WBB Game Day Central: Wolfpack Invitational
11/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Live Video Streaming
Live WWMC Radio Broadcast
Live Stats (Liberty vs. College of Charleston Game)
Creighton Women's Basketball Webpage
College of Charleston Women's Basketball Webpage
N.C. State Women's Basketball Webpage
The Games
The Liberty Lady Flames will tip off the 2010-11 campaign with a pair of games at the Sheraton Raleigh Wolfpack Invitational, Nov. 12-13, at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C. Liberty will face Creighton for the first time in program history, Friday at 2 p.m., in both teams' season lid-lifter.
The Lady Flames will then meet either College of Charleston or host N.C. State Saturday evening. Saturday's championship and consolation games will take place at 6 and 8 p.m., with N.C. State locked into the late time slot, regardless of the outcome of Friday's tilts. All four teams at this weekend's tournament participated in postseason play a season ago.
How to Follow the Lady Flames
For a small fee, fans can watch video streaming of both Liberty games at this weekend's Sheraton Raleigh Wolfpack Invitational. Click on the "Live Video Streaming" link at the top of this page to sign up for this feature.
Jamie Hall will be on hand in Raleigh, broadcasting both Liberty contests live on WWMC 90.9 FM "The Light." The radio broadcast will also be streamed over the Internet. Click on "Live WWMC Radio Broadcast" above to access the stream.
Finally, live stats will be available this weekend, courtesy of the N.C. State Media Relations office. Click on the appropriate links above to follow the Lady Flames' progress.
Scouting Creighton
The Creighton Bluejays, who have established themselves as a perennial contender for the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) title, were listed third in this year's preseason MVC poll and 20th in the CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top 25. They have posted six 20-win seasons in the last nine years, including last year's 21-11 ledger. The 2009-10 Bluejays lost to Northern Iowa by a single point in the MVC championship game, but rebounded to reach the second round of the WNIT.
Three starters return from last season's squad, highlighted by 6-0 senior forward Sam Schuett. She averaged 12.9 ppg and 7.5 rpg in 2009-10, while ranking No. 18 nationally with a 42.2 three-point field goal percentage. Schuett, named to the preseason All-MVC team, will be complemented by classmates Kellie Nelson (6-3 center) and Kelsey Woodard (5-10 guard).
The Coaching Matchup
Liberty Head Coach Carey Green is beginning his 12th season with the Lady Flames, and has led his team to 10 Big South titles. A five-time Big South Coach of the Year, Green owns a 264-83 career record and is the all-time wins leader at Liberty and among Big South women's basketball coaches. His career winning percentage (.761) ranks 10th all-time among NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches at the season's outset.
Jim Flanery enters his ninth season as head coach at his alma mater, Creighton. Flanery, who owns a 152-103 career record, also spent 10 years as an assistant with the Bluejays before assuming head coaching duties prior to the 2002-03 campaign. Flanery has led Creighton to six WNIT appearances, including the 2004 WNIT national title.
Liberty-Creighton Series Notes
Friday's game will be the first-ever matchup between Liberty and Creighton on the basketball hardwood.
Liberty Versus the Missouri Valley Conference
Liberty has only played one current Missouri Valley Conference member in program history, although the opponent was not playing in the MVC at the time. The Lady Flames played host to Evansville on Dec. 5, 1992, in the championship game of the Lady Flames Classic at the Vines Center. Despite 21 points and 11 rebounds by 2010 Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Theresa Bream, Liberty fell to the Purple Aces, 74-66. Evansville joined the MVC in 1994.
Making Mid-Major History
Friday's game between Liberty and Creighton will mark the first-ever matchup between two teams ranked in the CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top 25 poll. Liberty checks in at No. 8 to start the season, with the Bluejays listed No. 20.
Creighton may also be involved in the second Mid-Major Top 25 matchup, when the Bluejays travel to No. 5 Bowling Green on Nov. 15. However, that contest could be preceded by a clash between No. 3 James Madison and No. 15 South Dakota State, depending on the results of the Preseason WNIT first-round tilts.
