Liberty University
15-10, 12-4BSC
Coastal Carolina
10-15, 5-11BSC
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coastal Carolina | 17 | 25 | 5 | 11 | 58 |
| Liberty | 12 | 12 | 15 | 12 | 51 |
Coastal Defeats Liberty for First Time in 20 Years
2/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
For the second consecutive game, Liberty made a furious second-half comeback before falling short in the end, Saturday at the Vines Center. The Lady Flames trimmed an 18-point halftime deficit to four, but Coastal Carolina hung on for a 58-51 victory, snapping a 45-game losing streak to Liberty with its first win over the Lady Flames since Feb. 19, 1996.
Liberty, which held Coastal Carolina to 16 second-half points, pulled to within 55-51 on Candice Leatherwood's layup with 1:50 remaining. However, the Lady Flames missed their last six field goal attempts and their last three free throws. Meanwhile, Kennedy Archer hit two foul shots and Ced Gibson added one in the final 16 seconds to seal the Chanticleers' victory.
Despite career highs in points (11) and rebounds (7) for Leatherwood, Liberty falls to 15-10 overall and 12-4 in the Big South. The Lady Flames have lost back-to-back conference games for just the second time in Carey Green's 17 seasons as head coach and saw their 21-game Big South home winning streak halted on Saturday. Green, a 1979 graduate of Coastal Carolina, falls to 37-1 all-time against his alma mater.
Coastal Carolina improves to 10-15 overall and 5-11 in conference play after snapping the second longest active losing streak against a conference opponent in NCAA Division I women's basketball. The Chanticleers, who hit 10 triples and forced 25 Liberty turnovers, were led by the trio of Gibson (20 points, six assists), Nicole Isaacs (16 points, five rebounds, four steals) and Archer (career-high 14 points).
Coming off of a career-high 26-point outburst during Tuesday's win over Charleston Southern, Gibson scored eight points during the game's first 4:23. Her shot clock buzzer-beating three-pointer gave the Chanticleers an early 11-5 advantage. Coastal Carolina made five triples during the first quarter, taking a 17-12 lead at the end of the period.
Coastal Carolina hit three more three-pointers during a 17-2 second-quarter run. Back-to-back baseline jumpers by Archer closed out the surge with the Chanticleers on top, 34-16. Liberty got no closer than 14 points down for the remainder of the half, and the Chanticleers owned a 42-24 halftime advantage.
Gibson (17 points) and Isaacs (16 points) both lit up the scoreboard during the opening half for the Chanticleers. Coastal Carolina also converted Liberty's 13 turnovers into 19 points during the first 20 minutes of play.
Mickayla Sanders got the second-half scoring started with Liberty's first four-point play since Jaymee Fisher-Davis had one against Winthrop on Feb. 22, 2014. Sanders had six third-quarter points and Leatherwood had five as Liberty outscored the Chanticleers, 15-5, for the period. Coastal Carolina shot just 2-of-16 during the third quarter, with Archer making both field goals. Her buzzer beater sent the Chanticleers into the final 10 minutes with a 47-39 cushion.
Coastal Carolina still led by as many as nine (55-46) after Jamie Williams split a pair of free throws with 3:30 to play in the fourth quarter. A Sadalia Ellis three-pointer and Leatherwood's previously mentioned layup cut the deficit to four (55-51). However, that's as close as Liberty got as the Chanticleers snapped their four-game road losing skid.
Liberty finished with a slightly better field goal percentage (35.2 percent, 19-of-54) for the game than did Coastal Carolina (32.8 percent, 21-of-64). However, the Chanticleers hit six more three-pointers than the Lady Flames (10-4) and Liberty shot a season-low 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from the foul line, including 33.3 percent (4-of-12) after halftime.
The Lady Flames outrebounded Coastal Carolina, 52-34, including 33-18 during the final 20 minutes. Liberty also enjoyed the advantage in points in the paint (26-6) and second-chance points (14-3).
Coastal Carolina, the Big South leader in steals, came up with 13 thefts on the afternoon and scored 28 points off of Liberty's 25 turnovers.
Sanders tied Leatherwood for the team lead in scoring, finishing with 11 points and two of the Lady Flames' four triples. In the process, the junior became the 11th Lady Flame with 100 or more career three-pointers made.
Liberty got solid production from its "Big 3," including eight points and nine rebounds from Ashley Rininger, seven points and a game-high 11 boards from Katelyn Adams and six points and 10 rebounds from Catherine Kearney. Adams became the ninth Lady Flame ever to grab 800 career rebounds, finishing the game with 801 boards to her credit.
Gibson, who had missed the Chanticleers' 65-63 setback to Liberty on Jan. 19 due to injury, reached the 20-point mark for the third time in four games. Archer's 14 points doubled her previous career high of seven, and the freshman who entered Saturday's contest with three career triples hit two against the Lady Flames.
Liberty will play its next-to-last road game of the season Tuesday at High Point (10-15, 9-7 Big South). Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Millis Center as the Lady Flames seek their second win against the Panthers in 25 days. Liberty posted a 56-43 victory over High Point at the Vines Center on Jan. 30.
The 50th all-time meeting between Liberty and High Point will give the Lady Flames a chance to clinch a first-round bye for the Big South Women's Basketball Championship with a victory.
