Liberty Flames

From Hoopedia

Liberty University is a Christian liberal arts university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It was founded as Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971 by Jerry Falwell, who was also the Senior Pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church. The school was previously known as Lynchburg Baptist College and Liberty Baptist College before settling on its current name in 1985.

The University is a member of the NCAA Division I level Big South Conference for 18 sports. The other eight members include Virginia Military Institute and Winthrop University. The University regularly competes for the Sasser Cup which is the Big South's trophy for the university which has the best sports program among the member institutions. Liberty has won the Sasser Cup five times, second only to Coastal Carolina University, which has won it seven times. In addition, Liberty University students won the inaugural Big South Conference Quiz Bowl competition in 2006, and recently repeated the feat in 2007 to retain the title for the second consecutive year.

The University gained some media attention in the winter of 2005 when their women's basketball team, the Lady Flamers, made the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and were labeled a "Cinderella" team, led by Katie Feenstra. After defeating fourth-seeded Penn State and fifth-seeded DePaul, the Flames' winning streak was halted by top-seeded LSU. Feenstra was later drafted by the San Antonio Silver Stars of the Women's National Basketball Association, a professional league. Volleyball and both Men and Women's Basketball are played inside the 10,000 seat Vines Center, which also hosts special events and concerts, such as WinterFest.