored all 21 of her points between the 10:34 mark of the opening half and the 13:42 mark of the second half, Saturday against Winthrop. During that stretch, she single-handedly outscored the Eagles, 21-8.
Earlier this season, Brown matched Winston-Salem State's total offensive output for the game (26-26) on Nov. 13. She also outscored Navy during the second half of the Navy Classic title contest (Nov. 20) by herself, 14-11.
A Tale of Two Halves
Liberty has regularly stepped up its level of play during the second half this season. The Lady Flames are outscoring opponents by an average score of 36.3-26.2 during the final 20 minutes of play, thus far this season.
Liberty is shooting .521 from the field after halftime, while limiting opponents to a .324 second-half field goal percentage.
Live Video Streaming (Big South Network)
Live WWMC Radio Broadcast
Live Stats
Home Game Information
Longwood Women's Basketball Webpage
The Game
Liberty (9-4, 1-1 Big South) will continue its five-game homestand with a Tuesday evening contest against Route 460 rival Longwood (4-13). Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Vines Center, as the Lady Flames seek their fifth straight win in the all-time head-to-head series with the Lancers.
Last Time Out
The Lady Flames clamped down on defense during Saturday evening's Big South contest against Winthrop at the Vines Center. Liberty held the Eagles without a made field goal for a 14:36 stretch, spanning both halves, enabling the Lady Flames to claim their first Big South win of the season, 67-38.
On Deck
Liberty will resume its Big South Conference schedule Saturday at 4 p.m., when Presbyterian visits the Vines Center for the first half of a doubleheader with the Flames men's basketball team. Liberty is 3-0 all-time against the Blue Hose on the hardwood.
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 16th year of broadcasting Lady Flames basketball, will once again be handling the courtside play-by-play duties for road games. Nick Pierce and Josh Wood will serve as the primary commentators for home contests.
Lady Flames On TV
For the seventh season in a row, the Flames Sports Network (FSN) plans to broadcast all 15 home women's basketball games. FSN's regular announcing team will consist of Ray Jones on play-by-play and Jamie Hall on color.
Scouting Longwood
A young Longwood team, featuring only one senior and one junior, enters Tuesday's game on a five-game losing streak. The Lancers are only 1-10 when playing away from Willett Hall this season, but that one win was notable. Longwood claimed a 76-68 victory at High Point, the current Big South Conference leader, in a game played Dec. 18 at the Millis Center.
Six Lancers average between 6.6 and 10.2 points per game, led by Chelsea Coward, a 6-1 freshman guard/forward. The native of Mechanicsville, Va., is Longwood's lone double-digit scorer, at 10.2 ppg. Krystal Garrison, a 5-8 junior guard, has made a team-high 31 triples and posts 9.1 ppg. Becky Fernandes, the team's lone senior and a 5-7 guard, paces the Lancers in both rebounds (4.5 rpg) and assists (3.8 apg).
The Coaching Matchup
Liberty Head Coach Carey Green is in his 11th season with the Lady Flames, and has led his team to nine Big South titles. A five-time Big South Coach of the Year, Green owns a 246-81 career record and is the all-time wins leader at Liberty and among Big South women's basketball coaches. His career winning percentage (.752) ranked ninth all-time among NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches at the season's outset. Green is 3-0 all-time versus Longwood.
Kristin Caruso is 28-45 in her third season as Longwood's head coach and 60-124 in seven total years of collegiate head coaching. She served four years as Marist's head coach (1998-2002) and was a standout player at UConn (1987-90). Caruso has never coached against Liberty.
Caruso was placed on an indefinite paid leave of absence on Jan. 6, making assistant Mike Davis the acting head coach for the team's recent losses at Campbell and Davidson. Davis, in his first year on the Lancers' staff, was most recently an AAU coach in Richmond and played basketball at Virginia Tech from 1991-94.
Liberty-Longwood Series Notes
Longwood owns a 15-11 lead in the all-time head-to-head series between the pair of Commonwealth foes, which dates back to Jan. 25, 1979. However, Liberty has won all four meetings with the Lancers since becoming a Division I program, by an average of 27.5 points per contest.
Tuesday's game will be the teams' first matchup since a Jan. 5, 2007 contest at the Vines Center. Liberty shot 58.6 percent from the field, on its way to an 82-48 triumph over the Lancers. Two of the three Frazee triplets reached double digits for the Lady Flames, as Molly tallied a game-high 14 points and Megan added a dozen markers. Keiva Stall paced Longwood with 13 points.
