WBB Game Day: North Carolina A&T

Game Day Coverage

Liberty Storylines

Liberty (4-3) will welcome CAA preseason favorite North Carolina A&T (2-4) to Liberty Arena for the first time, Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Flames are 7-6 all-time against the Aggies. However, North Carolina A&T has won three consecutive meetings with Liberty, including a 56-47 decision in Greensboro last season.
Liberty, which is 1-0 vs. CAA opponents this season, is seeking its first back-to-back wins of the 2024-25 campaign.
Coming off their highest-scoring game in 13 years (106 points), the Lady Flames will face a North Carolina A&T defense yielding just 55.2 ppg.
Liberty's leading scorer (13.1 ppg) and rebounder (7.0 rpg), Bella Smuda posted 19 points and nine rebounds last Saturday vs. Christopher Newport. She was one of two Lady Flames to score in double figures vs. the Aggies last season, tallying 11 points and six boards.
Emma Hess, who notched a team-high 14 points against North Carolina A&T a year ago, ranks No. 2 in program history with 181 career three-pointers. She and fellow starting wing Asia Boone have combined to knock down 30 triples this season.

Notes and Anecdotes

Saturday will mark North Carolina A&T's first visit to Liberty Arena and the 14th all-time matchup between the Lady Flames and Aggies. North Carolina A&T is the most frequently played opponent on Liberty's 2024-25 schedule.
Eight of the teams' 13 previous meetings have been decided by single digits, including the last four in a row. North Carolina A&T has won three straight matchups with Liberty, which is seeking its first victory over the Aggies since Jan. 5, 2010.
North Carolina A&T (CAA) is Liberty's third straight opponent which was picked to win its conference this season, following Grand Canyon (WAC) and Christopher Newport (C2C).
Both teams should be well rested on Saturday, as Liberty is playing its first game in a week and the Aggies are taking the court for the first time since Nov. 25 vs. N.C. Central.
Carey Green's first of 569 victories at Liberty came against North Carolina A&T, 25 years ago. The Lady Flames topped the Aggies 85-46 at the Vines Center on Nov. 23, 1999. Green is 4-3 coaching against North Carolina A&T.
Liberty is seeking its first back-to-back wins of the season. The Lady Flames have alternated wins and losses in their last nine games, dating back to last year's CUSA semifinal.

Liberty vs. CAA

Liberty is 22-42 all-time vs. Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) opponents (at the time of meeting), including 18-20 under Carey Green.
The Lady Flames are 1-0 versus CAA foes this season, recording a 64-57 victory at Towson on Nov. 24.
The Lady Flames are 2-1 against CAA opponents at Liberty Arena all-time, with two of the three contests going to overtime.
This is the 26th time in the last 27 seasons Liberty has faced at least one CAA opponent. The lone exception was the 2020-21 campaign, when a scheduled visit to William & Mary was cancelled at the last minute due to COVID.
Current CAA member Delaware will be joining Liberty in Conference USA starting with the 2025-26 season.

Rewriting the Record Books

Liberty lit up the scoreboard last time out, racing past Christopher Newport 106-58, Nov. 30 at Liberty Arena.
The Lady Flames shattered the Liberty Arena women's basketball scoring record of 91 points, set against Kennesaw State on March 5, 2023. Liberty just missed the overall Liberty Arena record of 108 points achieved by the Flames' men's squad vs. Alcorn State on Dec. 22, 2020.
Liberty reached the century mark for the first time since Dec. 16, 2017 (105-43 win over Shippensburg) and tallied its most points in a contest since Dec. 10, 2011 (116-65 win over Glenville State).
The Lady Flames' 32 second-quarter points just missed the program record for points in a single quarter (33 during the third quarter vs. North Alabama on Jan. 16, 2021).
Six Lady Flames (Bella Smuda, Emily Howard, Elisabeth Aegisdottir, Avery Mills, Brooke Moore and Asia Boone) scored in double figures during the same game for the first time since Feb. 27, 2010 at UNC Asheville.
Liberty's 31 assists were the team's most since Nov. 30, 2007 (33 vs. Virginia Union), and the Lady Flames' 10 blocked shots were their most since Jan. 21, 2017 (10 at UNC Asheville).

Schedule