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Who? The Lady Flames of Liberty.
What? Flames tend to be my reaction when dealing with Liberty, so I can't argue with the suitability of the name. Someday I want to see their Sparky take on Arizona State's Sparky.
Where? Lynchburg, Virginia, the City of Seven Hills.
When? March 10th, in Conway, South Carolina.
Why? They won the Big South conference tournament.
How? The Lady Flames held upstart Longwood to 27.3% shooting, and behind 16 points and eight rebounds from Tolu Omotola, won 54-45.
Surprise? Predicted to finish first in the conference, they claimed the regular season title by two games over Winthrop and Presbyterian.
RPI: 60
SOS: 182
Record: 27-6 (16-2 Big South)
Good wins: At James Madison.
Bad losses: North Carolina A&T.
Who's running this show? Carey Green, since 1999; he spent a long time at Clemson as an assistant.
Extra, Extra! The News and Advance.
Redshirt senior Devon Brown, who seems to have been a Flame forever (an eternal Flame?), leads this team in scoring with 16.7 points per game. She's solid beyond the arc (36.8%) and at the line (84.3%), and she causes more turnovers than she commits. Senior center Tolu Omotola also puts up double-digits, in addition to shooting over 50% from the field. They've got a young supporting cast around them, but these two have been there before.