Gardner-Webb Nips Liberty in BSC Opener

Liberty was unable to recover from Gardner-Webb's 15-2 second-half run, Saturday afternoon at Paul Porter Arena. The Bulldogs were able to hold off the hard-charging Lady Flames, claiming a 70-65 victory in the Big South Conference opener for both teams.

Despite outrebounding the Bulldogs by a large margin (46-27) and putting four players in double figures in the scoring column, Liberty loses for the fourth time in its last six outings. The Lady Flames are now 7-4 overall and 0-1 in the Big South, after dropping its conference opener for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, coach Carey Green's first year at the helm.

Gardner-Webb forced 23 Liberty turnovers, converting them into 21 points as the Bulldogs boost their ledger to 12-2 overall and 1-0 in conference action. Gardner-Webb, receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll, has won four straight games overall and eight straight home tilts.

The Bulldogs, who never trailed in the rematch of the 2009 Big South Championship title game, took the lead early. Sandra Vaitkute contributed four points to Gardner-Webb's game-opening 9-2 run, including a perimeter jumper at 16:49 which punctuated the surge.

The Lady Flames held the Bulldogs without a made field goal for six minutes, midway through the opening stanza. Liberty's defense helped the blue-clad visitors close the deficit to 19-16, when Kylee Beecher split a pair of free throws at the 8:06 mark.

Gardner-Webb immediately countered with a 6-0 burst, featuring five Dominique Hudson points. Her charity tosses, 5:24 before intermission, gave the Bulldogs their largest first-half lead, 25-16.

Liberty then closed the stanza with a 13-4 surge, keyed by Danika Dale. With starting post players Avery Warley and Jelena Antic on the bench due to foul trouble, the sophomore made the most of her opportunity. She scored seven points in the final 4:25 of the half, including a layup from the right block with 15 seconds to play which made the halftime score a 29-29 tie.

Liberty shot better than its host from the floor during the first 20 minutes, .455 (10-of-22) to .308 (8-of-26). However, the Bulldogs made the only three triples during the stanza.

The Lady Flames won the first-half battle of the boards, 25-11, paced by Devon Brown's eight rebounds and Rachel McLeod's seven caroms. Liberty also scored 18 points inside the paint to Gardner-Webb's six.

Dale's seven points led the Lady Flames in the first half, while McLeod and Warley chipped in six markers apiece.

Twin sisters Monique (10 points) and Dominique Hudson (five points) combined to score more than half of the Bulldogs' points in the opening period.

Liberty tied the score again, at 33-apiece, on Amber Mays' putback hoop at the 17:53 mark. However, the Lady Flames could not gain the lead.

An Antic triple from in front of the Lady Flames' bench, exactly midway through the second half, evened the score again, 40-40.

However, the Bulldogs then posted their decisive 15-2 run, highlighted by a pair of old-fashioned three point plays by LaTroya Pope and Margaret Roundtree. Gardner-Webb took its largest lead of the contest, 55-42, when Monique Hudson sank two charity tosses with 5:40 remaining.

Liberty sliced its deficit to 55-48 during the next 2:38, with Dymond Morgan scoring the first four points of the Lady Flames' 6-0 burst.

Pope halted the Liberty run with four consecutive points of her own, pushing the Bulldog advantage back to double digits.

Gardner-Webb still owned a 10-point lead, 65-55, with 34.7 seconds remaining. The Lady Flames then made one last furious comeback attempt.

Triples by Dale and Brown bookended a Liberty 8-2 surge, trimming the gap to 67-63 with 9.5 seconds on the clock. However, the Lady Flames could get no closer.

The Bulldogs' Courtney Epps and Brianna Dillard combined to make three of four free throws in the waning moments, sealing Gardner-Webb's 70-65 victory.

Liberty held the upper hand in most statistical categories during the game, including field goal percentage (.442 to .373) and three-point field goal percentage (.444 to .375). Free throw shooting made a difference, though.

In a game which saw four players foul out (two for each team), Gardner-Webb canned 72.2 percent (26-of-36) of its free throws, while Liberty hit just 60.0 percent (15-of-25).

The Lady Flames not only controlled the boards but also recorded a 34-20 advantage in points in the paint. Liberty also owned a slim edge in both steals (10-9) and bench points (20-17).

Dale came off the bench to score a season-high 10 points in just 12 minutes for the Lady Flames, finishing as one of four Liberty players with 10 markers. Antic, Mays and Warley also contributed 10 points each, with Mays adding six assists.

Brown, who tallied nine points, pulled down a team-best 11 boards and came up with a trio of steals. Meanwhile, McLeod matched her career high with eight rebounds.

Roundtree scored 11 of her game-high 15 points during the final 20 minutes for Gardner-Webb. Monique Hudson chipped in 13 markers, while sister Dominique Hudson added 12 points, nine assists and a trio of steals.

Pope was the fourth and final Bulldog to score in double figures, closing the afternoon with 11 tallies. Epps pulled down a team-leading six boards.

The Lady Flames will now prepare for their longest homestand of the season, as Liberty's next five games will be played at the Vines Center. The stretch will begin Tuesday at 7 p.m., when the Lady Flames play host to 2009 MEAC champion North Carolina A&T.

Meanwhile, Gardner-Webb will continue its own five-game homestand Monday at 7 p.m. with a Big South matchup against Radford.

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Gardner-Webb Nips Liberty in BSC Opener

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Team Stats

Jelena Antic

Danika Dale

Amber Mays

Avery Warley