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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
Walker-20170124
Red Rocket Productions & Photography
68
Liberty LIBERTY 5-13 (4-3)
76
Winner Radford RAD 14-4 (6-1)
Liberty LIBERTY
5-13 (4-3)
68
Final
76
Radford RAD
14-4 (6-1)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Liberty LIBERTY 21 9 15 23 68
Radford RAD 16 19 19 22 76

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

RADFORD ENDS 12-GAME SKID TO LIBERTY WITH 76-68 BIG SOUTH WIN



GAME INFORMATION
  • Score: Radford 76, Liberty 68
  • Records: Highlanders (14-4, 6-1 Big South) | Flames (5-13, 4-3 Big South)
  • Location: Dedmon Center | Radford, Va.
 
RADFORD, Va. – It was a night of endings streaks as Radford snapped its 12-game skid to Liberty with a 76-68 win, giving the Highlanders their first win over the Blue Ridge Mountain foe since 2011. The win also marked the first-time Radford has defeated Liberty inside the Dedmon Center since March 3, 2007.
 
Radford stayed atop the Big South standings with the help of a hot shooting performance from behind the arc. The Highlanders finished the contest 8 for 10 from three-point land, missing a season high by one. The 80.0 three-point field goal percentage is a season high by 30 percent.
 
Destinee Walker paced the Highlanders' three-point shooting with a 4 for 4 performance from behind the arc. The four made 3-pointers match a season high for the sophomore. Walker finished with a game-high 16 points on a 5 for 9 shooting performance to lead four Highlanders in double-figures.
 
Following Walker; Khiana Johnson tallied eight of her 14 points in the second half and Janayla White made 10 free throws to finish with 12 points. Jayda Worthy rounded out the Highlanders in double-figures with 11 points, just missing a double-double with nine rebounds.
 
Liberty punched Radford in the mouth early as Audrey Rettstatt came out guns blazing with 13 first quarter points on a 6 for 6 shooting effort, including one 3-pointer. Rettstatt scored the first 10 points of the game for the Flames and knocked down a 3-pointer at the 3:11 mark to give the Flames a 15-14 lead. The Flames closed out the opening quarter on a 4-0 swing with two layups from Nene Johnson to take a 21-16 lead into the next quarter.
 
Radford used a 10-1 run to start the second quarter, taking a 26-22 lead 2:43 into the quarter. Walker and Johnson knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to give Radford back the lead, which it never let go.
 
Back-to-back ole fashion three-point plays by Worthy and Johnson extended the Radford lead to seven (32-25) on the now 16-4 run with 3:43 remaining in the half. Liberty cut the lead to three, but Walker sunk two free throws to send the Highlanders into the locker room with a 35-30 lead.
 
Playing all 10 minutes in the second quarter, Worthy and Walker added five points apiece to hand Radford the lead. Walker paced the Highlanders with 10 points, while Worthy added seven points and five rebounds. Johnson came off the bench to provide six points in the second quarter.
 
Coming out of the break, Liberty cut the deficit to two points, before another Radford run pushed the lead to double-digits. Sparked by a 12-0 run, Radford commanded a 14-point lead (47-33) midway through the quarter.
 
The run started with two consecutive 3-pointers from Walker and ended on a Jen Falconer 3-pointer. Radford's largest lead of the evening (15 points) came on Rachael Ross' second layup of the quarter on a Worthy assist at the 3:36 clip to push the lead to 52-37.
 
Not going down without a fight, the Flames closed the third quarter on an 8-2 run to head to the final 10-minutes trailing 54-45.
 
In the fourth quarter, Radford did not attempt a single 3-pointer, however went 10 for 11 from the charity stripe to hold on for a 76-68 win. Janayla White and Johnson led Radford with eight points each in the quarter. White made all six of her free throws, while Johnson made all three of her field goals in the quarter.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Radford last win the series came in a 62-53 decision in Lynchburg, Va. on Jan. 17, 2011.
  • The Highlanders last win over the Flames in the Dedmon Center came in dominating fashion with a 77-54 win on March 3, 2007.
  • Radford moves to 25-52 in the all-time series, giving head coach Mike McGuire his first win in the series.
  • Radford made 24 of 56 attempts from the field for a 42.9 field goal percentage, marking the 11th time on the season the Highlanders have shot over 40-percent.
  • The Highlanders 8 for 10 performance from behind the arc is the most since a 9 for 25 showing against Longwood on Jan. 14, 2015.
  • Radford has made six-plus 3-pointers nine times on the season.
  • The 20 for 26 showing from the charity stripe is the best by the Highlanders in Big South play.
  • Radford placed four in double-figures for the fifth time on the season, including three in Big South play.
  • For the 11th time on the season, Destinee Walker led the Highlanders in scoring with 16 points. She has now scored double-digits in 14 of Radford's 18 games.
  • Khiana Johnson scored 14 points in the contest, giving her eight games of 10-plus points in her first collegiate season.
  • Janayla White made a season-high 10 free throws to finish with 12 points and eight rebounds.
  • Jayda Worthy nearly missed her fifth double-double on the season and third in conference play with 11 points and nine rebounds.
  • Radford narrowly missed placing five players in double-figures for the first time since Dec. 2, 2015 as Jen Falconer finished eight points on two 3-pointers.
  • The Highlanders assisted on 12 of their 24 field goals.
  • Claudia Quevedo, Walker and Falconer finished with three assists each.
  • Radford forced 19 Liberty turnovers, scoring 21 points off the miscues. Liberty scored 18 points off Radford's 19 turnovers.
  • Liberty dominated the paint (42-24) and the glass (38-34). Radford improves to 4-2 when the opponent controls the paint and 2-3 when being outrebounded.
  • After scoring 13 points in the first quarter, Audrey Rettstatt was held to one free throw the rest of the way, finishing with a team-high 14 points.  
  • Liberty falls to 1-10 away from the Vines Center and has suffered back-to-back conference losses for only the third-time in head coach Carey Green's 18 seasons at the helm of the Flames.  
 
QUOTABLE
  • "We needed this win for a lot of reasons. Number one is because of how we played on Saturday against Charleston Southern. We needed to respond, while showing some resilience and toughness. Number two is that Liberty is the program that everyone tries to emulate in the Big South. For us to inch our way closer to where we can finally beat them means a lot to us and to the players that have been in this program. I hope this win teaches us that when we show up, prepare and compete; we can be a good team. I thought our three-point shots were in rhythm. Nothing was forced and I like that our guards were shot ready tonight." ~ Radford head coach Mike McGuire
 
UP NEXT
  • Radford will hit the road on Saturday for their last weekend road contest till March 4. The Highlanders will take on UNC Asheville in a 2:30 p.m. battle.
  • The Bulldogs swept last year's two regular season matchups to end Radford's two-game winning streak in the series.
  • Radford's last win in Asheville, N.C. came in a 67-65 decision on Jan. 20, 2015.
  • Radford holds a 48-21 edge in the all-time series with a 20-12 record on the road.
  • UNC Asheville was selected as the preseason favorite with Radford predicted to finish second.
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