WBB Game Day Central: No. 4 seed Kentucky
3/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Complete Game Notes (PDF format)
Live Video Streaming (ESPN360.com)
ESPN2's Coverage Map for Saturday's Games
Live WWMC Radio Broadcast
Live Stats
Kentucky Women's Basketball Webpage
NCAA Tournament Bracket (PDF format)
Interactive NCAA Tournament Bracket
NCAA.com's Official Tournament Webpage
The Game
No. 13 seed Liberty (27-5, 14-2 Big South) will open its 13th NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship appearance with a Saturday contest against No. 4 seed Kentucky (25-7, 11-5 SEC), within the Kansas City Region. Tipoff is slated for approximately 2:30 p.m. at venerable Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky., for the third all-time meeting between the Lady Flames and Wildcats and the first since 1999.
Last Time Out
Liberty won its 13th Big South Championship title in the last 14 seasons in dramatic fashion, Sunday at the Millis Center in High Point, N.C. Tournament MVP Devon Brown banked in the game-winning shot with 4.2 seconds remaining, giving the No. 2-seeded Lady Flames a 68-66 victory over No. 1 seed Gardner-Webb. Liberty led by 20 points with less than 10 minutes remaining, before the Bulldogs stormed back with a 24-2 run.
A Look Ahead
If Liberty defeats Kentucky, the Lady Flames will advance to Monday's second-round tilt at Freedom Hall. Liberty's opponent would be the victor of Saturday's first-round matchup between No. 5 seed Michigan State and No. 12 seed Bowling Green.
Lady Flames On The Air
All Lady Flames basketball games may be heard LIVE on WWMC 90.9 FM "The Light." Jamie Hall, in the midst of his 16th year of broadcasting Lady Flames basketball, is once again handling the courtside play-by-play duties for road games. He will be joined on the NCAA Tournament broadcasts by color analyst Josh Wood and statistician Joey Allen.
Lady Flames On TV
Saturday's game will be televised by ESPN2 and videostreamed on ESPN360.com. The announcing team will feature Justin Kutcher (play-by-play) and Rebecca Lobo (color analyst).
Scouting Kentucky
The Kentucky Wildcats are making their seventh NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and first since 2006, during one of the best seasons in program history. Kentucky has tied its school record with 25 wins and posted a team-record 11 SEC victories. The Wildcats, who finished as runners-up behind No. 3 Tennessee in the SEC Tournament, are ranked No. 15 nationally in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Top 25 Poll and No. 19 in the AP poll.
Kentucky went 17-0 at home this season, featuring wins over nationally-ranked conference foes Georgia and Vanderbilt. However, the Wildcats were just 8-7 away from Lexington.
Liberty and Kentucky have one 2009-10 opponent in common, Auburn. The Lady Flames lost a 70-64 contest at Auburn on Dec. 15. The Wildcats were 2-1 against the Tigers, posting a 68-50 home win on Jan. 24, losing at Auburn by a 65-53 count on Feb. 28 and winning the rubber match, 65-54, March 5 in the SEC Tournament.
The Wildcats swept all three major SEC awards, including Player of the Year (6-1 junior forward Victoria Dunlap), Freshman of the Year (5-9 guard A'dia Mathies) and Coach of the Year (Matthew Mitchell). Dunlap leads the team in both points (17.7 ppg) and rebounds (8.3 rpg), but defense may be her most impressive attribute.
Dunlap ranks No. 14 nationally in steals per game (3.1) and No. 34 in blocked shots per game (2.1). Her efforts contribute to a Kentucky defense which sits No. 14 in the nation with 11.4 spg and forces 23.3 turnovers per outing.
The Coaching Matchup
Liberty Head Coach Carey Green is in his 11th season with the Lady Flames, and has led his team to nine Big South titles. A five-time Big South Coach of the Year, Green owns a 264-82 career record and is the all-time wins leader at Liberty and among Big South women's basketball coaches. His career winning percentage (.763) ranked ninth all-time among NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches at the season's outset. Green is 0-1 all-time against Kentucky.
Matthew Mitchell, the 2010 SEC Coach of the Year, is 58-39 in his third season at Kentucky and 88-68 in five total years as a head coach, which also includes two campaigns at Morehead State. He is making his NCAA Tournament debut as a head coach put previously tasted the Big Dance as a graduate assistant at Tennessee (2000) and as an assistant at Florida (2001 & 2002).
