Liberty University
4-11, 3-1
Gardner-Webb
7-8, 2-2
Hill Leads Gardner-Webb to 84-82 OT Win Over Liberty
1/15/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Gardner-Webb junior guard Alexus Hill scored 21 of her career-high 27 points after halftime, leading the Runnin' Bulldogs to a thrilling 84-82 overtime victory over Liberty, Sunday afternoon at Paul Porter Arena.
KK Barbour led five Lady Flames in double figures with a career-high 17 points, including three free throws with 4.9 seconds remaining in regulation which tied the score at 73-73 and sent Liberty to its first overtime contest of the season. But Hill scored Gardner-Webb's first four points of overtime, and the home team never trailed during the extra session.
Liberty (4-11, 3-1 Big South) drops its first Big South game of the season, falling into a second-place tie with Campbell in the conference standings despite some impressive statistical performances.
One day before her 20th birthday, Barbour tallied 12 of her 17 points during the fourth quarter and overtime and also collected seven rebounds. Teammate Keyen Green (16 points, game-high 16 rebounds) recorded her sixth double-double and Kierra Johnson-Graham (career-high 12 points, career-high 12 rebounds) added her first career double-double.
Ola Makurat (career-high 11 points) and Nene Johnson (10 points) gave the Lady Flames five double-digit scorers in the same game for the first time since Jan. 30, 2014 versus High Point.
Liberty also outrebounded Gardner-Webb by 30 boards (56-26), pulling down a season-high 29 offensive caroms which led to a season-best 25 second-chance points.
In the 20th all-time meeting between the Lady Flames and Runnin' Bulldogs, Gardner-Webb (7-8, 2-2) posted a tight home win over Liberty for the second straight year. The Runnin' Bulldogs, who got 15 points from Tierra Huntsman, scored 46 points in the paint and 29 points off of Liberty's 21 turnovers. Gardner-Webb shot 49.2 percent (29-of-59) from the field and also shot 14 more free throws than Liberty on the day, going 23-of-36 for 63.9 percent.
Seven different Lady Flames scored points during the first quarter, and Liberty held Gardner-Webb without a made field goal for the final 7:41 of the period. The Lady Flames led by as many as 10 points (18-8) on their way to a 21-12 lead at the end of the stanza.
Green's six rebounds helped Liberty outrebound their hosts, 14-3, in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Gardner-Webb stayed within striking distance by making all eight of its free throws during the opening 10 minutes.
The Runnin' Bulldogs opened the second quarter with five straight points, pulling to within 21-17 on Ky'Asia Stanford's layup at the 8:50 mark. But Makurat hit her second triple of the first half on Liberty's next possession and Gardner-Webb got no closer for the remainder of the half. Lela Sellers ended the period with a trifecta of her own, pushing the Lady Flames' halftime lead to 37-28.
Paced by Green (8 points, 9 rebounds), Liberty controlled the first-half statistical categories of rebounds (27-10), points in the paint (18-10) and second-chance points (11-2). Gardner-Webb scored 13 points off of Liberty's 10 first-half turnovers, but leading scorer Huntsman was limited to two points on 0-of-5 from the field prior to the intermission.
Iva Ilic's three-pointer 2:01 into the third quarter gave Liberty its second 10-point lead of the afternoon at 40-30. Huntsman tallied five points during Gardner-Webb's ensuing 10-0 run, including a three-point play at the 5:00 mark which tied the score at 40-all.
After back-to-back hoops by Ilic and Green, Gardner-Webb closed out the third quarter on an 11-5 surge, taking a 51-49 edge into the final 10 minutes. The Runnin' Bulldogs forced eight Liberty turnovers during the third quarter, leading to 12 of Gardner-Webb's 23 points during the stanza. Hill tallied nine third-quarter points for the home team.
Barbour scored five straight points during a 7-2 fourth-quarter surge, enabling Liberty to take a 61-59 lead on her layup with 5:39 to play. Hill countered with five points of her own during Gardner-Webb's 7-0 burst, providing her team a 66-61 advantage at the 2:14 mark.
The Runnin' Bulldogs still led by four (70-66) with 1:15 remaining before a whirlwind ending to regulation. Barbour hit a layup and then assisted on Green's layup with 15 seconds on the clock, evening the score at 70-70.
Huntsman then drove coast-to-coast, converting an old-fashioned three-point play to put Gardner-Webb on top 73-70 with just 7.9 seconds remaining. But Barbour was fouled on a three-point attempt three seconds later, setting the stage for the sophomore's clutch foul shots which forced overtime.
Liberty went more than four minutes between its two made field goals during overtime. Gardner-Webb took advantage of the Lady Flames' scoring woes by reeling off five consecutive points and grabbing an 82-77 lead with 25.0 seconds left.
Johnson-Graham's two free throws and Makurat's trifecta sandwiched a free throw by Savannah Plentovich, making it a one-point game (83-82) at the 3.2-second mark. But Gardner-Webb got the ball inbounds successfully and Hill's free throw closed out the scoring in a matchup which featured 11 ties and six lead changes.
Liberty finished the game with almost exactly the same shooting percentage overall from the field (39.2 percent, 29-of-74) as from three-point range (39.1 percent, 9-of-23). The Lady Flames were 68.2 percent (15-of-22) from the charity stripe, including 9-of-11 during the fourth quarter and overtime.
Ilic dished out a career-high seven of the Lady Flames' 17 assists.
For Gardner-Webb, Stanford scored 12 points, making it three double-figure scorers for her team and contributing to the Runnin' Bulldogs' 31-23 advantage in bench points.
Up Next
Liberty will return home Tuesday for a matchup against Route 460 foe Longwood (3-12, 0-4 Big South), with tipoff slated for 7 p.m. inside the Vines Center. The Lady Flames have won 15 consecutive meetings with the Lancers, including seven in a row at the Vines Center.
