WBB Game Day Central: Richmond
12/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Game Day Central Page
Liberty's Women's Basketball Game Notes
Game Time:
6 p.m.
Radio Coverage:
Liberty Flames Sports Network – Radio
WQLU 90.9 FM The Light
Play-By-Play Broadcaster: Jamie Hall
Tournament At a Glance
Liberty (0-4) will play its first of three regular-season tournaments this weekend, taking part in the Navy Classic at Alumni Hall in Annapolis, Md.
The Lady Flames will face Commonwealth foe Richmond (3-3) for the 25th time in the event's opening game, Saturday at 6 p.m. Liberty is only 4-20 versus the Spiders all-time but has won two of the last three series meetings.
Liberty will then meet host Navy (4-3) in the tournament finale, Sunday at 4:15 p.m. It will mark the Lady Flames' first matchup with the Midshipmen since Liberty defeated Navy, 55-43, in the championship game of the 2009 Navy Classic on Nov. 21, 2009.
The Lady Flames are seeking their first victories of the 2016-17 season. Liberty is also looking to snap a six-game losing streak that dates back to 2015-16 and is the Lady Flames' longest losing skid since the 2000-01 campaign.
Led by Kierra Johnson-Graham (6.8 ppg), freshmen have scored 56.9 percent of Liberty's points through the first four games of the season.
Liberty vs. Richmond at a Glance
Series History
Series Record: Richmond leads, 20-4.
Current Streak: Liberty won the most recent meeting.
Series Record in Neutral-Site Games: First meeting
Last Meeting Overall: Liberty 76, Richmond 61 (Dec. 3, 2013 at Liberty)
Richmond's Last Victory: Richmond 66, Liberty 54 (Dec. 20, 2011 at Richmond)
Coaching Matchup
Liberty Head Coach: Carey Green
Overall Record (Seasons): 403-145 (18th Season)
Record at Liberty (Seasons): Same
Record vs. Richmond: 3-6
Richmond Head Coach: Michael Shafer
Overall Record (Seasons): 190-162 (12th Season)
Record at Richmond (Seasons): Same
Record vs. Liberty: 1-2
Notes and Anecdotes
• Liberty and Richmond will be meeting for the 25th time on Saturday. The Spiders are 20-4 all-time against the Lady Flames, but Liberty has won two of the last three matchups between the Commonwealth foes.
• The teams' most recent contest resulted in a 76-61 Liberty victory, exactly three years ago (Dec. 3, 2013) at the Vines Center. Emily Frazier (17 points) and Reagan Miller (16 points) helped the Lady Flames shoot 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) from three-point range. Richmond was paced by Janelle Hubbard's 14 points off the bench.
• The only previous time Liberty and Richmond have met in a tournament happened on Dec. 4, 1999. That day, the Lady Flames recorded a 94-75 victory over the host Spiders in the first round of the Wachovia Women's Invitational for Carey Green's second win as Liberty's head coach.
• Liberty is 0-1 versus in-state opponents this season but is 15-2 in its last 17 meetings with Commonwealth foes.
• Liberty dropped a 66-57 decision to Appalachian State in its most recent home game on Nov. 17. Three days later, Richmond posted a 55-46 home victory over the Mountaineers, starting the Spiders' current three-game winning streak.
• The Lady Flames are 7-13 all-time against Atlantic-10 opponents, including 7-10 under Head Coach Carey Green. Liberty has won each of its last three meetings with Atlantic-10 foes. However, the Lady Flames have dropped four straight road/neutral Atlantic-10 matchups since a 73-53 win over La Salle on Dec. 29, 2010 in College Park, Md.
Liberty in December
All-Time Record in December: 103-119
Carey Green's Record in December: 58-49
Record This December: 0-0 (7 games remaining)
Last Five December Records:
2011-12 - 3-3
2012-13 - 7-1
2013-14 - 4-1
2014-15 - 3-3
2015-16 - 3-3
On This Date
Liberty is 6-5 all-time on Dec. 3, including victories in each of its last four contests on the date. The Lady Flames' most recent Dec. 3 game was a 76-61 home win over Richmond in 2013.
The Lady Flames have posted a 6-6 all-time record on Dec. 4, including some impressive victories. Liberty notched a 94-75 win at Richmond on Dec. 4, 1999, a 77-56 victory at No. 19/17 Kansas State on Dec. 4, 2004 and a pair of triumphs over James Madison (Dec. 4, 2007 and 2012).
Tournament Time
Six of Liberty's next seven games will be part of tournaments, including the Navy Classic (Dec. 3-4, Annapolis, Md.), Rae & Craig Blair Memorial Tournament (Dec. 19-20, San Antonio, Texas) and Cavalier Classic (Dec. 28-29, Charlottesville, Va.).
Liberty is playing three regular-season tournaments for the first time since 2008-09 (Preseason WNIT, GW Thanksgiving Classic and Hokie Hardwood Classic).
The Lady Flames' last 2-0 tournament performance came on Nov. 28 & 30, 2014, when Liberty defeated Penn State and Georgia State to win the GSU Thanksgiving Tournament title in Atlanta, Ga.
Road Warriors
After playing three straight home games to open the 2016-17 season, Liberty will see very little of the Vines Center during the coming weeks. The Navy Classic is part of a stretch of eight road/neutral contests in nine outings for the Lady Flames. Liberty is 0-1 during the span thus far.
The challenging stretch will see Liberty play games in five different states, including Indiana, Maryland, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.
Last season, the Lady Flames were 10-9 in games played away from Lynchburg. It was the ninth straight year Liberty has posted a winning record in road/neutral contests.
Slow Start
Liberty is 0-4 to begin the 2016-17 season and has lost six straight games dating back to last season. This is the Lady Flames' longest losing streak since dropping seven games in a row spanning Dec. 5-29, 2000. Liberty has not lost eight consecutive games since a nine-game losing streak during the 1995-96 season (Jan. 9-Feb. 3, 1996).
The Lady Flames have equaled their worst start to a season under Carey Green, as the 2013-14 team also lost its first four games. The worst start in program history was 0-7, which occurred in both 1977-78 and 1993-94.
Fantastic Freshmen
Freshmen Keyen Green, Ola Makurat and Lela Sellers have started each of the first four games to start the 2016-17 season. Along with classmates Iva Ilic and Kierra Johnson-Graham, they comprise five of Liberty's top eight scorers through the early stages of the season. Freshmen have scored 56.9 percent of Liberty's points in 2016-17.
Balanced Attack
Five different players have led the Lady Flames in scoring or tied for the team lead in the first four games of the 2016-17 season. Meanwhile, eight Lady Flames are averaging between 4.8 ppg and 6.8 ppg this season, topped by Kierra Johnson-Graham at 6.8 ppg.