Liberty-Kentucky Series Notes
Liberty is 1-1 all-time against Kentucky, with the road team winning both games of the head-to-head series.
The Lady Flames erased an 18-point first-half deficit on Jan. 12, 1998 in Lexington, Ky., to post their first-ever win over a SEC foe, 80-76. Elena Kisseleva (22 points), Sarah Wilkerson (21) and Sharon Wilkerson (21) led Liberty's attack.
Kentucky gained a measure of revenge on Dec. 11, 1999 at the Vines Center, posting a 69-57 win in Carey Green's eighth game as head coach. Erica Jackson's 22 points paced the Wildcats, while Sharon Wilkerson notched a game-high 26 for Liberty.
A Look Back
Last season, Liberty traveled to Baton Rouge, La., to play its NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship first-round tilt at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center as the No. 14 seed for the second time in program history. The Lady Flames got a tough draw, meeting No. 3 seed and eventual national runner-up Louisville on March 22.
The Cardinals forced 27 turnovers and featured balanced scoring in their 62-42 victory. Liberty's leaders included Amber Mays (team-high 11 points and game-high five assists) and Avery Warley (game-high nine rebounds).
13s are Wild
Hopefully head coach Carey Green and the Lady Flames are not superstitious, because the number 13 abounds in reference to this year's NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship appearance.
Liberty is making its 13th trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last 14 years. The Lady Flames' 13 NCAA appearances are tied with Oklahoma for 18th-most among the 64 teams in this year's field.
The Lady Flames earned the No. 13 seed in the Kansas City Region, marking the fifth time Liberty has been seeded 13th. The Lady Flames have received more No. 13 seeds than any other seed in program history.
The No. 13 seed worked out well for Liberty in 2005. That year, the Lady Flames upset No. 4 seed Penn State (78-70) and No. 5 seed DePaul (88-79), reaching the Sweet 16.
Seeing a Lot of the SEC
Eight out of Liberty's 14 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship contests have been played against SEC opponents. The Lady Flames met a SEC foe for eight consecutive seasons, between 1998 and 2005. Liberty's most recent tournament tilt versus a SEC opponent was a 90-48 setback to No. 1 seed LSU in the 2005 Sweet 16.
A Few Liberty-Kentucky Connections
-- Liberty redshirt sophomore forward Avery Warley and Kentucky freshman guard Bernisha Pinkett teamed up to help H.D. Woodson High School win the D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association title in 2005-06. Warley was a senior and Pinkett a freshman on that squad.
-- Kentucky assistant coach Shyra Elzy played for the 1997-98 national champion Tennessee squad which ended Liberty's unbeaten season (28-1) in the first round of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship.
-- Blaire Barnhart, the daughter of Kentucky Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart, is a freshman goalkeeper on Liberty's inaugural women's lacrosse team.
-- Juniors Rachel McLeod and Kittery Maine, along with the rest of their teammates, watched the Liberty men's basketball team lose an 80-54 decision to Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Nov. 21, 2007, on their way to the National City Xavier Invitational.
-- UK sophomore Rebecca Gray scored seven points off the bench for North Carolina as a freshman, in the Tar Heels' 88-67 win over Liberty in Chapel Hill, N.C., Dec. 30, 2007.
Successful Tournament Debuts
Several current Lady Flames enjoyed strong NCAA Tournament debuts. Junior Rachel McLeod tallied 11 points at Old Dominion as a freshman in 2008. Senior Amber Mays posted a team-high 11 points and a game-high five assists versus Louisville last year. Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore Avery Warley paced all players with nine rebounds against the Cardinals a year ago.
2010 Tournament Debutantes
Five Liberty players could see their first NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship action on Saturday. The list includes junior Dymond Morgan, redshirt freshman Devon Brown and freshmen Jelena Antic, Carra Coy and LaKendra Washington.
Liberty Versus the 2010 NCAA Tournament Field
Liberty played three NCAA Tournament teams this season, during its non-conference schedule. The Lady Flames went 1-2 versus teams which qualified for March Madness, including a 63-52 win over Conference USA champion Tulane on Nov. 20 at the Navy Classic. Liberty fell to CAA champion James Madison, 60-50, Dec. 1 at the Vines Center and was also defeated by ACC at-large selection Virginia, 63-54, Dec. 29 in the championship game of the Marriott Cavalier Classic.
