Comings and goings IX: Liberty

Brooke Alexander

We move along with Part IX of Comings and goings with Liberty.

The rest of the series:

Comings and Goings: Old Dominion
Comings and Goings: Richmond
Comings and Goings: George Mason
Comings and Goings: Virginia
Comings and Goings: Virginia Tech
Comings and Goings: William and Mary
Comings and Goings: VCU


Who's going

Karly Buer: 5-7 G, 11.6 ppg, second leading scorer on the team last year;
Jasmine Gardner: 6-2 F/C, started 2 games, averaged 4.4 ppg
Ellee Rollins: 5-7 G, played 97 minutes last year, averaging 0.7 ppg
Emily Frazier: 5-7 G, started 16 games, averaging 4.9 ppg
Simone Brown: 5-11 F, started 26 games last year as a sophomore, averaging 7.5 ppg, transferring to University of North Florida near her home in Land O' Lakes, Fla.

Buer played just one year at Liberty after graduating from Missouri State, but sparked the Lady Flames from the 3-point line and was a key cog in the team's Big South championship and near upset of North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Brown will sit out next season for the Ospreys per NCAA transfer rules and have two years of eligibility remaining.

Who's coming

Brooke Alexander: 6-0 F Frisco, Texas (Prestonwood Christian Academy), averaged 13.5 ppg for first-ever state champion Prestonwood Christian in 2014 and also led team in assists, steals and 3-pointers made; team reached state final in 2015; TAPPS 5A all-state as a junior and senior; finalist for her school's Athlete of the Year award, generated interest from Texas A&M and Arizona among others
Keturah "KK" Barbour: 6-1 F, Charlottesville, Va. (Albemarle High); All-time leading scorer at Albemarle, amassing more than 1,200 points; averaged 23.8 ppg and 10.2 rpg as a senior; cousin to former VCU player Andrea Barbour
Stephanie Patton: 5-9 G, Hiawassee Ga.. (Hayesville High); amassed nearly 1,400 career points and 193 treys; transferred from Towns County High in Georgia to Hayesville midway through her junior season; at Towns County, set freshman class scoring record (326 points) and was the Georgia Class A state golf runner-up
Molly Reagan: 6-2 F/C, Braintree, Mass. (Braintree High); led Braintree to a 24-1 record and Massachusetts Division 1 state championship as a junior; selected Liberty over Yale, Dartmouth and Princeton; one of three Division I players at Braintree (Ashley Russell (Penn) and Bridget Herlihy (Villanova)); the three were 95-7 at their high school with two state titles
Kaitlyn Stovall: 6-3 F/G, Hopewell, Va. (Home-schooled), played high school ball at TPLS Christian Academy in Midlothian; part of BWSL AAU team that won a national title her freshman year and was national runner-up her sophomore year

Kudos to Carey Green and staff for what looks to be a recruiting class full of bigs that will leave an impact at Liberty. Reagan's basketball IQ looks to match her academic smarts, and we're excited to see Liberty get a near-local in Barbour. With the return of Ashley Rininger (12.8 ppg, .518 FG percentage) and a cast that includes Sadalia Ellis, Emily Frazier and Katelyn Adams, we expect the Lady Flames to make their usual run to a Big South championship and earn a 17th trip to the national tournament.