Women's Basketball Opens Big South Play Wednesday Against Liberty
December 01, 2015 | Women's Basketball
GWU Game Notes | Liberty Game Notes | Gameday Central
The Game
Gardner-Webb welcomes defending regular-season and Big South Tournament champion Liberty to Paul Porter Arena for its conference opener at 7:00 p.m. Fans can view Wednesday's matchup on the Big South Network. Jared Pankhurst will be calling all the play-by-play action for Wednesday's game.
Last Time Out
The Runnin' Bulldogs dropped their first contest of the 2015-16 season, an 84-77 decision to Pacific. GeAnna Luaulu-Summers led the Tigers with a double-double scoring 37 points and hauling down 10 rebounds. Summers entered Saturday's game 15-23 (65.2%) from the foul line, but went 19-22 from the charity stripe to help propel the Tigers to victory. Olivia Parker led GWU with a career-high 28 points and secured her third straight double-double hauling down 14 rebounds. Gardner-Webb hauled down 20 offensive rebounds and turned the offensive boards into 17 second chance points, but Pacific utilized its outside shooting hitting 8-19 attempts (42.1%), including 4-7 from deep in the first period.
Series Notes
This is the 16th meeting between the Liberty Flames and the Runnin' Bulldogs since Gardner-Webb moved up to the Division I ranks in the 2000-01 season. The Flames lead the series with a 12-3 record. Liberty swept the season-series during the 2014-15 campaign and owns a 6-1 record in Paul Porter Arena. The last time Gardner-Webb defeated Liberty was a 67-66 victory in the Big South Tournament Champion, March 13, 2011.
Early Season Madness
To open the 2015-16 season, Gardner-Webb upset the No. 20 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels for the program's first victory over a ranked team as well as the first win over an ACC school. Trailing by two with 7.2 seconds left, Candace Brown scored a layup with just over a second left to lift the Runnin' Bulldogs to a 66-65 victory in famed Carmichael Arena.
Rebounding Prowess
A staple of Rick Reeves' team have been rebounding and since it joined the Big South in 2007-08, Gardner-Webb has ranked in the top four in the league in rebounding except the 2011-12 season.
Jump Shots
2 Olivia Parker is off to a fantastic start to her season senior, recording four double-doubles in the team's six games and ranks tied for 7th nationally in that statistic
2 Parker also ranks seventh in the country with 26 offensive rebounds, averaging over five offensive boards per contest
2 With a victory against Liberty, it will mark the first time that Gardner-Webb won its conference-opener since it defeated Charleston Southern (67-51) in the 2010-11 season