Scouting College of Charleston
The College of Charleston Cougars are coming off of a history-making 2009-10 season, which saw them win their first Division I postseason tournament games in program history. The Cougars reached the Women's Basketball Invitational East Region Final, after defeating Morehead State and Bradley. College of Charleston finished 21-12, marking back-to-back 20-win campaigns for the first time at the Division I level.
College of Charleston returns only one starter from last year's team, but she was a key piece of the Cougars' success. Tonia Gerty, a 5-3 senior guard, was voted the 2010 Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year, after averaging 10.8 ppg, 5.2 apg, 3.9 rpg and 1.9 spg.
The Coaching Matchup
Liberty Head Coach Carey Green is beginning his 12th season with the Lady Flames, and has led his team to 10 Big South titles. A five-time Big South Coach of the Year, Green owns a 264-83 career record and is the all-time wins leader at Liberty and among Big South women's basketball coaches. His career winning percentage (.761) ranks 10th all-time among NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches at the season's outset.
Nancy Wilson has amassed an impressive 525-322 record in her 28 seasons as a collegiate women's basketball coach, including a 294-173 mark in 15 years at College of Charleston. She spent 13 years (1985-97) as head coach at South Carolina, leading the Gamecocks to five NCAA Tournament appearances. Despite coaching more than 800 games in the Southeast, Wilson has never faced Liberty.
Liberty-College of Charleston Series Notes
Liberty is 2-1 all-time versus College of Charleston, with all three matchups coming during the Christmas/New Year's holiday season within the decade of the 1990s. The Lady Flames have won the two most recent matchups.
The Cougars took the teams' first-ever matchup, claiming a 63-62 overtime decision on Jan. 3, 1992 at the UNC Greensboro Invitational. Liberty then prevailed in both ends of a home-and-home series during the late 90s, winning by a 66-50 count in Charleston on Dec. 30, 1997 and coming out on top, 66-52, at the Vines Center on Dec. 29, 1998. Elena Kisseleva tallied 53 of her Liberty-record 2,154 career points during the Lady Flames' pair of wins.
Liberty Versus the Southern Conference
Liberty has played 59 games against the current members of the Southern Conference, going 28-31. The Lady Flames are 0-2 versus Appalachian State, 2-1 versus College of Charleston, 2-0 versus Davidson, 11-3 versus Elon, 0-1 versus Furman, 0-2 versus Georgia Southern, 1-0 versus Samford, 6-14 versus UNC Greensboro, 3-8 versus Western Carolina and 3-0 versus Wofford.
The Lady Flames went 1-0 versus Southern Conference opponents last season. Devon Brown's 26 points helped Liberty defeat UNC Greensboro, 60-42, on Nov. 17, 2009 at the Vines Center.
College of Charleston is the only possible SoCon foe on Liberty's 2010-11 schedule.
Scouting N.C. State
Coming off of a 20-14 season and a NCAA Tournament appearance, N.C. State was picked to finish sixth in the preseason ACC poll. The Wolfpack are also receiving votes in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Preseason Top 25 listings.
Three Wolfpack starters return in 2010-11, headlined by 5-9 sophomore guard Marissa Kastanek and 5-11 junior forward Bonae Holston. Kastanek was named ACC Freshman of the Year, after scoring 10.9 ppg as a rookie and canning 65 three-pointers. Holston, the team's top scorer (12.1 ppg) and rebounder (6.3 rpg) in 2009-10, was an honorable mention All-ACC pick.
Tia Bell, a 6-3 forward who is one of three seniors on N.C. State's roster, was a teammate of the Lady Flames' Avery Warley at H.D. Woodson High School in Washington, D.C.
The Coaching Matchup
Liberty Head Coach Carey Green is beginning his 12th season with the Lady Flames, and has led his team to 10 Big South titles. A five-time Big South Coach of the Year, Green owns a 264-83 career record and is the all-time wins leader at Liberty and among Big South women's basketball coaches. His career winning percentage (.761) ranks 10th all-time among NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches at the season's outset.
