The Virginia women's basketball team will look to maintain its undefeated season when it faces the Liberty Flames, also unbeaten, tonight at 7 in Lynchburg.
The Cavaliers (2-0) will have to find new ways to beat the Flames (2-0), who will have the advantage in size when they take the court tonight. Liberty has two centers who are at least 6-foot-7 while Virginia's tallest player is 6-foot-7 freshman center Deidra Chatman.
"We know that Liberty is a very good team, and it will be tough to match up with their size," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. "So we're expecting it to be a very tough game, especially at Liberty."
After playing against a taller Old Dominion player Friday, sophomore center Brandi Teamer knows there are other ways to beat an opponent with an obvious size advantage.
"You have to utilize your speed against taller and bigger opponents," Teamer said. "I think toward the end of the ODU game I did a better job with that and I'll be more consistent with using my quickness against bigger players throughout the season."
Teamer's philosophy does have validity to it, as demonstrated Friday when she led all Cavalier scorers with 11 points.
Liberty consistently has improved over the last few seasons and received a berth in the NCAA tournament last season. Both Virginia and Liberty are just outside the top 25, with both teams receiving votes.
This will be the second road game for the Cavaliers, who upset the No. 22 Old Dominion Monarchs in Norfolk last Friday. Although it remains too early in the season to see the real strengths of each team, this matchup will provide a good measuring stick for both squads.
"The reason we scheduled that game at Liberty was we had been promising the fans in Lynchburg that we would come over there for a while," Ryan said. "So we feel this will be a good test for us on the road."
On Sunday, Virginia dominated visiting St. Joseph's (Pa.), holding the Hawks to only 37 points. The Cavaliers shot 42 percent from the floor (26-65) while being slightly outrebounded (39-35) by the Hawks.
Over the past two seasons, Virginia has won both its games against Liberty.
This record, however, has not changed the Cavalier's outlook toward Liberty.
"We need to go into Liberty with the mindset that we can't take them for granted," sophomore guard LaTonya Blue said. "We just need to go in there and focus on that win."
Ryan expressed similar sentiments.
"I think that if we box out and do what were supposed to do, we'll be alright," she said.
With a win tonight, the Cavaliers will improve their record to 3-0 and then return home to face Long Island University on Saturday. Both Liberty and Virginia will look to keep perfect records intact while gaining momentum to take with them into the rest of the season.
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