WBB Game Day: No. 11 Duke

Game Day Coverage

Liberty Storylines

Liberty (1-0) will tip off its 2024-25 home schedule on Thursday, welcoming No. 11 Duke (1-0) to Lynchburg for the second time in program history.
The Lady Flames will seek their first-ever win over Duke (in seven tries) and look to snap a 41-game losing streak to Top 25 foes. The No. 11 Blue Devils are the highest-ranked team ever to play at Liberty Arena.
Picked to finish second in CUSA, Liberty tipped off its season with a 77-58 victory over Valparaiso on Monday at the Total Athlete Tip-Off in Xenia, Ohio. The Lady Flames shot 13-of-20 (65 percent) from beyond the arc in the contest.
Playing next door to her high school on Monday, Emma Hess was named Player of the Game. She led all players with 20 points, knocking down 6-of-7 three-point tries. In the process, Hess moved into second place in program history with 174 career triples.
Center Bella Smuda added a dozen points and six rebounds, scoring in double figures for the 16th straight game dating back to last season.
Point guard Jordan Hodges added to the strong showing by Liberty's seniors, contributing 18 points and a game-high eight assists versus Valparaiso.

Notes and Anecdotes

Ranked No. 11 in both national polls, Duke will be just the second Top 25 team ever to play at Liberty Arena (also No. 23 FGCU on Feb. 24, 2022).
This is the fifth time Duke has been nationally ranked during Liberty's five all-time meetings with the Blue Devils.
Duke's only previous visit to Lynchburg came in the 2016-17 season opener. The Blue Devils dominated a youthful Lady Flames team that started three true freshmen, 98-38.
Liberty will look to start out 2-0 for the second straight season and the third time in the last four years, while Duke seeks its fifth consecutive 2-0 beginning.
Both teams feature freshman post players who have spent time playing on Canada junior national teams, including Liberty's Ify Nwaobi and Duke's Toby Fournier.
Duke (Sweet 16) will be the first of three straight 2024 NCAA Tournament qualifiers Liberty will face over the next 10 days, also including Cal Baptist (Round of 64) and Tennessee (Round of 32).
Liberty's 77-58 win over Valparaiso on Monday was part of a successful 7-1 opening day of the season for CUSA squads. The lone setback (Jax State lost 74-66 at Arizona State) marked CUSA's only Power Conference matchup to date.

Lady Flames in Home Openers

Liberty is 29-20 all-time in home openers, including 16-9 under Carey Green.
The Lady Flames are 3-1 in home openers at Liberty Arena, part of an impressive 52-8 record at the facility, which opened on Dec. 1, 2020.
Liberty is 0-1 when facing Duke in its home opener, falling 98-38 to the Blue Devils on Nov. 11, 2016 at the Vines Center.
This is the first year since 2020-21 that the Lady Flames opened the season away from Lynchburg. That year, Liberty also tipped things off in the Buckeye State (at Ohio).

Liberty vs. Top 25

Liberty has lost 41 consecutive matchups with Top 25 opponents since an 88-79 victory over No. 17/16 DePaul on March 22, 2005 sent the Lady Flames into the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. That also marked the highest-ranked team Liberty has defeated in program history.
Liberty has defeated four Top 25 foes all-time, with three of those victories coming during the 2004-05 season, the senior year of current assistant Katie (Feenstra) Mattera.
The Lady Flames own one Top 25 win over an ACC opponent. Liberty's first-ever Top 25 victory was a 77-69 home triumph over No. 23 Virginia in overtime on Nov. 26, 2002.

Liberty vs. ACC

Liberty is 5-33 all-time versus ACC opponents, with two of its victories coming against Virginia, two more versus Virginia Tech and one against Wake Forest. All five wins have come under Head Coach Carey Green, and all five victories have taken place in Virginia (three at Liberty, one at Virginia and one at Virginia Tech).
The Lady Flames went 0-2 versus ACC foes last season, losing competitive matchups with No. 15 Louisville (72-63) and No. 3 NC State (80-67).
This is the 11th time in the last 12 seasons Liberty has faced at least one ACC opponent.
The Lady Flames are 1-0 versus ACC opponents at Liberty Arena, defeating Virginia Tech 59-40 on Dec. 7, 2021.

Bombs Away!

Liberty enjoyed a record-breaking year behind the arc in 2023-24. The Lady Flames' 230 three-pointers eclipsed the program single-season record of 224 from 2022-23.
Emma Hess hit 76 triples to shatter the Lady Flames' single-season mark of 64, while freshman Asia Boone knocked down 63 of her own. In total, the Lady Flames' returnees combined to make 200 three-pointers last season.
Liberty's 13 triples during the opener vs. Valparaiso were one shy of the program single-game record.

Schedule