CLARKSBURG -- The statistics for early-season basketball contests are often misleading.
But make no mistake -- the 52 fouls whistled in Tuesday's Philip Barbour-Liberty matchup were a fairly accurate story of the game as a whole.
The Colts, all 10 of whom scored in the outing, handled the Mountaineers down the stretch and all five Liberty starters fouled out in the highly physical season-opener for both squads, a 62-51 Philip Barbour victory.
"I hope we won't make some of these mistakes later, but I was pleased with the opener," said Colts' coach Tammy Martin. "It was a good overall team effort and everyone did their job well enough.
"We jumped out to a nice lead and ran the break well and outrebounded them," she added.
Midway through the opening period the Colts opened up their first sizable margin of the night, grabbing a 12-4 advantage on a putback by Whitney McCauley. Liberty would trail by the same margin after the quarter, 18-10.
However, it was in the second period that the Colts would speed up the pace and set the tone. After Liberty trimmed the lead to just five with 5:15 to go in the half, Philip Barbour's resistance stiffened and the visitors closed out the quarter on a 13-0 run for a 34-16 lead at intermission.
Tight pressure from Liberty guards Kelly Yednak, Katy Orndorff and Jessica Lamont, though, would keep the Colts from ever pulling away safely and the Mountaineers were within single digits -- but never striking distance -- a couple of times down the stretch.
Tiffany Thompson led the way for the Colts with 13 points, while Amber Kelley also reached double digits with 11. Four others also contributed strongly for Philip Barbour. Gina Ware had eight points, Ashley Guire seven and Jessica Bolyard and Whitney McCauley totaled six apiece.
Liberty's Yednak led all scorers with 15 points, while Orndorff chipped in with 12 points.
