University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Liberty
Liberty Too Much for UNC Asheville Women's Basketball, 94-66
02.27.2010 | Women's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Defending Big South Conference champion Liberty placed six players in double figures and just had too much firepower as the Lady Flames downed homestanding UNC Asheville, 94-66 at Justice Center Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (7-20, 2-12 BSC) were led by Kiana Rainey's career-high 13 points. She was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and knocked down her first career three-pointer. Lindsey Montgomery finished with her a Big South-leading 11th double-double of the year with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Kendall Shepard had a game-high eight assists.
Libery was led by Avery Warley's 22 points and 10 rebounds as the Lady Flames improve to 21-5 overall and 11-2 in the Big South.
Liberty raced out to a 5-0 lead, getting a Devon Brown three-pointer from the left corner and a Warley layup on its first two possessions of the afternoon.
UNC Asheville countered with an 8-2 run, taking its first lead of the game on Kelli Riles' driving, right-handed layup at the 15:01 mark. Her second hoop of the early-going made the score 8-7, Bulldogs.
The Lady Flames reclaimed the lead just 11 seconds later, on another close-range connection by Warley.
Liberty's bench players then helped the visitors break the game open, scoring 15 consecutive Lady Flames points between 13:42 and 9:30. The bench production contributed to a 17-0 Liberty surge, which concluded with LaKendra Washington's hoop, 6:33 before halftime. The run boosted the Lady Flames' lead to 38-20.
The Bulldogs battled back with a 7-1 burst, cutting the gap to 39-27 on Grace Blaylock's three-pointer at 4:39.
Liberty held UNC Asheville to just one made field goal during the remainder of the opening period, building a 23-point advantage before taking a 54-33 lead into the locker room.
The Lady Flames shot 52.6 percent (20-of-38) from the field during their highest-scoring half of the season, including 71.4 percent (5-of-7) from three-point range. UNC Asheville hit 61.1 percent (11-of-18) of its field goals, but the Bulldogs were victimized by 21 first-half turnovers. Liberty converted UNC Asheville's miscues into 29 points before the break.
The Lady Flames also scored 26 first-half points in the paint and got nearly half (26) of their points from bench players. Meanwhile, the Big South Conference's top two rebounding teams each grabbed the same number of rebounds (16) during the opening 20 minutes.
Liberty held UNC Asheville to one made field goal in the first 6:16 of the second half, taking a 71-38 advantage when Warley sank both of her free throws at 14:05.
UNC Asheville finished at 47.7 percent (21-of-44) on field goals and made six triples of its own. However, the Bulldogs' 28 turnovers led to nearly half (42) of Liberty's points.
The Bulldogs stay at home and will host Radford University at Justice Center on Monday night starting at 7 p.m.
