BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.- Olivia Parker scored a game-high 16 points and hauled down 10 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season, but Liberty used a staunch defense effort limiting the Gardner-Webb women's basketball team to 23.7% shooting in a 61-48 victory on Thursday morning in Paul Porter Arena.
The Runnin' Bulldogs put together an impressive defensive performance forcing 21 turnovers by Liberty, but the Flames did a great job recovering after the mistakes, limiting GWU to just 12 points off turnovers.
Katelyn Adams scored 12 points and hauled down a game-high 12 rebounds for the Flames, as Liberty used its size to its advantage, outrebounding the Runnin' Bulldogs 53-34 and did a great job of driving to the basket outscoring GWU 36-10 in the paint.
Despite facing a very tall and physical front line displayed by LU, Gardner-Webb managed to haul down 17 offensive boards and outscored Liberty 16-8 on second chance points.
Liberty jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead as Simone Brown scored a layup and hit a three-pointer, before Alexus Hill got the Runnin' Bulldogs on the board, hitting a three-pointer to make the score 9-3 with 17:29 left in the first half.
Ellis connected on a jumper to extend the Flames lead to 13 (21-8), its largest of the first half with just over 10 minutes remaining.
The Runnin' Bulldogs clamped down on defense for the rest of the half, limiting the Flames to just two field goals, and GWU connected on three shots from distance to take a 26-25 lead into the halftime break.
Hill scored the first points of the second half on a layup to extend the GWU lead to three (28-25), but Emily Frazier came right back and connected on a three-pointer to tie the game at 28 with 18:34 left in regulation.
Liberty would take the lead for good (30-28) on a layup from Ellis, and the Flames would extend their lead to as much as 15 points (56-41) with 4:07 left in the second half.
Jasmine Gardner would score the last points of the game on a layup with just under a minute remaining and Liberty would go on for the 61-48 victory.
Gardner-Webb has a quick turnaround for its next game when it hosts Longwood on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. in Paul Porter Arena.
