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| Photo Credit: Jamie Hall |
LYNCHBURG, Va.- Liberty was victorious on Saturday, earning its first win of
the season against Saint Francis (Pa.) (82-53). The Lady Flames were without Mya McMillian and Melis Ucar as they were dealing with injuries. However, it did not
stop Liberty from playing an outstanding game. The Lady Flames dominated the
first half to lead the Red Flash by 17 points (45-28) at the intermission. In
the second quarter, Liberty went on an 8-0 run to take a 14-point lead. During
the second half, the Lady Flames scored 37 more points to seal the win. Another
big factor that played into Liberty’s victory were the 21 steals made by nine
out of the 11 players that played in the game. Liberty had four leading scorers
that scored 12 points apiece to combine for a total of 48 points (Bridgette Rettstatt, Ashtyn Baker, Ria Gulley, Kierra
Johnson-Graham). Johnson-Graham led the team in rebounds (9) and steals
(6). Liberty moves to 1-2 after today’s win.
Saint Francis drops its third consecutive game to start the
season. Jess Kovatch led the Red Flash with 14 points.
Next game for Liberty will be at Chattanooga on Wednesday at
7 p.m.
Game Stat Leaders
Liberty
Points: Bridgette Rettstatt (12), Ashtyn Baker (12), Ria
Gulley (12), Kierra Johnson-Graham (12)
Rebounds: Kierra Johnson-Graham (9)
Assists: Tatyana Crowder (4)
Steals: Kierra Johnson-Graham (6)
Blocks: Tatyana Crowder (1), Lizzie Moore (1)
Saint Francis (Pa.)
Points: Jess Kovatch (14)
Rebounds: Courtney Zezza (11)
Assists: Jess Kovatch (2), Jenna Mastellone (2)
Blocks: Haley Thomas (3)
Player Achievements
Liberty
·
Kierra
Johnson-Graham set a career high in steals (6).
·
Bridgette
Rettstatt had a season-high in points (12) and a career-high in steals (3)
·
Ria
Gulley set a new career-high in points (12)
·
Emily
Lytle, who finished with 10 points, has
now scored in double figures in her first three games with Liberty.
·
Three freshmen scored their first points of
their college career (Melat Sissay
(5), Lizzie Moore (3), Jordan Peters (1)).
St. Francis (Pa.)
·
Haley Thomas recorded a career-high in blocks
(3).
·
Jess Kovatch finished with a game-high of 14
points.
Quotes
Coach Green
We got a win! Okay! I know that makes everybody happy, and it
certainly makes me happy. Everybody contributed on the defensive end, grabbed
an offensive rebound, or scored points. But it’s great and you know the locker
room was much more happier than it has been the last couple games. We continue
to move forward. Hopefully we can learn from this game and continue to become
even better.
Bridgette Rettstatt
Obviously, their main scoring method is threes. Like all
they want to do is shoot threes. When we were watching film, they never took jumpers.
It’s either some layups or all threes. So in practice, we’ve just been like
working on our closeouts and trying to really press on the three. I think that
helped a lot because I think they only took about 20 threes, which is very uncharacteristic
for them.
Kierra Johnson-Graham
I think that our defense, for scout, our main goal was to
pressure their offense in the half court and anticipate the next pass. Whenever
we could trap or get steals, that’s what we were supposed to do. So I think we
did really well with that as a team.
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