Lady Flames win Big South championship

HIGH POINT, N.C. — Pumped for her first foray into postseason college basketball, Devon Brown spoke freely after Liberty beat High Point on Monday at home to end the regular season.

“Oh, I’ve got something up my sleeve,” she said, before cracking into a wide grin.

She might have been joking. Or maybe she was totally serious and was trying to show humility. Either way, she had plenty of tricks ready for Sunday’s Big South women’s tournament title game against Gardner-Webb at High Point. After her team frittered away all of a 20-point lead, Brown took Liberty on her back in the game’s closing minutes. Brown twice gave her team the lead in the final minute and scored over Monique Hudson with 4.2 seconds left to give the Flames the lead for good against the Bulldogs.

Hudson missed a game-tying shot at the buzzer, and Liberty escaped with a 68-66 victory, earning an NCAA tournament berth for the 13th time in the last 14 years.

When Hudson’s attempted rattled off the right side of the rim, Liberty’s players rushed the floor, celebrating wildly. Hudson hung her head and headed toward the bench. Bulldogs coach Rick Reeves gathered his team and quietly ushered his team off the floor.

“You saw a regular-season champion make a championship run on us at the end of the game,” Liberty coach Carey Green said. “We got a little bit comfortable with the lead and didn’t take care of the ball. We mentioned it at halftime. There is going to be a championship run out of them.”

And what a run it was. The Flames (27-5) were up 58-38 with 9:55 to play when Gardner-Webb (28-4) finally got the pace of the game to its liking. Physically dominated in the first half, the Bulldogs turned up the defensive pressure, forced turnovers, strung together stops and began to hit shots.

Less than six minutes later, Courtney Epps capped an 18-0 Bulldogs run with a bucket, and Liberty’s lead was down to 58-56. The Bulldogs took the lead when Dominique Hudson finished a three-point play with 2:32 left, putting GWU up 62-60.

“We came a long way,” Monique Hudson said. “I didn’t want to go out with a 20-point blowout. We started ball pressuring them and we got going.”

Watch Brown and you’ll see a woman who plays with an edge, a scowl on her face at all times, a player brimming with energy and emotion. It’s a face she’s shown all year, and with the Flames’ season on the line in the waning moments, she took over. She finished a three-point play with 2:13 left to put LU back ahead.

The Bulldogs took their last lead when Dominique Hudson hit two free throws with 1:58 left, making it 64-63. Dymond Morgan tied it with a free throw with 1:25 left, and Epps missed a 3-pointer from the left wing that Avery Warley rebounded. With 32.1 seconds left, Brown made a slick move with a defender on her left hip, spinning right and banking in a shot while falling down to put the Flames up 66-64. Epps answered. With the 3-point line smothered, she drove right and hit a layup with 12 seconds left to tie the game again.

Liberty called timeout with 9.8 seconds left and drew up a play for Brown, who drove right and put up another shot, this one over Monique Hudson, while falling forward. It slipped home, and LU led 68-66.

“She stepped back, so I just pulled up,” Brown said.

“And then shut her eyes,” Green added.

“And prayed,” Brown said with a laugh. “And then it went in, and then I went that way.”

Meaning she dashed down the floor. Gardner-Webb didn’t have a timeout left, so Monique Hudson dribbled the ball the length of the floor. The 3-point line covered, Hudson’s only shot was a runner, and it fell off the rim and to the floor.

Reeves had a different opinion of Brown’s game-winning shot, the first of her career. The Virginia High School League’s all-time leading scorer, Brown never hit a game winner during her time at Waynesboro High.

“I thought Brown charged. I thought it was an obvious charge,” Reeves said. “But it’s not going to get called in that situation with a game-winning basket. I’m angry. I’m upset. But that’s life.”

Brown scored a game-high 24 points and won tournament MVP honors. Liberty shot 59.6 percent and won despite 26 turnovers. Dominique Hudson scored 17 to lead the Bulldogs, whose regular-season championship earned them a berth to the Women’s NIT.

Liberty will learn its postseason destination today. The NCAA selection show begins at 7 p.m. and is televised on ESPN.