Kellie Harper is tipping off her seventh season as a Division I head coach and her second year at N.C. State. She is 117-79 overall and 20-14 with the Wolfpack. The former Kellie Jolly has defeated Liberty both as a player at Tennessee (102-58 on March 14, 1998 in the NCAA Tournament) and as a coach at Western Carolina (73-53 on Nov. 22, 2008 in the Preseason WNIT).
Liberty-N.C. State Series Notes
Liberty is 0-1 all-time versus N.C. State, dropping the championship game of N.C. State's tournament by a 83-69 score, Dec. 4, 2005 at Reynolds Coliseum.
Then a freshman, Megan Frazee scored a game-high 29 points and earned tournament MVP honors. Her efforts helped Liberty build a 13-point lead before the Wolfpack came back. Four N.C. State players reached double figures in the scoring column, paced by Tiffany Stansbury's 21 markers.
Liberty Versus the ACC
Liberty is 4-31 all-time versus the current ACC members. The Lady Flames are 0-1 against Boston College, 0-3 against Duke, 0-2 against North Carolina, 0-1 against N.C. State, 2-7 against Virginia, 1-14 against Virginia Tech and 1-3 against Wake Forest.
Last season, Liberty lost its only ACC matchup. The Lady Flames fell to Virginia, 63-54, Dec. 29 in the title game of the Marriott Cavalier Classic at John Paul Jones Arena.
Liberty's most recent victory over an ACC opponent came when the Lady Flames defeated Virginia Tech, 45-43, Dec. 30, 2008. The triumph happened in the Hokie Hardwood Classic title game at Cassell Coliseum.
The Lady Flames could potentially meet another ACC team this season, when they travel to College Park, Md. for the Terrapin Classic, Dec. 28-29.
How's This for Openers?
Liberty has won six of its last eight season openers, including a 71-26 rout of Winston-Salem State, Nov. 13, 2009 at the Vines Center. Under Carey Green, Liberty is 6-5 in its first game of the season, including 5-1 at home and 1-4 when the Lady Flames open up away from the Vines Center.
The Lady Flames' lone season-opening victory away from home under Green was a 62-44 triumph at UNC Greensboro, Nov. 13, 2007.
First Road Trip
The Lady Flames have won their first road/neutral contest of the season for four years in a row. The streak includes a 61-56 triumph at George Mason (11/14/06), a 62-44 win at UNC Greensboro (11/13/07), a 45-44 Preseason WNIT win over UC Riverside at Western Carolina (11/21/08) and a 63-52 victory over Tulane at the Navy Classic (11/20/09).
Nifty in November
Liberty is 63-37 all-time during the month of November, and the Lady Flames have gone 28-19 during the calendar year's 11th month with Carey Green as head coach. Last season, the Lady Flames went 5-0 in November. The perfect month was highlighted by winning the Navy Classic championship.
This year, Liberty has seven November games on the schedule, including road tilts at preseason top 10 teams Texas A&M (11/22) and Baylor (11/26).
Liberty's Second Home?
This weekend, Liberty will play the first two of six regular-season games scheduled inside the state of North Carolina. The Lady Flames are also slated to play at North Carolina Central (12/18), High Point (1/3), UNC Asheville (1/10) and Gardner-Webb (1/31). In addition, the 2011 Big South Women's Basketball Championship will be played in High Point, N.C., March 11-13.
Accumulating ACC Tournaments
The Sheraton Raleigh Wolfpack Invitational is the first of two regular-season tournaments Liberty is slated to play at an ACC institution in 2010-11. The Lady Flames are also entered in the Terrapin Classic, Dec. 28-29 at Maryland.
Liberty has made a habit of playing tournaments at ACC facilities in recent years, doing so four times in the last five seasons. The Lady Flames took part in the 2005 N.C. State Tournament, the 2006 Terrapin Classic (Maryland), the 2008 Hokie Hardwood Classic (Virginia Tech) and the 2009 Marriott Cavalier Classic (Virginia). Liberty won the Hokie Hardwood Classic and finished second at both the N.C. State Tournament and Marriott Cavalier Classic.
Liberty redshirt junior center Avery Warley has fared well at ACC-hosted tournaments during the first two years of her career. She was named to the all-tournament team at both the Hokie Hardwood Classic and Marriott Cavalier Classic.