Louisville Looks Familiar
Liberty has not played at Freedom Hall before, but the Lady Flames have played at Louisville. Liberty finished second in the 1996 Seelbach Classic (Dec. 28-29) at Cardinal Arena. The Lady Flames handled Long Beach State, 66-55, before losing to the host Cardinals in the championship game, 82-60.
Deja Vu?
Numerous similarities exist between the 2009-10 Lady Flames and the 1996-97 Liberty squad, the first NCAA qualifier in program history.
Both teams were led in scoring by freshmen who earned first team All-Big South honors and the Big South Championship MVP award. Elena Kisseleva (21.6 ppg) paced the 1996-97 squad, while Devon Brown (16.9 ppg) leads the way for this year's Lady Flames.
Both squads were seeded No. 2 in the Big South Women's Basketball Championship, the only two teams in program history to garner that seed.
Both times, the Lady Flames won the title game of the Big South Championship against the No. 1 seed, a team which had prevailed in both regular-season meetings. The 1996-97 Lady Flames upset UNC Greensboro, 89-82, in the championship clash. This year's team beat No. 1 seed Gardner-Webb, 68-66.
Fortunately for the 2009-10 Lady Flames, they received a more favorable NCAA Tournament seeding. The 1996-97 team was seeded No. 16 and made its tournament debut on the road against Old Dominion, ranked No. 2/3 nationally. This time around, the Lady Flames were issued a No. 13 seed and a neutral-site contest against No. 15/19 Kentucky.
Who's Going to Score the Points?
Liberty's active players have combined to score only 33 points in the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship, paced by Rachel McLeod's 14 markers.
Meanwhile, no current Kentucky player has scored an NCAA point. Rebecca Gray went scoreless in four NCAA appearances for North Carolina in 2008.
Liberty Versus the Southeastern Conference (SEC)
The Lady Flames are 1-14 versus the current Southeastern Conference (SEC) members, including 0-1 this season and 0-8 in the NCAA Tournament. Liberty is 0-1 against Alabama, 0-2 against Auburn, 0-1 against Florida, 0-3 against Georgia, 1-1 against Kentucky, 0-2 against LSU, 0-1 against South Carolina, 0-1 against Tennessee and 0-2 against Vanderbilt.
Liberty's only win versus a SEC opponent was an 80-76 triumph at Kentucky on Dec. 12, 1998. The Lady Flames became the first Big South team ever to beat a SEC squad. Elena Kisseleva tallied 22 points, while Sarah and Sharon Wilkerson had 21 apiece.
The Lady Flames played at Auburn on Dec. 15, dropping a 70-64 decision. Devon Brown led all players in both points (19) and rebounds (8) and sparked a second-half comeback which trimmed Liberty's deficit from 14 to three. However, Jordan Greenleaf helped the Tigers hang on to win with 17 points and seven caroms.
The Lady Flames Versus Nationally-Ranked Opponents
Kentucky enters the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship ranked No. 15 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll and No. 19 by the AP. The Wildcats are the 34th nationally-ranked Division I foe the Lady Flames have faced in program history.
Liberty is 4-29 all-time versus ranked foes, with two of the victories coming in the NCAA Tournament. Here is a look at the Lady Flames' upsets of ranked opponents:
Nov. 26, 2002 - 77-69 (OT) win over No. 23 Virginia in Lynchburg, Va.
Dec. 4, 2004 - 77-56 win over No. 17/19 Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan.
March 20, 2005 - 78-70 win over No. 22/25 Penn State in College Park, Md. (NCAA)
March 22, 2005 - 88-79 win over No. 17 DePaul in College Park, Md. (NCAA)
Down to the Wire
Devon Brown's bank shot with 4.2 seconds remaining on Sunday gave Liberty a thrilling, 68-66 win over top-seeded Gardner-Webb in the title game of the Big South Championship. Tight finishes are nothing new for the Lady Flames in the Big South championship contest in recent years. Liberty's last four victories in the conference title tilt (2006, 2008, 2009 & 2010) have come by a combined seven points.
Marvelous in March
Liberty has gone 42-12 during the month of March under Carey Green, with nine of the setbacks coming in the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Flames are 12-2 in the regular season, 28-1 in the Big South Championship and 2-9 in the "Big Dance" during the year's third month, under his direction. This season, the Lady Flames are 6-0 to start the calendar year's third month.
