University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Liberty
Short Handed Bulldogs Battle but Fall at Liberty 69-55
02.09.2008 | Women's Basketball
LYNCHBURG, Va.? Chioma Okoli led three UNC Asheville players in double figures but it was not enough as Big South leading Liberty took a 69-55 victory over Asheville at the Vines Center on Saturday afternoon.
Megan Frazee led the Flames (21-2, 6-0 Big South) with 19 points and eight rebounds while her sister Moriah scored 18 points and also had eight rebounds. Liberty out-rebounded UNC Asheville (10-13, 1-5 Big South) 45-29 in the game.
Okoli was 5-for-10 from the floor and hit four three-pointers for 14 points. Stacy Shepard did not miss a shot going 4-for-4 from the floor and 2-for-2 from the free throw line for 10 points. She also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds just missing her fifth double-double of the season.
Ashton Barton finished with 12 points while Ana Baker had six assists and five steals for the Bulldogs who have now lost four-straight games.
"I am proud of the effort we showed tonight," said head coach Betsy Blose. "Liberty is an excellent team and they did a great job on the offensive boards but we played with a lot of heart and battled for 40 minutes. I can't ask anything more from our players than to play hard and battle and they did that tonight. We had a couple of chances to get back in the game. I never like to lose but I can't argue with the effort."
Liberty jumped out to an 8-0 run to start the game before Shepard scored Asheville's first basket at the 17:11 mark. The Dogs pulled to within 13-10 with 14:51 left in the half. Liberty went on another 8-0 run to go up 22-10. Asheville had the lead sown to eight points at 37-29 before the Flames scored the final six points of the half to go to the locker room leading 43-29.
Liberty took its largest lead at 58-39 with 10:10 left in the game. Asheville went on a 6-0 run to pull as close as 58-45 with 4:18 remaining.
Asheville will travel to Coastal Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 13, to face the Chanticleers in a 7 p.m. game. Liberty as a week off before they host Coastal next Saturday.
