Liberty University
9-7, 4-0BSC
Gardner-Webb
12-4, 2-2BSC
Hot-Shooting Liberty Halts Gardner-Webb, 85-60
1/13/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Liberty scorched the nets to the tune of 51.6 percent shooting and nine three-pointers during Saturday afternoon's contest at Gardner-Webb. Sophomore Ola Makurat led the way with a career-high 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting as the Lady Flames raced past the Runnin' Bulldogs, 85-60, at Paul Porter Arena.
The Lady Flames jumped out to a 27-10 lead at the end of the opening quarter and never looked back, winning their season-best fourth straight game to improve to 9-7 overall and 4-0 in Big South play. Liberty remains in a first-place tie with High Point atop the conference standings and is off to its best Big South start since 2014-15.
KK Barbour (14 points, game-high 7 rebounds, career-high equaling 4 assists), Kierra Johnson-Graham (career-high equaling 13 points, 6 rebounds) and Lela Sellers (11 points, career-high equaling 6 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks) also made key contributions as the Lady Flames won in Boiling Springs, N.C., for the first time since Feb. 5, 2015.
Gardner-Webb slips to 12-4 overall and 2-2 in Big South play as the Runnin' Bulldogs saw their seven-game home winning streak halted. Savannah Plentovich scored a team-high 15 points, but GWU's big two of Tierra Huntsman and Alexus Hill were limited to 16 points on 5-of-18 shooting. Huntsman and Hill are two of the Big South's top three scorers, averaging 32.8 ppg between them.
As a team, the Runnin' Bulldogs finished at 33.3 percent (18-of-54) from the field, including 6.7 percent (1-of-15) from three-point range. GWU was also outrebounded by the Lady Flames, 42-26.
Sophomores combined to score 20 points for the Lady Flames during the first quarter, including eight by Makurat and seven by Johnson-Graham. Makurat hit two triples during an 11-0 run which lifted Liberty's lead to 27-8 with 54.3 seconds to play in the period. Gardner-Webb then finished off an 8-of-8 quarter from the free throw line, making the score 27-10 through 10 minutes of action.
The Runnin' Bulldogs made only 1-of-12 field goals in the first quarter, misfiring on their last 10 attempts. Huntsman shot 0-of-5 during the stanza.
Makurat and Barbour combined for an 11-0 run early in the second quarter. Barbour's triple extended the Lady Flames' advantage to 40-12, 6:28 before halftime. Liberty went on to take a pair of 29-point leads, including its halftime lead of 51-22 after its highest-scoring first half of the season to date.
Makurat scored 17 first-half points on 7-of-8 shooting, featuring a 3-of-3 effort from three-point range. As a team, the Lady Flames made 56.7 percent (17-of-30) of their field goals, including 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from three-point distance. Liberty also owned a 20-9 rebounding advantage during the first 20 minutes.
Celia Tibbs scored a team-high six points during the opening half for the home team, which shot just 31.8 percent (7-of-22) overall and 0-of-7 from beyond the arc. Gardner-Webb committed nine turnovers before the intermission, leading to 17 Liberty points.
Plentovich scored 11 points in the third quarter, helping Gardner-Webb chip away at its deficit. Her layup at 1:57 pulled her team within 24 (63-39), before the Lady Flames rebuilt a 26-point (67-41) advantage through three quarters.
After playing only three scoreless minutes in the first half, Keyen Green tallied six points during the third quarter to help keep the Runnin' Bulldogs at bay.
Eight of Huntsman's 10 points came in the fourth quarter, and Hill's baseline jumper cut Liberty's lead to 23 (72-49) with 5:46 remaining. But that is as close as the Runnin' Bulldogs got, as the Lady Flames wrapped up a 25-point win, scoring the most points by a GWU opponent this season.
Liberty made 32-of-61 field goals for the afternoon, aided by 36 points in the paint. The Lady Flames also shot 80 percent (12-of-15) from the charity stripe.
Liberty distributed 20 assists on 32 made baskets, with Ashtyn Baker (four assists) joining Sellers and Barbour with four or more helpers.
Gardner-Webb ended up at 82.1 percent (23-of-28) from the line, getting there 20 times during the second half.
Makurat connected on all four of her three-point tries, setting a new career high for triples in a game and helping Liberty's reserves outscored the Runnin' Bulldogs' bench, 35-10. The Poland native became the Lady Flames' first non-starter to score 20 points in a game since Ashley Rininger came off the bench for 22 tallies in the 2016 Big South Women's Basketball Championship title game against UNC Asheville on March 13, 2016.
Sellers went 3-of-7 from beyond the arc and is now shooting 60 percent (12-of-20) from long distance in Big South play.
Up Next
Liberty will remain in the Tar Heel State to face UNC Asheville (6-9, 3-1 Big South) on Tuesday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Kimmel Arena for a matchup between the teams who have combined to win the last three Big South Championship titles.
The Lady Flames will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak in their head-to-head series with the Bulldogs.
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