Saturday, March 13
High Point, N.C.
3:00 PM
Liberty University
26-5, 14-2BSC
73
at
55
No. 3 seed High Point
17-14, 9-7BSC
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Point | 32 | 23 | 55 |
| Liberty | 33 | 40 | 73 |
Point Guards Rack Up Points in Semifinal Win
3/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Liberty point guards Amber Mays and Dymond Morgan both set career-highs for points during Saturday's semifinal contest against No. 3 seed High Point in the Advance Auto Parts Big South Women's Basketball Championship. The duo's 34 combined points helped the No. 2 seed Lady Flames defeat the host Panthers, 73-55, at the Millis Center.
Liberty trailed 28-20 late in the first half, but outscored High Point by a 53-27 margin the rest of the way for its ninth straight win. The Lady Flames, now 26-5 on the season, will meet the No. 1 seed Gardner-Webb Bulldogs in Sunday's championship game. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m., and the game will be televised live on SportSouth and MASN.
High Point's season ends at 17-14, after the Panthers shot just 36 percent in the second half.
Mays scored Liberty's first seven points of the game, staking the Lady Flames to a 7-4 advantage at the 15:53 mark of the opening half.
High Point countered with an 8-0 burst, capped off by back-to-back three-pointers. Erin Reynolds' trifecta from the left corner at 14:11 put the Panthers in front, 12-7.
High Point's edge reached seven points twice, including when LaTeisha Dean drilled a perimeter jumper in transition, with 8:50 remaining in the opening stanza. Her hoop made the score 21-14, in favor of the Panthers.
Morgan scored six straight Liberty points, including the first four markers of the Lady Flames' 6-0 surge, which trimmed their deficit to 21-20 at 6:37.
Again the Panthers countered, notching a 7-0 burst. Shamia Brown's fourth hoop of the early-going lifted High Point's lead to 28-20, 4:35 before halftime.
However, Liberty turned up the defensive pressure, limiting the hot-shooting Panthers to a pair of made field goals during the remainder of the period. As a result, the Lady Flames closed the half on a 13-4 surge, keyed by Devon Brown's six points. Rachel McLeod's foul shot 5.5 seconds before the break gave Liberty a slim, 33-32 halftime edge.
High Point shot better than the Lady Flames from the field during the opening 20 minutes, 51.9 percent to 40 percent. The Panthers also made three triples to Liberty's one. However, the Lady Flames owned the advantage at the charity stripe. Liberty hit 8-of-11 first-half free throws (72.7 percent), while High Point was just 1-of-5 (20 percent).
Liberty pulled down 20 rebounds in the opening stanza, outrebounding its host by four. The Lady Flames also scored 22 points in the paint.
Brown and Mays led Liberty's scoring attack in the first half with nine points apiece, while Brown added six rebounds and a pair of steals.
Shamia Brown scored half of High Point's 16 bench points during the first 20 minutes, leading the Panthers. Amy Dodd filled the stat sheet for the Panthers, tallying five points, a matching number of assists, four rebounds and three steals.
Liberty scored the second half's first six points, increasing its lead to 39-32 when Brown sank two foul shots 2:39 into the period.
High Point had gotten to within three, at 41-38, on Dean's jump shot at 15:56. The Lady Flames then built their first double-digit lead, courtesy of Jelena Antic. The freshman scored the game's next seven points, making the score 48-38 on her triple with 12:29 left.
Liberty's advantage stood at 11 points, 58-47, before the Lady Flames sealed their victory with their second 13-4 run of the afternoon. Point guards Mays and Morgan accounted for all 13 Liberty points during the decisive surge, and Mays' old-fashioned three-point play at the 3:00 mark gave the Lady Flames a 71-51 bulge.
Liberty's final margin of victory was 73-55, putting the Lady Flames into the title contest for the third straight year and helping assistant coach Alexis Sherard celebrate his birthday in style.
The Lady Flames shot 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the field during the second half, boosting their overall field goal percentage to 50 percent (27-of-54) on the afternoon. High Point ended up at 44.2 percent (23-of-52) for the game.
Liberty won the battle of the boards, 39-28, and scored all 11 of the contest's second-chance points. The Lady Flames also tallied 38 points in the paint.
Mays led all players with a career-high 21 points, making eight of her nine field goal attempts and four of five from the foul line. The Lady Flames' lone senior, who went over the 500-point mark for her career during the second half, added a game-high four steals and three assists.
Fellow floor general Morgan chipped in a career-high 13 points and a trio of rebounds in 20 productive minutes off of head coach Carey Green's bench.
Brown gave the Lady Flames three players in double figures, recording 17 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots and three of Liberty's dozen steals.
Antic provided a second-half boost, scoring all seven of her points and grabbing four of her seven boards after intermission.
Jurica Hargraves was High Point's only double-digit scorer, with 10 points. Ashlee' Samuels claimed a game-high eight boards for the Panthers.
