Liberty Head Coach Carey Green celebrates 450th win

It is not often that the significance of a coach’s 450th win is eclipsed by his players. Tuesday, Feb. 12, the Lady Flames achieved just that in their 74-60 victory over the Lipscomb Bisons.

Liberty Head Coach Carey Green celebrated his 450th , but the milestone was outshone by redshirt sophomores Emily Lytle and Ria Gulley. 

Green said the record was not something he had been counting on, but a blessing nonetheless.

 “I guess at this age, you should count every milestone you can,” Green said. “I am certainly blessed and I wasn’t aware of (the wins) until yesterday. … Any milestone or anything of any significance in life is usually a combination of several people investing, and that’s certainly my family, my wife, and some great assistants and obviously some great ball players throughout the 19 to 20 years here.”

Overall, Green appeared more proud of the performance from his players, rather than his number of wins.

Lytle shone brightest in the first half when she scored 19 points over nine minutes of play. Her 16-point first quarter performance was a new school record, surpassing her original 14-point fourth quarter performance at Chattanooga in late November.

Lytle established her dominance early in the game, scoring 13 points in the first three minutes of play off of three 3-pointers and two jump shots. Then, after three Lipscomb free throws and a layup from Liberty sophomore forward Bridgette Rettstatt, Lytle racked up yet another 3-pointer to pull the Lady Flames ahead to a commanding 18-3 lead.

The early charge ahead was just what the Lady Flames needed to fuel them, especially with senior captain KK Barbour out on a one-game suspension for violating team rules.

“It was hard to not have (Barbour) out there, but we’re excited to have her back next game,” Rettstatt said.

Liberty’s early lead also nearly became its hubris. The Lady Flames stopped pushing as hard, comfortable in their still-young lead. 

“I think the lead definitely kind of lulls you to sleep a little bit,” Rettstatt said. “You’re like, okay, this is 20 points, this is comfortable, they can’t come back. But obviously we let up a little bit and they came back, but nothing too major. Nothing we couldn’t handle.”

The Lady Flames lead gradually slipped away throughout the second and third quarters as their momentum stagnated and Lipscomb gained traction. 

Lipscomb soon caught on and stifled Lytle’s shooting game for the rest of the game. She managed to earn eight more points for a total of 24, but each shot was heavily contested by the Bisons. 

Once Lytle was locked out, Gulley broke through. But one player’s breakthrough was not enough for the Lady Flames to maintain their large lead, even as Gulley scored a career-high 17 points in the second half.

Almost as suddenly as the Lady Flames claimed the lead, Lipscomb crept up right behind them. What was formerly a roomy 17-point lead cinched into an eight-point lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

“They shoot the ball very well,” Green said. “It was with quality players they got that lead back, and we were rushing our offense. It was bad poison for us, what we were doing on the defense and what we were doing to our offense opened the door.”

Gulley kept up the pace, despite the ever-increasing pressure from the Bisons, and Rettstatt and Lytle followed close behind her. The three of them were Liberty’s only scorers for the fourth quarter, Gulley leading the way with seven points.

As the clock ticked down below two minutes, the Bisons sealed the Lady Flames victory. Lipscomb racked up three fouls in a row in an attempt at stopping Liberty, sending Rettstatt to the line for four points and Gulley to the line for two.

The victory was Liberty’s sixth conference win, pushing ahead to a 6-5 conference record and a 10-14 record overall. For Lipscomb, the game was not quite so bright. The Bisons have lost 20 of their last 21 games, with victory over Jacksonville University days prior to playing the Lady Flames.

Despite a rough start to their season, the Lady Flames are slowly scraping together a better record and better conference play. Their higher level of play is all down to player interaction, Lytle said.

“I think our chemistry has improved a lot,” Lytle said. “We’ve been having a lot more assists and less turnovers, and I think that comes from having chemistry on the team.”

The Lady Flames earned a close 61-57 victory Saturday, Feb. 16 when they traveled to North Alabama. The game featured a career-high 25 points from Rettstatt and took Liberty to a 7-5 record in conference play.

Liberty will next travel to take on North Florida Saturday, Feb. 23. The Lady Flames will not return to the Vines Center until Tuesday, Feb. 26 when they host Kennesaw State at 5 p.m.