GREENSBORO, NC – The UNC Greensboro women’s basketball team fell in its home opener, 62-44 to Liberty Tuesday night in Fleming Gym.
“This was not how we envisioned starting the season,” head coach Lynne Agee said. “I was extremely disappointed with our lack of mental focus today. We talk about sustaining momentum for thirty seconds on both ends of the court and we didn’t do that today, which led to many of our breakdowns.”
UNCG (0-2) was led by junior Gini Grimsley who tallied 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting from the floor while senior Meghan Chamberlain tallied four rebounds in the loss. Sophomore Lakiah Hyson set a new career-high with six points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor.
Liberty (1-0), who picked up their first win of the season, was led by Megan Frazee who tallied 14 points and nine rebounds. Teammate Rebecca Lightfoot also tallied nine rebounds in the win.
Despite only leading by two points at the break, Liberty started the second half with a 12-0 run to pull ahead 21-34 and pulled down five boards in the first five minutes of action and never looked back. The Lady Flames, who led by as much as 22 points in the second half, tallied 20 points in the paint and shot 44 percent in the second half, to put the game out of reach.
Both teams seemed sluggish from the outset and neither team was able to find the basket until about two minutes into the game when UNCG’s Monique Floyd hit a bucket in the paint to put the Spartans ahead. Liberty wasn’t far behind with their first bucket and notched the game at 2-2 at the 15:45 mark.
The Spartans utilized offense from Hyson and Ashley Mullins and several free throws from Agne Girstautaite to pull ahead 9-2 with just under 12 minutes remaining.
The Lady Flames capitalized on several UNCG miscues and was able to tie the game but the Spartans responded with a bucket from Hyson on the next play to keep the lead. Freshman Kendra Smith came up with a big charge that gave possession to UNCG, which Hyson quickly converted into a bucket to put the Spartans ahead, 13-9 midway through the half.
A 4-0 run gave the Flames their first lead of the half at the 9:05 mark and the teams traded buckets on the next few possessions but a triple from Gini Grimsley, her first of the season, put UNCG ahead.
The teams traded buckets on the next few possessions but Liberty was able to take an 18-15 lead after hitting some quick buckets in transition. Liberty used a 5-0 run later in the half to pull ahead 23-17 but a UNCG bucket in the paint from Chamberlain, along with two points from the charity stripe in the final seconds of the half sent UNCG to the lockerroom trailing 23-21.
Liberty was 43.1 percent from the floor on 22-of-51 shooting and recorded 42 rebounds while UNCG was 32.6 percent from the floor on 14-of-23 shooting while only recording 25 rebounds.
The Spartans are next in action Sunday when they head to Durham, NC to take on No. 9 Duke in non-conference action. UNCG returns home Nov. 23-24 when its hosts the UNCG Marriott Classic. The Spartans welcome Boston University, UNC Asheville and North Carolina A&T.
AGATE
LIBERTY 62, UNCG 44
LIBERTY (1-0)
FRAZEE, Molly 6-10 3-4 17; FRAZEE, Megan 5-12 4-4 14; WATKINS,
Courtney 3-5 0-0 7; LIGHTFOOT, Rebecca 3-8 1-2 7; HAMMOND, Rachel
3-7 0-0 6; FRAZEE, Moriah 1-5 3-4 5; BREAM, Alexandria 0-1 2-2 2;
SMITH, Heather 0-1 2-2 2;MAINE, Kittery 1-1 0-0 2; McLEOD, Rachel
0-1 0-1 0; FASNACHT, Allyson 0-00-0 0. Totals 22-51 15-19 62.
UNCG (0-2)
GRIMSLEY,Gini 3-12 2-2 10; MULLINS,Ashley 2-3 0-0 6; HYSON,Lakiah
3-5 0-0 6;FRAZIER,Brittany 2-6 2-4 6; FLOYD,Monique 2-4 1-2 5;
CHAMBERLAIN,Meghan 1-32-4 4; BROOKS,Kemena 0-5 3-4 3;
GIRSTAUTAITE,Agne 0-3 2-2 2; SMITH,Kendra1-2 0-0 2; LING,Ashley 0-0
0-0 0; BOONE,Kristen 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 14-432-20 44.
Halftime: Liberty 23-21.3-point goals--LIBERTY 3-6 (FRAZEE, Molly 2-2; WATKINS, Courtney 1-1;LIGHTFOOT, Rebecca 0-1; HAMMOND, Rachel 0-2), UNCG 4-12 (GRIMSLEY,Gini 2-9;MULLINS,Ashley 2-2; BROOKS,Kemena 0-1). Fouled out--LIBERTY-None, UNCG-None.Rebounds--LIBERTY 42 (LIGHTFOOT, Rebecca 9; FRAZEE, Megan 9), UNCG 25(CHAMBERLAIN,Meghan 4). Assists--LIBERTY 8 (WATKINS, Courtney 3), UNCG 9(BROOKS,Kemena 2; FLOYD,Monique 2). Total fouls--LIBERTY 20, UNCG 20.
Technical fouls--LIBERTY-None, UNCG-None. A-365
- UNCG -