TURNOVERS DOOM RADFORD IN 69-60 DEFEAT AT LIBERTY

BOX SCORE LYNCHBURG, Va. – In a game featuring nine ties and five lead changes, Radford was unable to overcome 20 turnovers as Liberty pulled away in the second half for the 69-60 victory in women's basketball action Saturday evening inside the Vines Center.

Winners of seven straight, the Lady Flames move to 20-6 overall and 12-2 in conference play. The Highlanders fall to 13-11 on the season, including 8-7 in the Big South.

“It was another Liberty-Radford battle,” head coach Tajama Abraham Ngongba said. “They are the hottest team in the conference right now and I thought we did a nice job of coming in here and battling with them. Unfortunately, we struggled with turnovers today and we cannot afford to do that against a team like Liberty.”

Tied at 34 less than four minutes into the second stanza, the Lady Flames used a 13-2 run to create an 11-point spread between the two rivals. During this span, RU turned the ball over five times to fall behind, 47-36, with 9:50 remaining in the game.

LaKendra Washington nailed a 3-pointer at the 5:55 mark to give Liberty its largest lead of the day, 60-46. From there, the Highlanders were able to chip away at their deficit. Eventually pulling to within six (64-58) following a Victoria Hamilton tip-in with 46 seconds to go, Radford showed it was not going down without a fight.

The comeback fizzled, however, as the Lady Flames converted 5-of-6 from the stripe in the waning seconds to preserve the win.

Thanks to 52 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes, Liberty finished with a 41.4 percent accuracy for the game. In addition to a 36-24 advantage in points scored in the paint, the Lady Flames had an 18-8 margin in points off turnovers.

Entering Saturday's matchup, Liberty led the Big South in rebounding (48.4) and rebounding margin (+17.4). However, it was the Highlanders who won the battle of the boards (43-36), which led to a 19-10 edge in second-chance points.

“Our rebounding has definitely improved,” expressed Ngongba. “To come in here and out-rebound Liberty says something about how hard our ladies battled today against a very physical opponent.”

Scoring a game-high 16 points was Ashley Buckhannon, who also added a game-high three steals. Hamilton and Sarah Tabb joined Buckhannon in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively. In addition to her scoring output, Hamilton reeled in a game-high nine rebounds.

Led by Ashley Rininger's 14 points, the Lady Flames received four double-digit scoring efforts. Devon Brown, Tolu Omotola and Jasmine Gardner all chipped in 13 points for the victors. Emily Frazier handed out a game-high four assists.

Radford will play its final road game of the regular season Saturday, Feb. 23 at Winthrop. Tipoff between the Highlanders and the Eagles is slated for 1:00 p.m. from Winthrop Coliseum.

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