Liberty escapes George Mason in a close, hard-fought competition. On Sunday, the Lady Flames barely edged out the Patriots in a thrilling finish that came down to the final seconds. Liberty outlasted George Mason 74-73 while picking up its 6th win of the season, extending its win streak to 4 games while improving not 6-2 on the e season.
These last few stretches of games have really helped the Flames bounce back in the season, giving them an advantage over out-of-conference opponents and gearing them up for conference play. LU will not play their first conference opponent until January, when it faces New Mexico State, so the Flames will still be looking to build wins until then.
Against George Mason, the Flame weres outscored during the first quarter 30-20, but this changed in the 2nd with Liberty holding the scoring margin with an 18-9 2nd quarter finish. In the next two quarters, it reversed again, but this is where it all changed late in the 4th. Avery Mills, who had 24 points in the game, was able to come through big with the game-tying 3 + steal + free throw under 1 second left to seal the game. She scored 4 points in the final 8.2 seconds. Her three tied the game at 73, before stealing the inbounds pass and getting fouled with 0.6 seconds remaining before hitting 1 of 2 free throws. Liberty ended the game on a 12-3 run after trailing 70-62 midway through the final period. This poise by Avery Mills showed true leadership from the young guard and was also a testament to the Flames’ ability to win in the clutch and fight through adversity. This win was crucial for LU after two losses to Duke and JMU, but with each win this season, LU has been learning from each possession they are given.
Liberty shot well from the floor this game, shooting 50% from the field and 40% from three, while also netting 75% of the free throws. Much of this game was pretty close with the Patriots, with LU not holding any significant advantages over George Mason aside from points in the paint, where LU held a 38-20 advantage, which is becoming the norm for Liberty. They were able to pull in 35 boards, with 8 second-chance rebounds, but they also had 15 turnovers. LU forced 11 turnovers on the other end while holding George Mason to only 40.6% from the field, yet they allowed the Patriots to shoot 12-29 from three during the game.
The top performances for the Flames were, of course, Avery Mills, as mentioned before, who finished with 24 points and 4 threes. Emmy Stout also came up big in the paint and on defense, netting 22 points in the game. The two young leaders LU has this season have shown why they are a vocal point for this team and how the Flames play when their two leaders show up.
Clutch performances were a big positive with Avery Mills coming through in the clutch, boosting the Flames to a win. Another net positive was Liberty’s balanced offense; the Flames shot efficiently and received contributions from several players, not just Mills. And the biggest positive was the points in the pain, which were discussed before and need to be reaffirmed as something Liberty seems to be building on each week, and looks to make this their identity to scare opponents inside. A negative that was present but not significant was Liberty’s turnovers; they had 15, which led to some takeaway points. This does seem to be a big issue, though it is a decrease from previous games, and it is a good trend as Liberty is actively trying to cut down on the high number of turnovers. Another small note is the free-throw percentage: while the Flames shot well from the stripe, a better night from the stripe could have prevented the need for clutch baskets at the end.
Liberty is set to host the Richmond Spiders for their next game on Saturday, the 13th, marking their return to Liberty Arena. The Spiders come into the matchup looking like contenders, with a 7-3 overall record and an undefeated 1 -0 in conference play so far. Richmond has high-volume scorers like Maggie Doogan and a lot of experience, so this seems to be a tough test for the Flames. For Liberty, after their close win over George Mason, they’ll likely want to build momentum and tighten up execution to hold onto this win streak. This is another out-of-conference game, so Liberty will look to capitalize and keep winning in December.
