After rocky start, LU women soar past East Tennessee St.

The first 15 minutes of Liberty’s game with East Tennessee State Tuesday night were rough. Really rough. The game was played with all the physical subtlety of a sledgehammer crashing into glass. Bodies flew everywhere. Shots caromed all over the floor, or sometimes missed rim altogether.

Amid this maelstrom of rough and tumble basketball, though, were five minutes of near perfection near the end of the first half for the Flames, who forced ETSU into five turnovers and seven missed shots during closing stretch. Liberty won 64-54, and the 15-0 run just before halftime played a key role in the Flames’ fifth straight victory.

“Basketball’s a game of runs, and coach (Carey) Green came up to us at halftime and said, ‘I wish you played like that for a full 40 minutes,’” said Flames forward Megan Frazee, who scored 16 points and was one of four Liberty players in double figures. “We were able to capitalize on some things and get some steals. You could notice their heads dropping out there.”

Junior guard Amber Mays, who scored 10 points and had five assists, was the defensive catalyst for the Flames (8-7), who moved above .500 for the first time this season. Mays set a career-high with eight steals, the most since Sharon Wilkerson had eight swipes in a game in February 2000.

Mays set up much like a free safety in football, telegraphing errant passes from ETSU guards. She turned three of those thefts into quick scores on the other end, uncontested fast-break layups that robbed the Bucs (7-7) of any momentum.

“None of them liked to handle the ball,” Mays said. “So I handled it for them.”

Liberty wasn’t immune to the turnover bug either. The Flames had 29 giveaways, allowing the Bucs to hang around in the second half. ETSU, which won at Kentucky earlier this season, got within 46-41 with 10:30 left, but a Frazee 3-pointer jumpstarted a 9-0 run, one capped by a Mays bucket with 8:20 left that extended the lead to 55-41.

The teams combined for 52 turnovers, the product of a game played by two physical, aggressive teams.

“Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and we try to push things too fast,” said Mays, whose team has had 20-plus turnovers nine times in 15 games this season. “We know we have to slow it down. Toward the end, we slowed it down, and that’s how we scored more.”

Liberty freshman Avery Warley had another strong showing with 15 points and eight rebounds, and Moriah Frazee had 10 points and seven boards. Megan Frazee led LU with 13 rebounds.

Most importantly for the Flames, who re-enter Big South play Saturday at Presbyterian, nine players notched eight minutes or more. For the first time this season, Liberty is close to full strength. Forward Becca Lightfoot played 12 minutes, two more than she did at Winthrop Saturday in her first game of the season. Megan Frazee is back to full speed after missing eight games with a sprained ankle.

“We’re still evolving,” Liberty coach Carey Green said.

DRIBBLES: A season-high 11 players saw action for Liberty. … TaRonda Wiles, a junior who played her prep ball at Dan River High School, led ETSU with 18 points. … Liberty guard Rachel Hammond played only eight minutes because she re-aggravated a hip flexor injury in the first half. Green said she should be ready to play Saturday at Presbyterian. … Liberty shot 47.3 percent from the floor, its best showing against a Division I team this season.