Hoisting the Hardware
The Lady Flames have been successful at regular-season tournaments in recent years, winning four titles in the last three seasons. Liberty took home the trophy from both the National City Xavier Invitational and UNLV Lady Rebel Christmas Classic in 2007, before winning single titles at the Hokie Hardwood Classic (2008) and Navy Classic (2009).
Is it Time Already?
November 12 is the second-earliest start date to a season in Liberty women's basketball season. Only the 2006-07 campaign got underway earlier, as the Lady Flames defeated Norfolk State by a 91-53 margin, Nov. 11, 2006 at the Vines Center.
The Keys to Victory
Liberty's Associate Athletics Director for External Operations, Kevin Keys, will have to decide which team to root for if Liberty meets College of Charleston this weekend. His son, Josh Keys, a 2007 Liberty graduate, is beginning his fourth season as an assistant coach for the Cougars.
Welcome Back
Only one player, senior point guard Amber Mays, graduated from the 2009-10 Liberty team. As a result, the Lady Flames return 87.5 percent of their scoring and 95.7 percent of their rebounding from a year ago.
Welcome Back, Part 2
Both redshirt sophomore guard Brittany Campbell and redshirt junior forward/center Kittery Maine missed the entire 2009-10 campaign due to knee injuries. However, both have returned to full health and will be ready to return to the court this weekend.
Campbell has not appeared in a game since Dec. 2, 2008 at James Madison. Meanwhile, Maine's most recent contest was March 22, 2009, Liberty's NCAA Tournament first-round game versus Louisville.
Debuts on Deck
Redshirt sophomore forward Tolu Omotola, freshman guard Emily Frazier and freshman forward Jasmine Gardner are all set to make their first appearance in a Liberty uniform this weekend. For Frazier and Gardner, it will be their collegiate debut. Omotola played 20 games at TCU in 2008-09, before transferring to Liberty.
Piling Up the Postseason Qualifiers
Liberty could play as many as 13 games against teams which qualified for postseason tournaments in 2009-10. The Lady Flames' potential opponents this year include five NCAA Tournament qualifiers (Baylor, James Madison, N.C. State, St. John's and Texas A&M), four WNIT qualifiers (Creighton, Gardner-Webb, Maryland and VCU) and two WBI qualifiers (Charleston Southern and College of Charleston).
The Lady Flames will host Charleston Southern on Jan. 24 and Gardner-Webb on Feb. 12. Other than those two contests, the rest of Liberty's matchups with 2009-10 postseason teams will be played away from the Vines Center.
Road Warriors
It is somewhat appropriate that Liberty will tip off the 2010-11 campaign with a pair of contests away from home. The Lady Flames are only slated to play 11 of their 29 games at the Vines Center this season, with a challenging slate of road tilts on the schedule.
Liberty will play a trio of home games during November, before going 47 days between contests at the Vines Center. By the time the Lady Flames return home to play Radford on Jan. 17, the team will have played nine consecutive road games. It is the team's longest stretch of games away from Lynchburg since a 10-game road swing during the 1991-92 season.
Happy Birthday to You!
Two Lady Flames will celebrate birthdays this weekend, during the Sheraton Raleigh Wolfpack Invitational. Redshirt sophomore forward Devon Brown will turn 21 on Friday (Nov. 12), and freshman point guard Emily Frazier will turn 20 on Saturday (Nov. 13).
Last year, Brown celebrated her 20th birthday in style, one day after the fact. She made an exceptional collegiate debut on Nov. 13, 2009, pouring in 26 points and grabbing seven rebounds in a win over Winston-Salem State at the Vines Center.
Rulers of the Rebounds
Liberty led the nation in rebound margin last season, pulling down an average of 13.9 more boards than its opponent in each contest. The Lady Flames outrebounded 32 of their 33 foes in 2009-10, while topping the nation in the category for the third time in program history. National champion UConn ranked second at 12.7 and national runner-up Stanford finished third at 11.8.
