Liberty clinches Big South on Senior Night; Radford wins in OT again

Rachel McLeod

Liberty 72, UNC Asheville 58: Devon Brown hit 5 3-pointers and tied her season high with 27 points while Avery Warley went for 24 points and 11 rebounds as the Lady Flames won the Big South regular-season title and clinched the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for the 12th time in 14 years. The night was also special because prior to the game, Liberty honored its trio of seniors, Kittery Maine, Rachel McLeod and Dymond Morgan. Recently we asked all of the state's head coaches to sum up each of their seniors in one word and explain why they chose that word. Liberty's Carey Green was the first to respond:

Dymond Morgan - "Energy"

"Dymond brings a tremendous amount of activity and energy to everything she's involved in."

Kittery Maine - "Giving"

"Kittery is involved in nurturing others more than concern for herself."

Rachel McLeod - "Class"

"Rachel is well balanced and attempts everything in life in a first-class manner."

In other Big South action Friday:

Radford 79, High Point 76 (OT): Chalk up another thrilling victory for the Highlanders (14-14, 11-4 Big South), who won in overtime for the second time in three games and improved to 3-0 in OT this season. Brooke McElroy led the way with 23 points and Denay Wood added 14 points and 14 rebounds for Radford, which blew an 8-point lead in the final 2:13 of regulation, rallied from 3 points down in OT on a McElroy 3-pointer with 1:39 left, then seized the lead for good on an Erica Rivera jumper with 1:03 remaining. We love the recent offensive surge by the Highlanders. Formerly a team that struggled to score 60 points, Radford has totaled 81, 78 and 79 points in its last three games. Playing an extra five minutes in two of those games has helped, of course. But there's no question the Highlanders are doing a better job of putting the ball in the hole lately, and that's the whole point of this game, isn't it? Finally, it's always good to play well at High Point's Millis Center, as that will be the site for next week's Big South Tournament.