The Lady Flames are 50-37 all-time in March contests and did not pick up their first victory in the month until the program's 13th season. Liberty's initial March triumph was an 82-69 win over Randolph-Macon on March 3, 1988.
Making Their Point
Point guards Amber Mays and Dymond Morgan combined for 34 points during Liberty's 73-55 Big South Championship semifinal win over High Point on March 13, both setting career highs in the process. Mays' 21 points were the most by a Lady Flames floor general since Irene Sloof finished with 20 points at Winthrop on Feb. 3, 2001.
Stealing a Win
Liberty's aggressive, trapping defense has produced a Big South-leading 369 steals this season, giving the Lady Flames a chance to break the program record of 377 steals, set in 1979-80.
The Lady Flames' magic number for steals is 11. Liberty is 20-0 when tallying at least 11 steals in a game this season, but only 7-5 when recording 10 or fewer thefts.
Bench Bunch
Since Jelena Antic returned from injury on Feb. 20, the Liberty bench is posting 22.1 ppg. The Lady Flames are 16-1 when scoring more bench points than their opponent.
Liberty Not an NCAA Novelty
The women's basketball team is not Liberty's only squad competing with the NCAA's best this year.
This weekend, the Flames are sending six wrestlers to Omaha, Neb., for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. Only 14 schools in the nation qualified more wrestlers for the national championship than the NCAA East Region champion Flames.
Sam Chelanga became Liberty's third NCAA Division I national champion in November, claiming top honors at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. He was joined as a cross country All-American by teammate Evans Kigen, who crossed the line in 20th place.
Chelanga was at it again March 12, at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. His second consecutive national runner-up finish in the 5K garnered his seventh All-America honor and helped the Flames tie for 26th place in the final team standings.
10-Game Winning Streak
Liberty has won 10 straight games, marking its second 10-game winning skein and third winning streak of at least five games this season. The streak got started with a 52-18 victory at Winthrop on Feb. 15.
First Team Facts
Devon Brown and Avery Warley were both voted to the first team All-Big South roster, giving Liberty a pair first team honorees in the same year for the eighth time and extending the Lady Flames' streak to 14 straight seasons with at least one first team selection.
The Game is Decided by the Opening Tip
Liberty is a perfect 20-0 when Avery Warley wins the opening tip this season.
Climbing the Freshman Charts
Devon Brown is fashioning one of the best freshman seasons in program history. She ranks among Liberty's top two in both freshman points and freshman rebounds.
Brown's Big South-high 542 points are the second-most ever scored by a Lady Flames rookie. Elena Kisseleva tops the list, with her 648 points in 1996-97.
The Waynesboro, Va., native broke Cheri Yates' freshman rebounding record during Liberty's Big South Championship victory over Gardner-Webb on Sunday. Brown has tracked down 268 rebounds this season.
No Triples? No Problem
Liberty drained a single three-pointer during its championship game triumph over Gardner-Webb on Sunday, shooting 1-6 from behind the arc. It was the 12th time this season that the Lady Flames have connected on one or fewer triples in a contest. Liberty is 11-1 in those games, despite its lack of three-point shooting.
70 is the Magic Number
Liberty is 12-0 this season when scoring at least 70 points in a game, extending a lengthy streak. The Lady Flames have now won 94 consecutive games when reaching the 70-point plateau offensively.
No. 24 Boston College was the most recent team to defeat Liberty when the Lady Flames tallied 70 points. The Eagles dealt the Lady Flames a 74-70 overtime loss, Dec. 6, 2003 at the Brown Classic.
National Leader
Liberty, which has outrebounded 31 of its 32 opponents this season, ranks as the nation's No. 1 team in rebound margin, including games played through March 14. The Lady Flames, who own a +14.0 rebound margin, have ranked among the nation's top five rebounding squads for six consecutive seasons. Liberty led the nation in rebound margin in back-to-back years, 2003-04 and 2004-05.
One Win Away from History
Liberty's 27-5 record is one win shy of the program standard for victories in a season. The 1997-98 Lady Flames went 28-1 and the 2007-08 squad finshed 28-4, equaling the record.
Gardner-Webb entered the WNIT with a 28-4 mark, after having matched Liberty's Big South Conference wins record during the Big South Championship.
