Liberty cruises past High Point in final home game

High Point’s Mackenzie Maier has had some of the rougher moments of her career against Liberty.

Last year when the Flames beat the Panthers at the Vines Center, Megan Frazee blocked a Maier 3-point attempt 56 seconds into the game, sending the ball caroming down the floor, where Frazee scooped it and scored a layup.

During Liberty’s 73-48 win Monday night at the Vines Center, Maier — a preseason all-Big South pick — relived that nightmare. Seemingly open for a 3, Maier set up to shoot, only to have Avery Warley come from nowhere and block the shot so hard that it went across half court. Warley grabbed the ball, and Devon Brown eventually scored in transition.

The Flames (24-5, 14-2 Big South) have had plenty of success against Maier during her career. A 39 percent 3-point shooter this season, Maier has gone just 3-for-16 in seven career games against the Flames. Liberty smothered her Monday, holding her to four points on 1-of-10 shooting. She missed all four of her 3-point attempts. Maier had another rough outing against LU her freshman year, when she went 0-for-10 in the Flames’ Big South tournament quarterfinal win over HPU.

“We knew she was a shooter,” Brown said. “We just had to get out and pressure her.”

Liberty, which plays Radford at 5:30 p.m. on Friday at High Point in the quarterfinals of the Big South tournament, broke open a tight game early in the second half. The Brown layup after the Warley block put the Flames up 40-28 with 16:55 left, and the Flames led by double digits for most of the rest of the way.

The Flames pushed the lead to 22 points with about seven minutes to play, and High Point’s frustrations boiled over. Maier got tangled up with Liberty’s Kylee Beecher near the foul line, as Beecher gave her a shove and Maier responded with an elbow that missed Beecher’s face.

Amber Mays, Liberty’s lone senior who was playing her final game at the Vines Center, wasn’t so lucky. As Mays tried to get past Maier and Beecher coming off a screen, Maier hit Mays with a two-forearm shiver that would have gotten her a two-minute penalty for cross checking in a hockey game.

“She blindsided me,” Mays said. “I didn’t even know she was there. But I probably flopped too, which is always a good thing.”

Mays hit the floor and a foul was called. High Point coach Tooey Loy disagreed and eventually drew a technical foul after arguing with two different officials.

“Our history has been that we’re both pretty physical,” Liberty coach Carey Green said. “It’s going to be a tough game to officiate. … That’s just the way our games are going to be played.”

The teams could meet again Saturday if both win their tournament quarterfinal games. High Point won a coin flip for the No. 3 seed and will open tournament play against sixth-seeded Winthrop. The second semifinal game will be played Saturday at 3 p.m.

Brown, who scored 19 points in the second half of Liberty’s win at High Point in January, scored 16 of her game-high 23 in the first half Monday. Conscious of the potential three-game grind coming up, Green rested his leading scorer for much of the second half once the game got out of hand.

“I just saw open lanes,” Brown said. “My teammates were setting screens, so I was going off the screens to get open shots.”

Jelena Antic and Avery Warley scored 13 each for the Flames, and Mays added 10 points, five assists and two steals. Frances Fields and Shamia Brown scored nine apiece to lead High Point (16-13, 9-7).