Liberty pulls past LaBrae for TAC win

The Leopards used a big
second quarter to head the 45-35 win over LaBrae.

By DOUG CHAPIN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

LIBERTY — An 18-9 advantage in the second quarter was the key as Liberty High got 2008 off to a good start Thursday night with a 45-35 Trumbull Athletic Conference girls basketball victory over LaBrae.

Denika Mosley scored six of her eight points in the second quarter and Surety Golden recorded all three of her assists during the period to spark the Leopards (7-4, 3-2 TAC).

Brittany Armour scored six of her game-high 18 points in period two and Melissa Dykes added four points and three assists.

Liberty trailed 11-10 after one quarter and led 28-20 at the half. LaBrae (5-5, 2-2), which made just six of 23 field goal attempts in the second half, never got closer than five points the rest of the game.

The Leopards’ largest lead was 15 with about two minutes remaining.

“After the holidays, we came out sort of lethargic. We’re kind of glad they wanted to play the same tempo as we did,” Liberty coach John Hritz said. “We want to up-tempo the game, but we had too many fouls tonight. We put them at the line quite a bit. Fortunately, our foul shooting was pretty good tonight.”

The Leopards shot seven-for-nine at the line compared to eight-for-18 for the Vikings.

Armour scored her 16 points on eight-of-12 shooting. Dykes had seven points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Ashley Venable came off the bench to contribute six points and five rebounds and Chi-Chi Merriweather added five rebounds.

Liberty is a deep, experienced team with five seniors and three juniors among the eight in the regular rotation.

“We like to try to play a lot of kids,” Hritz said. “As the season progresses you want to have a bench to cover you in case of injuries, illnesses, foul trouble. You want to have a bench you can rely on. Our bench did a real good job tonight. Mosley, Venable and Golden all did a good job off the bench.

“I think the kids are beginning to recognize what they have to do to be successful. I like the way our kids are playing.”

Angelica Pugh scored 12 points and recorded four assists and three steals for the Vikings.

Anna Bumgardner and Courtney Aldridge scored seven points each, and grabbed nine and eight rebounds, respectively. Bayle Boggs added four assists and five rebounds and Sharea Elkins grabbed five missed shots.