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BUIES CREEK, N.C. --- Amanda Coffer tallied her sixth double-double of the year with a season-high 21 points and 11 rebounds, but Liberty held off a late comeback and knocked off Campbell 62-52 in the Lady Camels' Big South Conference home opener at Gore Arena on Tuesday night.
MaKala Rouse added nine points and six boards off the bench, while Jessica Pone finished with eight points with a pair of three pointers. RaeChaun Edwards dished out seven assists with seven steals while scoring four points. CU (6-5, 1-1 BSC) forced 22 Liberty turnovers and committed just 12.
Liberty (5-7, 2-1) held a 13-point advantage at 52-39 entering the fourth period. After neither side scored in the first three minutes of the final stanza, CU cut the deficit to 11 on a pair of free throws by Rouse. The teams traded the next few points as a Rouse jumper put the score at 56-45 with 2:23 to play.
A pair of free throws by Summer Price got the Lady Camels within single digits of the lead for the first time since the first period. A steal by Edwards and a Price layup in the next possession cut the Lady Flames' lead to seven (56-49) with 1:36 on the clock.
Mickayla Sanders answered with a bucket on the other end for Liberty and Catherine Kearney hit two free throws to push the lead back to ten at 60-50 with 50 seconds to play. Krystal Mangum hit a jumper for CU's final points but Liberty took home the 10-point victory.
Kearney led all scorers with 22 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Sadalia Ellis added 16 points and fell just short of a double-double with nine boards. Sanders finished with nine points.
It was a quick start for both sides as the lead changed hands twice and was tied twice in the opening five minutes of action. A layup by Coffer followed by a jumper gave CU a 9-7 lead, however Liberty answered with a 14-0 run to take a 21-9 advantage with 1:37 to play in the opening stanza.
Pone broke up a six minute scoring drought for the Camels on a layup with just under a minute to play in the first as the Lady Flames took a 23-13 lead to the second.
After four quick points for LU in the second period, Campbell answered with a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to five at 27-22 with 5:15 on the clock. Following a Coffer layup with five minutes to go until halftime, CU was held scoreless for the remainder of the period. Liberty scored seven points during that stretch to take a 36-24 lead at halftime.
The Lady Flames kept up the momentum into the second half and used a 9-0 run to take their largest lead of the night at 52-30 with 4:44 remaining in the third period. However, those would be LU's final points of the stanza as the Lady Camels ended the period with a 9-0 spurt of their own to cut the lead to 52-39 entering the fourth.
The Lady Camels will be back in action on Saturday when they open the 2016 portion of their schedule against Gardner-Webb. Tipoff from Gore Arena is set for 1 p.m.
