Game 2 @ UNC

[givemethemic]

Tonight should be a very good challenage for our girls. Megan looked really good in the opener and Courtney seemed alot more confident in here shot. UNC comes in with a 1-0 record after destroying Davidson at home Friday. It will be interesting to see how we guard Latta. If you can't get us in the Burg, you can listen to me and Jamie at www.flamessports.com

[thesportscritic]

I will be going down to Chapel Hill this afternoon to see the girls play. Can't wait to see how we guard Ivory Latta or who will guard her. I will give everyone my observations after the game whether we win or lose.

[givemethemic]

17- 7 UNC 14:00 to go 1st half

[fsn32]

Holy goodness they are fast.

[absturgill]

GMTM or FSN, How are we looking so far against a big powerhouse. Also, how are the Frazee triplets coming along? I know it will take time but do you see the potential showing off yet?

[givemethemic]

Megan is having a great game, she has 10 of our 14 points and has been handling the ball for most of the first half.

[givemethemic]

42-14 3 mins left

[absturgill]

Hey Guys, How is Fasnacht looking so far this year? She had an amazing run last year.

[fsn32]

She is doing OK... but we cant get the ball cleanly across halfcourt. Megan is doing the best job but she still has 6to

[Chris Lang]

UNC's got some hot cheerleaders.

[givemethemic]

Tell Me about it bang, bang, bang.

[fsn32]

Third from the right

[ATrain]

87-36...ouch, but then again, we're still a young team trying to jel...we didn't do much better against powerhouse Duke last year...it'll be interesting to see how UNC does against Asheville and CCU.

[PAmedic]

so we're NOT planning another Sweet 16 party or T-shirts? LOL

here's the story:

A tough night for LU women

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
November 22, 2005

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - For Liberty women’s basketball coach Carey Green, this was all about teaching.

He was aggravated, for sure, with the Flames’ poor showing in their 87-36 loss to seventh-ranked North Carolina Monday night at Carmichael Auditorium.

But if fans were expecting rage and bluster from Green, they didn’t get it. Instead, it almost seemed like the coach was in a deep trance, trying to figure out any way for Liberty to compete against the talented Tar Heels.

UNC touts itself as the quickest team in the nation. Forcing 33 turnovers will only reinforce those boasts.

“Our pressure really got to them,” UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “That’s what we want to do.”

North Carolina (2-0) returns four All-ACC players from last year’s Elite Eight team in Camille Little, Erlana Larkins, La’tangela Atkinson and Ivory Latta. The Flames lost their top four players from a team that advanced to the Sweet 16.

While the matchup looked appealing on paper, the results were predictable considering the circumstances.

Liberty, which struggled at times with Virginia Union’s pressure in its opener last Friday, absolutely wilted under the suffocating UNC pressure.

The Flames turned the ball over 11 times in the first eight minutes and had 24 turnovers at halftime. That’s five more giveaways than points (19), and that’s no way to compete against a Top 10 team angling for a return to the Final Four in April.

“Coach Hatchell believes they’re the quickest team in the country,” Green said. “I’d have to say amen to that right now.”

This is where the teaching comes in, and Liberty got a hard lesson in how to break a 1-3-1 press against the Heels.

Too often, the Flames left the point guard on an island against a double- or a triple-team, instead of setting screens and getting open to allow for an outlet pass under pressure. It led to copious turnovers, and the game turned ugly quick.

“We’re so used to trying to throw over top of people,” Liberty point guard Allyson Fasnacht said. “If you’ve got people with long arms that can jump, that’s not going to work at all. We’ve got to work on ball fakes and move more to get open.”

North Carolina scored the first nine points, and after Liberty cut the lead to 23-9 on a Leslie Jones basket, the Flames wouldn’t score for another seven minutes. At that point, UNC led 39-9 and the game turned into a sloppy, foul-filled affair.

Even so, Green was calm on the bench. With his team trailing 49-18 in the closing seconds of the first half and Courtney Watkins at the foul line, Green counseled freshman Molly Frazee on the bench, calmly making his point after Frazee turned the ball over near half court on a previous possession.

“I’ve got players I’m just now learning,” Green said. “I’m learning their personalities and learning their abilities as well. I’d like to think I’m a good teacher, and it’s a great situation to teach in.

“Failure is not an undertaker. It should definitely be a teacher. We’ll definitely use this as a teaching tool.”

Green has seen some bad beatings while at Liberty. Last year, the Flames trailed third-ranked Duke 46-26 at halftime at Cameron Indoor Stadium, turned the ball over 31 times and lost 83-48. In 2001, the Flames lost by 42 to Duke.

And as bad as Monday was for Liberty, it pales in comparison to the worst loss in school history, a 113-35 drubbing by Notre Dame to open the 1990 season. Still, it was the worst margin of defeat in seventh-year coach Green’s tenure at the school.

“This is an NCAA tournament game for us, so we can use this as a measuring device,” Green said. “We’re not going to fall to pieces over one loss early in the season. … If I had to schedule the game again, I’d schedule it again. It’s growing pains.”

It’s clear it will take some time for this Liberty team to grow, and Game 2 was simply too early to ask for a developing Flames team to be able to compete with the No. 7 team in the nation.

That’s not to say Liberty can’t be a good team. The same Flames team that lost by 35 to Duke last season won two NCAA tournament games in March.

“Sometimes, you’re just going to get spanked,” Fasnacht said. “You’ve just got to take it with a grain of salt and realize what you did wrong and in practice, just learn from it.”

