Liberty Women’s Basketball Survive 49-48 Nail-Biter Against Jacksonville At Home

Very rarely does a basketball team win a game after being held without a bucket for an entire quarter, but that is exactly what happened in the Lady Flames’ narrow 49-48 victory over the Jacksonville Dolphins Jan. 19. 

The Lady Flames started the game slow, going almost four minutes without a basket. This changed when center Mya Berkman scored two layups in the span of 24 seconds. 

Both teams battled throughout the first quarter with neither team gaining much of an edge. The quarter ended with a tight score of 16-14 in favor of the Lady Flames. 

Just as competitive as the first quarter was, the second seemed to indicate a blowout in favor of Liberty. The Lady Flames started the quarter with a 15-point run for a commanding 31-14 lead. The Dolphins dug deep in the closing minutes to secure three points with their lone basket occurring with just 18 seconds left in the half. 

Entering halftime, the Lady Flames led by 14 points and held a 16-rebound advantage over Jacksonville. Fans at the Liberty Arena looked forward to another show of dominance in the third quarter. 

As the third quarter began, it became clear that it would be Jacksonville’s turn to shine. The Dolphins showed much more aggression than they had in the first half and clawed their way back into the game. In the third quarter, Jacksonville outscored the Lady Flames 19-4 and held the Liberty squad 0-6 from the field. 

As the quarter waned, Jacksonville held its first lead since 3:54 in the first quarter. Everyone waited with bated breath to see how Head Coach Carey Green’s squad would respond in the fourth. 

Excitement marked the fourth quarter as both teams aimed to gain an advantage, but neither team could gain the upper hand. Jacksonville’s largest lead was five points. 

Berkman made a layup with only 40 seconds remaining to take the lead, but Jacksonville’s Asiah Jones responded with a layup of her own. With a one-point game and only seconds on the clock, Liberty trusted redshirt senior Pricilla Smeenge with the chance to steal a victory for the Lady Flames. She delivered with a crucial layup to give the Lady Flames the lead at the 0:16 mark. 

“I’m just thankful that Coach Green trusted me to put me in that position, and I’m thankful that it went in — in the end at a crucial moment,” Smeenge said.

The Lady Flames could not rest yet, however, and still required a defensive stop to secure the win. They did just that and escaped the sloppy night with the victory. 

The Lady Flames finished the game with 46 rebounds and shot 35.4% from the field. Berkman finished the game with 12 points and 11 rebounds. 

After the game, Green credited the team’s rebounding efforts as the deciding factor in the game.

“I really think that if it wasn’t for our efforts on the boards, it might have gone the other way,” Green said.  

Liberty excelled at rebounding in the first half but faltered to have the same success in the second half. The score reflected this with the Lady Flames squandering a 14-point halftime advantage. 

Liberty’s team has continued to make a name for itself as a scrappy unit that consistently outrebounds opponents and currently ranks fourth in the country in rebound margin with 13.2. According to Berkman, who finished as the top rebounder in the contest, rebounding is foundational to the identity of the team. 

“I like to think of every shot as a miss, so I just get in the best position to get offensive rebounds,” Berman said. “I think we do a really good job at that. We work every day on rebounds, so if you’re not rebounding, you’re probably going to be out of the game.”

Perhaps the biggest area of improvement for Liberty moving forward is taking care of the basketball. The team ended with 20 turnovers. After the game, Green indicated that these mistakes must be avoided at any cost.

“I’d rather have an ugly shot than a turnover,” Green said.

When asked about how the team recovered after the abysmal third quarter, Berkman said that team learned from its previous mistakes in the team’s loss to FCGU. 

“I think the difference between this game and last game is that in this game we stuck together … I think we did a really good job at huddling any time we could and making sure, ‘Hey, calm down. We got this. We’re okay.’ So, I thought that was good that we stuck together,” Berkman said. 

After the game, Berkman chose to focus on the fact that the team won instead of becoming upset with the team’s performance. 

“Good teams find a way to win, so I’m proud of us even though it was ugly in the second half. We still won. It still counts as a win,” Berkman said. 

Nonetheless, the Lady Flames will look to fix their mistakes as they lurch towards the 2022 ASUN Tournament. 

“We didn’t make the best decisions in the moment, but I think this team is hungry to fix our mistakes and own up to them in the film room,” Smeenge said. “We’re going to find a way to get better and hopefully that doesn’t happen again.”

The Lady Flames followed up the victory over the Dolphins with a 79-51 trouncing of Central Arkansas Jan. 22. The team will return to the court Jan. 27 for the first game of a doubleheader against North Alabama before the men’s team plays afterwards. 

Shields is the asst. sports editor. Follow him on Twitter

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