07
Sports
The Blue Banner - Sening the Universitv’ of North C^arolina at Ashc\111c since 1982
Thursday, February 8, 2006
Flames extinguish Bulldogs in thriller at the Justice Center
By Emily Mase
Staff Writer
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The battle between the best
teams in the Big South Conference
left the women’s basketball team
in second place behind the Liberty
Flames (14-8, 6-1 BSC) in
Saturday’s 66-62 loss at the Justice
Center.
“It’s disappointing to lose. It is
not a moral victory,” said head
coach Betsy Blose. “We can beat
them, we have to believe we can.”
The Flame’s 6-3 sophomore
triplets Megan, Moriah and Molly
Frazee proved their domination
leading Liberty to their 24th
straight win against UNC
Asheville. Megan Frazee led the
Flames with 16 points and seven
boards and Rebecca Lightfoot
scored 11 off of 5-6 shooting.
“They are big and physical,”
Blose said. “We needed to be
tougher, and I thought during the
second half we were.”
The Bulldogs (13-9, 4-3 BSC)
fell again on Wednesday night at
Radford (13-8, 5-2 BSC).
Corrie Fertitta led the
Highlanders who scored 17 and
grabbed 15 rebounds. Kyla Jones ,
freshman guard, came off the
bench to front the Bulldogs, scor
ing with 14.
In the Liberty game, the
Bulldogs led the game for the first
10 minutes, but the Flames surged
ahead, taking the lead for the rest
of the game.
“It’s not good enough. I’m not
happy we lost,” Blose said. “We
needed everybody to show up and
play, and we didn’t get that from
everybody.”
At the start of the second half,
the Flames led by as much as 14,
but the Bulldogs fought hark
going on an 8-2 run to bring the
lead into single digits. The aggres
sive play of the Flames landed the
Bulldogs at the line, and they cap
italized going 20-24 in free-throw
attempts, including 7-8 shooting
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Brittany Hendley drives on the Flames’ Allyson Fasnacht. Hendley led the Bulldogs with 13 points in the
loss against Liberty, her first game since an injury sidelined her in early January.
guard Rachael
for freshman
Williams.
“We didn’t quit, we fought,
fought, fought,” Blose said. “We
just had a few turnovers that cost
us, but these girls didn’t quiL”
With 1:35 left, a layup by Jones
brought the Bulldogs behind by
just three and Amanda Elder cut
the lead to two with 19 seconds
left after she blocked a shot,
grabbed the rebound and scored on
a drive.
After a quick foul, the Flames’
Michelle Parker knocked down
both clutch free throws to put the
game out of reach.
“Give our kids some credit, they
didn’t quit at the end,” Blose said.
“We were down 14 and chipped
away those last four minutes.”
Senior point guard Brittany
Hendley and Williams led the
Bulldogs with 13 points each.
Jones added 11 points and
clutched eight rebounds. The
Flames took Barton and Elder, the
Bulldog’s leading scorers, out of
their game, as they combined for
just nine points between the two of
them.
“People are going to take Ashton
and Amanda out of their game,”
Blose said. “That’s where you
have to have people step up on the
team.”
Hendley, after being out for two
weeks with a rib injury, controlled
the ball for the Bulldogs and
showed no signs of rustiness,
according to Blose.
“I thought we played with pas
sion and fire,” Hendley said.
“Even though we came up short, in
the end it is something for us to
build on.”
Williams and Jones came off the
bench to create depth for the
Bulldogs, according to Blose.
“Rachel and Kyla have no fear,”
Blose said. “They don’t under
stand the mystique of Liberty.”
Williams tallied three of the
Bulldog’s 10 steals to help the
ladies cut Liberty’s 14 point
lead.
“We came back from 14
down,” Williams said. “1 was
really happy that we gave it all
we got, but we could have played
harder. We did some things in the
game that we could have
changed that could have changed
the outcome.”
Though displeased by
Saturday’s loss, the Bulldogs have
a chance for revenge on Feb. 23
when they face Liberty at
Lynchburg.
“We were obviously disappoint
ed to lose,” Hendley said. “We felt
we were the better team, but we
played hard and showed some
character and in the end that will
be beneficial to us.”
Despite the loss, the Bulldogs
remain in contention for the regu
lar season title, according to Blose.
“We have to learn from this,”
Blose said. “There are a lot of
things we can work on. We are still
fighting for first or second seed.
It’s not over because of this loss.”
The Bulldogs go on the road for
the next two games traveling to
Coastal Carolina and Charleston
Southern next week. Coastal
Carolina is the only Big South
opponent besides Liberty to defeat
UNC Asheville this season.
fGSOUTH:
conrtfiHci
Basketball
Rankings
Men’s
1. Winthrop (10-0)
2. High Point (7-2)
3. Coastal
Carolina (6-4)
4. Liberty (5-5)
5. VMI (4-6)
6. UNCA (3-6)
7. Charleston
Southern (2-8)
8. Radford (2-8)
Women’s
1. High Point (6-1)
2. Liberty (6-1)
3. Radford (5-2)
4. Coastal
Carolina (4-3)
5. UNCA (4-3)
6. Charleston
Southern (1-6)
7. Birmingham-
Southern (1-6)
8. Winthrop (1-6)
“We have to move on from this
one,” Blose said. “This stretch of
games coming up is going to
determine whether we are a top
seed or whether we are in the mid
dle. It’s going to be a test of our
character.”
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Come Out to Support
Your l^ulldog Wallers!
Men V. High Point
February 14 7;00 p.w.
Women v. Winthrop
February 17 2:00 p.m.
Men V. Radford
February 17 4:30 p.m.
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