Spring Break
Lady Bulldogs come up short of ticket to Big Dance
Lanny Newton
Issue date: 3/25/09 Section: Sports
The iron was unkind to the Lady Bulldogs as Dominique Hudson's runner in the lane rolled out with no time remaining in the Big South Tournament Championship game.
GWU came up just short against conference favorite Liberty, falling 51-50.
Gardner-Webb entered the tournament as the sixth seed but knocked off No.3 Radford and No.2 High Point before facing top seeded Liberty. The tournament was hosted by High Point.
"I just thought our run in the tournament just showed the amazing heart and spirit these young ladies have. "Words can't express how proud I am of them representing the university so well," said Head Coach Rick Reeves. "The keys were they executed, never gave up, and never lost faith in their teammates."
Gardner-Webb fell to a Liberty team that finished the regular season 15-1 in conference play with their only loss coming at High Point before the conference tourney.
Usually going 10 deep the GWU players logged heavy minutes and a different player stepped up each game.
In the game against Liberty, the teams were at 11 apiece at the 11:53 mark in the first half. After Liberty took another 4- point lead, the Bulldogs went on a 10-0 run keyed by back-to-back three-pointers by Courtney Epps and Meranda Burnett to take their largest lead at 21-15.
The rest of the half was marked by neither team able to make a run as Gardner-Webb took a 28-23 lead into the locker room.
Liberty started out the second half with another run taking a 29-28 lead before Burnett hit two free throws to temporarily slow the Flames.
After back and forth action by the two teams, Liberty pushed the lead out to 10 at 47-37 with 7:37 remaining.
Gardner-Webb freshman Breynna Winkler provided a spark off the bench for the Bulldogs, scoring on back-to-back plays to cut the Lady Flames' lead to 47-41 with 4:22 remaining in the game.
The Bulldogs fought back, as a lay up by Epps with 53 seconds left cut it to 51-50.
After Gardner-Webb forced a shot-clock violation on Liberty with 12 seconds left, the Bulldogs went to Hudson, who drove the right side of the lane. She fired up a runner over the outstretched hands of two Liberty defenders.
The ball rolled around on the rim and then off the left side, as Liberty escaped with the 51-50 win.
GWU came up just short against conference favorite Liberty, falling 51-50.
Gardner-Webb entered the tournament as the sixth seed but knocked off No.3 Radford and No.2 High Point before facing top seeded Liberty. The tournament was hosted by High Point.
"I just thought our run in the tournament just showed the amazing heart and spirit these young ladies have. "Words can't express how proud I am of them representing the university so well," said Head Coach Rick Reeves. "The keys were they executed, never gave up, and never lost faith in their teammates."
Gardner-Webb fell to a Liberty team that finished the regular season 15-1 in conference play with their only loss coming at High Point before the conference tourney.
Usually going 10 deep the GWU players logged heavy minutes and a different player stepped up each game.
In the game against Liberty, the teams were at 11 apiece at the 11:53 mark in the first half. After Liberty took another 4- point lead, the Bulldogs went on a 10-0 run keyed by back-to-back three-pointers by Courtney Epps and Meranda Burnett to take their largest lead at 21-15.
The rest of the half was marked by neither team able to make a run as Gardner-Webb took a 28-23 lead into the locker room.
Liberty started out the second half with another run taking a 29-28 lead before Burnett hit two free throws to temporarily slow the Flames.
After back and forth action by the two teams, Liberty pushed the lead out to 10 at 47-37 with 7:37 remaining.
Gardner-Webb freshman Breynna Winkler provided a spark off the bench for the Bulldogs, scoring on back-to-back plays to cut the Lady Flames' lead to 47-41 with 4:22 remaining in the game.
The Bulldogs fought back, as a lay up by Epps with 53 seconds left cut it to 51-50.
After Gardner-Webb forced a shot-clock violation on Liberty with 12 seconds left, the Bulldogs went to Hudson, who drove the right side of the lane. She fired up a runner over the outstretched hands of two Liberty defenders.
The ball rolled around on the rim and then off the left side, as Liberty escaped with the 51-50 win.
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