Janayla White is now on the list of 1,000-points in Radford University women’s basketball history.
A career performance by Janayla White led Radford to a 52-45 victory over Liberty Tuesday night as the two Big South heavyweights met in a contest that had major tournament seeding implications on the line.
On a night in which she became the 23rd player in program history to cross the 1,000-point plateau, White finished with a career-high 20 points and pulled down a season-high 17 rebounds to collect her eighth double-double on the season, including her third in the last four games.
Coach Mike McGuire thought this was a highly competitive and intense game from two in-state rivals.
“I really believe our kids played exceptionally hard tonight and I thought Liberty’s kids played hard as well. I’m really proud of our kids, who locked in on the game plan and for the most part executed the keys to the game really well. Janayla led us tonight. She was incredible, and it was one of the best games I’ve seen her play in this building. It was a great overall win for our program,” he said.
Radford’s defense gave the Flames fits all night long as they were held scoreless for a span of 4:50 in the first quarter, 5:02 in the second quarter and a span of 8:29 between the third/fourth quarters.
The Highlanders proved to be one of the best conditioned teams in the Big South, playing only seven players as they all recorded points in the box score. Despite being held scoreless in the second half, Lydia Rivers helped the Highlanders get off to a fast start, finishing with 11 points and eight rebounds.
After getting punched by Liberty early in the first 2018 meeting, Radford returned the favor in the second matchup featuring the top two teams in the conference. The Highlanders ended the opening half on a 9-3 swing, commanding a 17-13 edge as Radford shot 8 for 12 from the field.
KK Barbour closed out the first quarter with a buzzer beater 3-pointer as Radford’s smothering defense forced an awkward attempt. Only leading once in the quarter, Liberty used the 3-pointer momentum, going on an 8-0 swing for a 18-17 lead 30 seconds into the second quarter.
That one-point lead would be the last time Liberty would lead as Radford answered with a 14-5 swing to end the first half as Khiana Johnson’s only field goal of the game banked off the glass to beat to the buzzer with a floater.
Radford shot 48 percent in the half to lead 31-23, only committing two fouls, as Liberty was held without a free throw attempt in the first 20 minutes.
Of the 14-5 swing, White and Rivers teamed up for nine points as the duo finished with 11 points each in the opening half of play.
Due to foul trouble in the first half, Liberty’s leading scorer Keyen Green only played six minutes, tallying four points. Green only played 17 minutes as she picked up two fouls in the first 40 seconds of the third quarter but played the whole fourth quarter to lead Liberty with 12 points.
Both teams struggled out of the locker room, combining to go 6 for 29 from the field with the difference coming at the free throw line in the third quarter. Radford outscored Liberty 12-7 in the quarter as the Highlanders went 6 for 8 from the charity stripe due to a five of six effort by White as she totaled seven points in frame.
Radford’s smothering defense held Liberty scoreless for the final 5:59 of the third quarter and the Flames did not score until the 7:30 mark in the fourth on a three-point play by Green, which turned out to be the first basket by either team in the quarter.
The Flames’ defense returned the favor, stalling Radford’s offense for a 5:29 span between the third and fourth quarters. Radford only scored nine points in the fourth quarter with five coming from Claudia Quevedo.
Quevedo knocked down Radford’s first 3-pointer on the night at the 4:08 mark to hand the Highlanders a 48-35 lead. The Highlanders were 0 for 4 from beyond the arc, before the basket pushed the advantage to 13 points.
Liberty outscored Radford 10-4 in the final four minutes, as Radford’s offense was only 6 for 27 in the second half, however Radford’s defense was enough in the 52-45 victory to inch the Highlanders within one game of first-place in the Big South.
Radford is 26-4 in the last 56 games when holding opposing teams to less than 60 points, including a 14-1 mark on the season. After giving up 61 points in the first meeting, Radford held Liberty to 45 points, its second straight under 50 points.
Radford has held nine teams under 50 points on the season, improving to 8-1. The Highlander defense held Liberty to a 38.0 field goal percentage, holding opponents under 40-percent shooting in nine out of the last 10 games.
Shooting 34.6 percent from the field, Radford’s has only shot under 40 percent three times in the last 10 games.
With the win, Radford improves to 16-16 all-time against Liberty inside the Demon Center. Radford has now defeated Liberty in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1994-95 and 1995-96.
Janayla White’s second straight double-double gives her 31 in her career. The first 20-point game of her career bests her previous career high of 19 points at Winthrop on Feb. 23, 2016.
She was 5 for 9 from the field, making 10 of 14 free throws for her second straight double-digit free throw game. Four different Highlanders have scored 20-plus points on the season.
White flirted with her third career 20-rebound game, finishing with 17, the most by a Highlander on the season. The 17 rebounds move White into third all-time in program history with 922. She is 78 away from becoming the third in program history with 1,000 career rebounds. White now ranks 10th in Big South history in career rebounding.
Lydia Rivers tallied her eighth double-figure performance on the season. Playing all 40 minutes, Jen Falconer forced four steals, while having her streak of four straight five-assist games snapped. She finished with one assist.
Outrebounding Liberty 52-45, Radford turned 18 offensive boards into 14 points. Radford used 19 Liberty turnovers to its advantage, turning them into 19 points.
–RU Athletics
