Liberty pulls out win for Big South women’s title

Liberty pulls out title win Hammond-led Flames capture NCAA tourney bid

HIGH POINT, N.C. - Rachel Hammond scored 13 points, and Liberty needed a late defensive stop to extend its dominance of the Big South Conference, beating scrappy Gardner-Webb 51-50 in the title game yesterday to claim its 12th NCAA tournament berth in the past 13 years.

Big South player of the year and tournament MVP Megan Frazee added 12 points, and sister Moriah Frazee finished with 10 for the top-seeded Flames (24-8). They held a 51-25 rebounding advantage and won the league for the 12th time in 13 years.

"I knew that I didn't want it to be my last game," said Hammond, one of five seniors on the Liberty roster. "That's all I was thinking about."

Courtney Epps scored 21 points for the Runnin' Bulldogs (17-15), and her contested layup with 53 seconds remaining made it a one-point game. Liberty turned it over with 24 seconds left on Hammond's airball as the shot clock expired, and Gardner-Webb brought it upcourt and called timeout with 12 seconds remaining.

Dominique Hudson dribbled out much of the clock before making her move down the lane with 5 seconds left. But her drive over three Liberty defenders hit the rim and bounced out at the horn.

"I knew that, obviously, Hudson was going to take it, and she waited for such a long time that it was really going to be [only] one shot up," Hammond said.