There were some positives. Freshman Megan Frazee showed she could score against an athletic Tar Heels bunch, finishing with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Roli-Ann Nikagbatse showed great hustle at times, getting into passing lanes, forcing turnovers and diving for loose balls. The Flames were miserable on offense, shooting 18.9 percent and hitting fewer field goals in the entire game (10) than UNC hit in the first half (14).

Latta led UNC with 20 points and added six assists.

NOTES: Meghan Austin, a UNC sophomore who graduated from E.C. Glass, played five minutes but did not score. … Liberty matched its worst offensive showing in Green’s tenure, though Liberty won the last time it scored just 36 points, beating Radford 36-32 in 2001. … The loss was the worst for LU since losing 104-52 to Radford in 1996.

[PAmedic]

this blows the "we can't get pictures that quickly" argument out of the water.

oh- and NICE LOGO

[thesportscritic]

I went to the game tonight. We came out timid in the first half, and turned the ball over against their pressure. They trapped us defensively using a 1-3-1 zone press in the fullcourt and used some fullcourt man to man defense as well. We played a little better in the second half. The Defense was better in the second half. This is still a young team still trying to gel on the court. We have a lot of talent but the team just needs to put it all together. The refs were quite bad but they are always bad when we go to UNC or Duke from last year. UNC has some great athletes and we had lazy passes and even if they were quicker passes they have great instincts on reading the pass. They have quick hands. UNCA and CCU will get mashed probably worse than we did tonight. We will not play any team like this the rest of the season up until the NCAA tournament if we handle our business in the Big South.

[PAmedic]

the wrap from the official site:

UNC Hands Liberty 87-36 Loss

November 21, 2005 · Chapel Hill, N.C.

North Carolina proved why they are one of the best teams in the nation as they led wire-to-wire in their 87-35 win over Liberty Monday evening in the Carmichael Auditorium.

The Tar Heels (2-0) a quick 9-0 lead over the Lady Flames (1-1) as Ivory Latta knocked down a jumper.

Liberty responded as Megan Frazee (Fr., G/F, Xenia, Ohio) connected on a three and then two free throws to cut the lead to within four; however, that would be as close as the Lady Flames would get all night as a layup by Erlana Larkins started a 30-5 run to put the Tar Heels up 34.

North Carolina took a 49-19 lead into the half, outplaying Liberty in ever facet of the game and forcing the Lady Flames to 24 first half turnovers.

Liberty looked to get back in the game and make it competitive, but North Carolina had other ideas jumping out to a 40-point lead on a 16-6 run to start the second.

That was more then enough as the Tar Heels cruised to a 51-point victory, marking the worst lost under Coach Green and the worst lost since a 52-point defeat to Radford in 1996.

The Lady Flames were only able to muster 10 field goals for the entire game, shooting 26 percent on the night, while the Tar Heels shot 39 percent.

North Carolina shot 88 percent (29-33), compared to Liberty’s 65 percent (13-20) from the free throw line.

The high scorer for Liberty was Megan Frazee as the freshman notched her second double-double in as many games with a game-high 15 rebounds and 13 points.

For North Carolina, Latta led the way as the all-American had a game-high 20 points and six assists.

“We didn’t compete as well as we wanted to tonight,” stated Liberty head coach Carey Green. “North Carolina is a very good team. They’re very quick and athletic and we weren’t able to match that.”

“This game allows us to open our eyes at where we need to get better.”

Liberty will look to rebound from its loss as they host the Tribe of William and Mary at 7 p.m. in the Vines Center this Saturday.

[fsn32asleepatthewheel]

pamedic said:

this blows the "we can't get pictures that quickly" argument out of the water.

oh- and NICE LOGO

Les is out of the hospital and went to the game with us... so that is why a pic was available tonight.

Normally it isn't as feasible to do it... b/c there isn't always a photog there or able to edit the pictures at the site. The photographer will often go back to the shop and edit later while the sports info guys write the story and go home asap. I don't blame them either... they both are usually at the end of 12 hour days.

[fsn32]

sorry... realized I hadn't logged in but didn't want to retype from my pda... it takes too long... and i'm sleepy.

[Stevev]

The results of last nights game looked like a typical Big South out-of conference mismatch. I am sure we will put this one behind us and will hopefully compete with some of these kinds of teams in the near future. Megan Frazee must be the real deal with the numbers she put up but no one else contributed much at all. Hopefully can get a convincing win vs W & M.

[LUconn]

sportscritic05 said:

We came out timid in the first half, and turned the ball over against their pressure.

Timid or not, I don't think I've ever seen a team that represented LU handle a press well. This school has always been a turnover machine with any kind of full court press. Unless the other team is clearly a pile of manure.

[thesportscritic]

Unlike you I was at the game and that is what I saw!! end of story and this is a young team.

[LibertyOSU]

This might be far fetched, but do you think that Megan has a chance of being the Big South player of the year? I have been keeping track of Katie O'Dell, and Megan is doing a lot better than she is as of now. What do you think?

[thesportscritic]

She has a shot. 13 points and 15 rebounds against UNC as a freshman. Who does that in this league as a freshman? Nobody. If she continues to work hard she definitely has a chance to have that honor. Nobody in this league is playing the schedule that we are playing this season. This non conference schedule will give us experience going into the league and post season. We will not play a team this good for the rest of the season. Go ahead and register.