Liberty's championship game matchup with Gardner-Webb is the first rematch in the Big South Championship title contest since 2000. That year, the Lady Flames met (and defeated) Coastal Carolina for the second season in a row. Liberty and Gardner-Webb also have more combined victories (54) than any two Big South women's basketball opponents in conference history.
Liberty trailed 28-20 late in the first half, but outscored High Point by a 53-27 margin the rest of the way for its ninth straight win. The Lady Flames, now 26-5 on the season, will meet the No. 1 seed Gardner-Webb Bulldogs in Sunday's championship game. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m., and the game will be televised live on SportSouth and MASN.
High Point's season ends at 17-14, after the Panthers shot just 36 percent in the second half.
Mays scored Liberty's first seven points of the game, staking the Lady Flames to a 7-4 advantage at the 15:53 mark of the opening half.
High Point countered with an 8-0 burst, capped off by back-to-back three-pointers. Erin Reynolds' trifecta from the left corner at 14:11 put the Panthers in front, 12-7.
High Point's edge reached seven points twice, including when LaTeisha Dean drilled a perimeter jumper in transition, with 8:50 remaining in the opening stanza. Her hoop made the score 21-14, in favor of the Panthers.
Morgan scored six straight Liberty points, including the first four markers of the Lady Flames' 6-0 surge, which trimmed their deficit to 21-20 at 6:37.
Again the Panthers countered, notching a 7-0 burst. Shamia Brown's fourth hoop of the early-going lifted High Point's lead to 28-20, 4:35 before halftime.
However, Liberty turned up the defensive pressure, limiting the hot-shooting Panthers to a pair of made field goals during the remainder of the period. As a result, the Lady Flames closed the half on a 13-4 surge, keyed by Devon Brown's six points. Rachel McLeod's foul shot 5.5 seconds before the break gave Liberty a slim, 33-32 halftime edge.
High Point shot better than the Lady Flames from the field during the opening 20 minutes, 51.9 percent to 40 percent. The Panthers also made three triples to Liberty's one. However, the Lady Flames owned the advantage at the charity stripe. Liberty hit 8-of-11 first-half free throws (72.7 percent), while High Point was just 1-of-5 (20 percent).
Liberty pulled down 20 rebounds in the opening stanza, outrebounding its host by four. The Lady Flames also scored 22 points in the paint.
Brown and Mays led Liberty's scoring attack in the first half with nine points apiece, while Brown added six rebounds and a pair of steals.
Shamia Brown scored half of High Point's 16 bench points during the first 20 minutes, leading the Panthers. Amy Dodd filled the stat sheet for the Panthers, tallying five points, a matching number of assists, four rebounds and three steals.
Liberty scored the second half's first six points, increasing its lead to 39-32 when Brown sank two foul shots 2:39 into the period.
High Point had gotten to within three, at 41-38, on Dean's jump shot at 15:56. The Lady Flames then built their first double-digit lead, courtesy of Jelena Antic. The freshman scored the game's next seven points, making the score 48-38 on her triple with 12:29 left.
Liberty's advantage stood at 11 points, 58-47, before the Lady Flames sealed their victory with their second 13-4 run of the afternoon. Point guards Mays and Morgan accounted for all 13 Liberty points during the decisive surge, and Mays' old-fashioned three-point play at the 3:00 mark gave the Lady Flames a 71-51 bulge.
Liberty's final margin of victory was 73-55, putting the Lady Flames into the title contest for the third straight year and helping assistant coach Alexis Sherard celebrate his birthday in style.
The Lady Flames shot 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the field during the second half, boosting their overall field goal percentage to 50 percent (27-of-54) on the afternoon. High Point ended up at 44.2 percent (23-of-52) for the game.
Liberty won the battle of the boards, 39-28, and scored all 11 of the contest's second-chance points. The Lady Flames also tallied 38 points in the paint.
Mays led all players with a career-high 21 points, making eight of her nine field goal attempts and four of five from the foul line. The Lady Flames' lone senior, who went over the 500-point mark for her career during the second half, added a game-high four steals and three assists.
Fellow floor general Morgan chipped in a career-high 13 points and a trio of rebounds in 20 productive minutes off of head coach Carey Green's bench.
Brown gave the Lady Flames three players in double figures, recording 17 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots and three of Liberty's dozen steals.
Antic provided a second-half boost, scoring all seven of her points and grabbing four of her seven boards after intermission.
Jurica Hargraves was High Point's only double-digit scorer, with 10 points. Ashlee' Samuels claimed a game-high eight boards for the Panthers.
Liberty's championship game matchup with Gardner-Webb is the first rematch in the Big South Championship title contest since 2000. That year, the Lady Flames met (and defeated) Coastal Carolina for the second season in a row. Liberty and Gardner-Webb also have more combined victories (54) than any two Big South women's basketball opponents in conference history.
Team Stats
HPU
LIBERTY
FG%
.442
.500
3FG%
.400
.400
FT%
.500
.600
RB
28
39
TO
15
13
STL
5
12
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
8
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
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