The Lancers' most recent victory over Liberty was a 95-88 triumph in Farmville, Va., Feb. 12, 1988. That was one of many close contests between the Lady Flames and Lancers during the 1980s. The former Mason-Dixon Conference rivals played 13 games which were decided by single digits, including a trio of overtime contests.
Longwood is Liberty's second-most common non-Big South opponent in program history, trailing only VCU (31 games).
New Year's Resolution
Liberty owns a 157-106 all-time record in January contests, including a 73-9 mark under head coach Carey Green. The Lady Flames' 70-65 setback at Gardner-Webb on Jan. 2 snapped a streak of 17 consecutive January wins for the Lady Flames.
Liberty is scheduled to play nine games this January, including five contests at the Vines Center. The Lady Flames, 2-1 so far this month, currently own a 39-game home winning streak during the month of January, since a 77-72 setback versus Elon, Jan. 13, 2000.
Competing Against the Commonwealth
Tuesday's game against Longwood will be the Lady Flames' third contest against a Commonwealth opponent this season. Liberty is 0-2 versus Virginia opponents in 2009-10, suffering setbacks against a pair of teams which have spent time in the Top 25 this year, James Madison and Virginia.
Liberty still has two Big South tilts scheduled against Radford, on Feb. 1 and March 5.
Trouble on Tuesday
Liberty defeated North Carolina A&T by a 57-51 count, last Tuesday at the Vines Center. However, the Lady Flames are still below .500 in Tuesday contests thus far in 2009-10, going 2-3.
Liberty, which is 7-1 on all other days of the week, has lost to James Madison, Auburn and Virginia in Tuesday tilts.
Amber Accumulates Assists
Senior Amber Mays tallied a career-high 10 assists during Saturday's 67-38 victory over Winthrop, the most by a Lady Flame since Nov. 22, 2002. That evening, Daina Staugaitiene dished out 10 helpers in a 90-35 season-opening win over Morgan State.
Mays is now averaging 4.7 assists per contest on the year. No Liberty point guard has averaged that many assists for an entire season since 1997-98, when Sarah Wilkerson distributed 5.1 apg.
Defense Causes a Drought
Part of a stellar defensive outing Saturday versus Winthrop, Liberty held the Eagles without a made field goal for a span of 14:36, including parts of both halves. During that time, the Lady Flames forced 10 turnovers and 12 missed shots and posted a 30-4 run.
Balanced Attack
Junior Dymond Morgan scored a career-high 11 points during Saturday's triumph over Winthrop, becoming the eighth different Lady Flame to score in double figures this season.
Five-Game Homestand
After not playing a single home game for an entire month, the Lady Flames are in the midst of five straight home tilts at the Vines Center, during a 14-day stretch (Jan. 5-18). This is Liberty's longest homestand of the season and the Lady Flames' longest run of home contests since January 2006. The 2005-06 Liberty squad played five straight games at the Vines Center twice during that season.
Liberty Versus Non-Conference Opposition
Liberty is 8-3 against non-conference opponents this season, boosting its all-time non-conference ledger to 274-296. The Lady Flames have won 15 of their last 18 non-Big South tilts at the Vines Center.
Liberty's best-ever season against non-conference foes came in 1997-98, when the Lady Flames went 14-1 outside the Big South. Liberty's lone non-conference setback that season came to eventual national champion Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Turning Up the Heat in the Furnace
The 2009-10 campaign is the 18th season the Liberty women's basketball team has called the Vines Center its full-time home. The "Furnace" has served as a favorable venue for the Lady Flames over the years. Liberty is 193-52 (.788) all-time at the Vines Center, including 10-2 last season.
The Lady Flames are 5-1 to start this year's 15-game home schedule and are 101-10 in their last 111 home games, dating back to the 2001-02 season.
Impressive Individual Effort
Devon Brown scored all 21 of her points between the 10:34 mark of the opening half and the 13:42 mark of the second half, Saturday against Winthrop. During that stretch, she single-handedly outscored the Eagles, 21-8.
Earlier this season, Brown matched Winston-Salem State's total offensive output for the game (26-26) on Nov. 13. She also outscored Navy during the second half of the Navy Classic title contest (Nov. 20) by herself, 14-11.
A Tale of Two Halves
Liberty has regularly stepped up its level of play during the second half this season. The Lady Flames are outscoring opponents by an average score of 36.3-26.2 during the final 20 minutes of play, thus far this season.
Liberty is shooting .521 from the field after halftime, while limiting opponents to a .324 second-half field goal percentage.
Saturday, March 14
Friday, March 13
Thursday, March 12
Tuesday, March 10