Big Wins, Tight Losses
The Lady Flames' 27 victories this season have come by an average of 22.4 points. Liberty's tightest wins were a 57-55 home victory over Coastal Carolina on Feb. 20 and a 68-66 squeaker over Gardner-Webb in the Big South title contest on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Liberty has lost its five games by a total of 33 points. James Madison posted the widest margin of victory over the Lady Flames, defeating Liberty 60-50, Dec. 1 at the Vines Center.
The Container is Half Full
This season, the Lady Flames are 14-0, when shooting 50 percent or higher from the field. Liberty is now 73-0 under head coach Carey Green, when the Lady Flames sink at least half of their field goals.
Painting a Masterpiece
Last season, Liberty regularly controlled the area around the basket, outscoring 29 of 33 opponents in the "points in the paint" statistical category.
This year, the Lady Flames have been outstanding in racking up "points in the paint" once again. Liberty has outscored all 32 opponents inside the paint in 2009-10, by an average margin of 24.3 points (40.3 to 16.0).
21 x 10 for No. 40
Redshirt freshman Devon Brown scored a game-high 24 points during Sunday's game versus Gardner-Webb, putting her in double figures for the 21st straight game. Gardner-Webb was the last opponent to hold the Big South's leading scorer under 10 points, limiting Brown to nine tallies on Jan. 2.
2009 graduate Megan Frazee set the school record by scoring in double figures 68 straight times (Jan. 27, 2007 through March 15, 2009).
Same Number, New Face
A new Lady Flame is wearing No. 40 this year, after Megan Frazee donned the number for the last four seasons. Among many other accomplishments and accolades, Frazee graduated as the No. 2 scorer (1,883 points) and No. 3 rebounder (951 rebounds) in program history, leaving some very big shoes to fill.
Liberty's new No. 40, Devon Brown, has worn the number proudly so far. The redshirt freshman from Waynesboro, Va. is averaging a Big South-high 16.9 ppg and 8.4 rpg. No freshman has finished the year as the conference's leading scorer since Liberty's Elena Kisseleva in 1996-97.
Lack of Overtime
Liberty has played only one overtime game in its last 211 outings, a 64-62 setback at High Point on Jan. 20, 2007. Since that contest at the Millis Center, the Lady Flames have played 110 consecutive games without needing extra time. No players on Liberty's current roster have competed in an overtime game with the Lady Flames.
The Lady Flames' most recent overtime victory came on Jan. 6, 2004, when Liberty defeated American, 76-72, on the road in double overtime.
Liberty's most recent overtime contest at the Vines Center was a memorable one. The Lady Flames defeated Virginia, 77-69, in overtime on Nov. 26, 2002, to claim their first-ever win over the Cavaliers. It also marked Liberty's first win over a ranked opponent, as Virginia entered the game with a No. 25 national ranking.
Big Shoes to Fill
Seven seniors graduated from last year's Liberty team, which went 24-9 and won its second consecutive Big South title. Alexandria Bream, Megan Frazee, Molly Frazee, Moriah Frazee, Rachel Hammond, Rebecca Lightfoot and Jessica Nelson accounted for 57.0 percent of the Lady Flames' points and 41.7 percent of the team's rebounds in 2008-09.
Headlining the group was Megan Frazee, who claimed the Big South Player of the Year and Big South Championship MVP awards.
Youth will be Served
Underclassmen have stepped up to fill the void left by the seven seniors who graduated from the 2008-09 Liberty roster. Through the first 32 games of the 2009-10 campaign, the Lady Flames' freshmen and sophomores are accounting for 73.9 percent of the team's points and 75.6 percent of Liberty's rebounds.
The Lady Flames' top five rebounders are all either freshmen or sophomores, as are four of their top five scorers.
There is Only One
Starting point guard Amber Mays is the only senior on this year's team roster. Liberty has not had so few seniors since the 2005-06 Lady Flames played the season without a single senior.
Mays has played well during her final collegiate campaign, leading the Lady Flames in assists (3.8 apg) and steals (2.3 apg), while ranking third in scoring (8.5 ppg). Most recently, she made the Big South Championship all-tournament team.
Keeping Good Company
Through games played on March 14, Liberty is ranked in the top 10 nationally in four statistical categories: rebound margin (No. 1), scoring defense (No. 2), field goal percentage (No. 3) and scoring margin (No. 6).
The only other team in the country to rank among the nation's top 10 in all four of those categories is undefeated, No. 1 Connecticut.