Liberty previously ranked as the nation's top rebounding team in both 2003-04 and 2004-05. The Lady Flames have been listed among the NCAA's top five squads for rebounding margin for eight consecutive seasons.
A Big Uniform to Fill
This will be the first season since Carey Green's first year at the helm, 1999-2000, that a Lady Flame has donned No. 24 on her uniform. Elena Kisseleva wore No. 24 during all four years of her career, before graduating in 2000. She is Liberty's all-time leading scorer with 2,154 points and was part of the inaugural class inducted into Liberty's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.
Jasmine Gardner, a 6-2 freshman forward from Memphis, Tenn., will sport No. 24 this season, as she begins her career with the Lady Flames.
A Big Pair of Shoes to Fill
Even though only one player is missing from last year's team, the Lady Flames lost a key component when point guard Amber Mays graduated. Mays started 64 times at point guard during her two seasons with the Lady Flames, pacing the squad in both assists and steals both years. She wrapped up her career in fine fashion, earning a spot on the 2010 Big South Championship all-tournament team.
The two players most likely to see playing time at the point guard slot in 2010-11 are senior Dymond Morgan and freshman Emily Frazier. Morgan served as Mays' backup a year ago, appearing in all 33 contests. She ranked third on the team with 49 steals and tied for third with 46 assists. Meanwhile, Frazier enrolled at Liberty for the spring 2010 semester, but will be seeing her first collegiate game action this season.
Other options at point guard include senior Rachel McLeod and sophomore Jelena Antic. McLeod opened her Liberty career as a point guard, before shifting to the "2" position during the 2008-09 season. At 6-2, Antic is very tall for a point guard, but did play the position in high school at Liberty Christian Academy and displayed a deft passing ability during her freshman year with the Lady Flames.
Kentucky Killed My Notes!
Liberty's 83-77 loss to Kentucky in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament broke some long-standing program trends. The Lady Flames had won 94 straight games when scoring 70 points or more, before that game. Liberty was also 73-0 under head coach Carey Green when shooting 50 percent from the field, prior to its setback against the Wildcats.
Great Expectations
The Lady Flames were tabbed to win their fourth straight Big South Conference championship in the preseason coaches and media poll. Liberty claimed 13 of 20 first-place votes and earned 172 total points. Coming in a close second was 2010 Big South regular-season champion Gardner-Webb, with the other seven first-place nods and 163 points.
Individually, redshirt sophomore forward Devon Brown was named Big South Preseason Player of the Year, with redshirt junior center Avery Warley joining her on the preseason all-conference roster.
Great Expectations, Part 2
Liberty starts the season ranked No. 8 in the first-ever CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top 25 poll. The poll is comprised of teams from the America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Great West, Horizon, Independents, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt and West Coast Conferences.
The Lady Flames are joined in the Top 25 by fellow Big South Conference squad Gardner-Webb, which opens the year at No. 23. Two of Liberty's 2010-11 non-conference foes also appear in the poll, with Creighton listed No. 20 and James Madison checking in at No. 3.
Gonzaga, which advanced to the Sweet 16 of last year's NCAA Tournament, is ranked No. 1 to open the year, with Green Bay a close second.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
The Lady Flames had an eventful and enjoyable summer, highlighted by a trip to Israel spanning late May and early June. During the trip, Liberty competed in the international Friendship Games tournament and won the championship in dominating fashion. The Lady Flames went 5-0, winning their games by an average of 40.2 points per contest. Liberty defeated the Israel Under-20 National Team by an 82-58 count in the title game.
Sophomore forward Jelena Antic remained overseas while her teammates returned to the United States, and gained some additional international playing experience. Playing for Macedonia, Antic earned MVP honors in the U20 European Championship for Women Division B.
For the tournament, Antic led all players in scoring (25.0 ppg) and rebounding (12.3 rpg), while ranking No. 2 in free throw percentage (.860), No. 3 in steals (3.2 spg), No. 5 in assists (3.3 apg) and No. 6 in blocked shots (1.2 bpg).
Her top individual performance was a 25-point, 11-rebound, 7-assist outing versus tournament champion Great Britain on July 18.
