The Lady Flames basketball team grinded out a win against NJIT 58-47 Saturday, Feb. 2. With the victory Saturday, Liberty has won five consecutive games and improved to 4th overall in the ASUN despite starting conference play with three consecutive losses.
Neither team shot above 40 percent from the field. Liberty employed double teams early and often to swarm NJIT’s offensive players. In the second quarter, NJIT shot only 1-10 from the field. NJIT did not have a single player who shot over 50 percent from the floor in the game.
Another early story in the game was foul trouble. Redshirt sophomore guard and reigning ASUN player of the week, Emily Lytle, picked up two fouls early in the game and sat on the bench for the majority of the first half. This led to early offensive troubles for the Lady Flames, but sophomore guard and forward Bridgette Rettstatt stepped up to carry the offensive load. In the first quarter she scored six points.
“Without Emily, it’s definitely more looks inside because we have to focus on where we have strengths,” Rettstatt said. “If we pass inside, the post will kick out, and it just opens things up. With Emily gone, the defense is more combined and less focused on her.”
Liberty was getting those looks inside all night as the Lady Flames bruised their way to a 28-8 advantage in the paint. When the shots were not falling for the Flames, it was no problem as they raked in 16 offensive rebounds during the game.
Late in the fourth quarter, it seemed as though NJIT might have taken the momentum as they went on a scoring run to reduce their deficit to five points. The Lady Flames held the Highlanders scoreless for the next five minutes and solidified their victory. Despite the win, Head Coach Carey Green did have some minor gripes about the defensive efforts when guarding NJIT senior guard Kelly Guarino.
“You got Guarino, and she shoots 75 percent of her shots from three,” Green said. “Tonight, she took 10 shots, and nine of them were threes. It was 90 percent threes tonight. We know that and we’re discussing that, but she still gets those off. That’s a little bit disappointing.”
Rettstatt was the standout player, who had 15 points and a career-high four blocks. Junior guard and forward Kierra Johnson-Graham had 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Graham shot 9-10 from the free-throw line. Senior forward KK Barbour, who finished with 12 points, had her fifth consecutive game scoring double digits.
The Lady Flames have a rough stretch coming, playing three of the four best teams in the ASUN in their next four games. The highlight of this stretch is a matchup against undefeated Florida Gulf Coast next Saturday in the Vines Center. FGCU defeated Liberty by 18 in their first meeting.