Radford up first for LU in Big South women's tourney

In the Big South, non-Gardner-Webb division, Liberty’s women’s basketball team was completely dominant this season.

The Flames went 14-0 against the conference’s other seven teams, winning 13 of those games by double digits, the exception a one-point win at home against Coastal Carolina. The average margin of victory in those contests was 23.3 points.

Of course, the Flames lost twice to the Runnin’ Bulldogs by a combined eight points, and that’s why they’ll open this weekend’s Big South tournament as the No. 2 seed. The Flames meet seventh-seeded Radford at 5:30 tonight at High Point’s Mills Center. The winner advances to a 3 p.m. semifinal Saturday to meet the High Point-Winthrop winner. The championship game is set for 2 p.m. Sunday.

Gardner-Webb only lost once in Big South play but had some odd close calls against the lower part of the league. The Bulldogs needed overtime to beat eighth-place Presbyterian at home, won by six at fifth-place Coastal Carolina and lost by 15 points at home to a Radford team that won just six games.

(GWU also needed overtime to win at Radford, and not coincidentally, both games occurred two days after the Bulldogs’ wins over Liberty. Coach Rick Reeves admitted that the physical, taxing nature of playing the Flames took a toll on his team.)

So Reeves was quick to caution against penciling a Gardner-Webb-Liberty final just yet.

“I don’t think, one through eight, that there’s 10 points of difference,” Reeves said during a Wednesday teleconference of league coaches. “I think last year as a six seed we showed that in getting to the championship game. It’s not one or two teams. Anybody can come up and win this.”

In theory, true, but historically, if anyone but LU or GWU wins the tournament, it would be an anomaly. The Flames are 32-0 all-time in the event as the higher seed, and they’ll be seeded higher than anyone they’ll face other than the Bulldogs.

“As far as I’m concerned, the championship still runs through Liberty,” said Reeves, whose team lost by a point to the Flames in last year’s title game.

The Flames must likely survive a replay of last weekend first. Radford was competitive for about 10 minutes last Friday before Liberty took over. The Highlanders are good at one thing: defensive pressure. They forced the Flames into 23 turnovers last week and have forced 20-plus turnovers 16 times this year.

“I can’t imagine there’s much they can throw at us,” Liberty point guard Amber Mays said. “Maybe they’ll pressure us a little more. But they don’t have anybody inside who can really guard us.”

The only RU player taller than 6-foot-1 is freshman reserve Ema Reskoska. Liberty gets much of its offense from 6-3 Avery Warley, 6-4 Kylee Beecher and 6-2 Jelena Antic, making the Flames a tough guard for the Highlanders.

Warley, in particular, has been outstanding of late. She’s posted double-doubles in four of her last five games.

Said Liberty coach Carey Green: “I hope she can dominate everybody inside. But we do have challenges in front of us. Right now, it’s Radford. Everything we’ve accomplished to this point in time needs to be forgotten. We’re in a new season.”