WBB Game Day: Middle Tennessee

Game Day Coverage

Liberty Storylines

Riding a season-best four-game winning streak, Liberty (10-13, 5-3 CUSA) will open the second half of CUSA play on Thursday with its first-ever visit to conference-leading Middle Tennessee (17-4, 7-0 CUSA).
The Lady Flames (4-game winning streak) and Lady Raiders (7-game winning streak) are CUSA's two hottest teams entering the week.
Liberty's 87-68 home win over UTEP on Saturday marked the Lady Flames' 11th straight February win, giving Carey Green a 160-24 record during the month.
Bella Smuda scored a career-high 27 points (19 after halftime) against UTEP, helping her become Liberty's first CUSA Player of the Week on Monday. She is only 26 points away from becoming Liberty's 21st 1,000-point scorer.
Asia Boone set career highs for points (19) and three-pointers (6) vs. UTEP, leading to her seventh CUSA Freshman of the Week honor.
Two days after racking up a career-high 20 points against New Mexico State, Jordan Hodges dished out a career-best and Liberty Arena-record 10 assists against UTEP, the most helpers by a Lady Flame in 11 years.

Notes and Anecdotes

Liberty opens its second half of CUSA play with its inaugural meeting against Middle Tennessee, the defending CUSA champion, preseason favorite and current leader.
The Lady Flames were a win over Vanderbilt away from playing at Middle Tennessee in the third round of the 2022 WNIT.
The Lady Raiders are the eighth 2023 NCAA Tournament qualifier Liberty has faced this season. The Lady Flames are 1-6 in those contests with the lone win coming against James Madison on Dec. 1. This is the 17th time in 24 games Liberty has played a team with a record of .500 or better.
Middle Tennessee assistant coach Kim (Reeves) Brewton played three seasons at Liberty (1997-98 through 1999-2000). Her final year was Carey Green's first season as head coach.
Thursday's game will feature the last four CUSA Players of the Week, including Middle Tennessee's Anastasiia Boldyreva (Jan. 15), Savannah Wheeler (Jan. 22) and Jalynn Gregory (Jan. 29) and Liberty's Bella Smuda (Monday).
Liberty's Jordan Hodges and Emma Hess are both averaging over 30 minutes played per game, something no Lady Flame has done for a full season since 2019-20 (Ashtyn Baker - 30.8). All five Middle Tennessee starters average 30+ minutes per game this season.

First-Time Foes

The Lady Flames are 5-3 vs. first-time opponents this season, including wins over Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin and UTEP and losses to FIU, Gonzaga and Texas.
Middle Tennessee will be the ninth and final first-time foe on Liberty's 2023-24 regular-season schedule.
Prior to this season, Liberty had only met two of the other eight Conference USA members (Jacksonville State and WKU) in program history.

All About Asia

Asia Boone won her seventh CUSA Freshman of the Week honor on Monday, becoming the Lady Flames' first seven-time Freshman of the Week since 2016-17, when Keyen Green won a program-best eight Big South Freshman of the Week honors.
No CUSA player has won the award seven times in a season since 2019-20, when Middle Tennessee's Aislynn Hayes also collected seven honors.
Boone previously swept all four CUSA Freshman of the Week nods in December (Dec. 4, Dec. 11, Dec. 18 & Dec. 26), becoming the fourth player in conference history to win the award four times in a row.

Bella Breakdown

Bella Smuda became Liberty's first-ever CUSA Player of the Week on Monday after leading the Lady Flames in points (24.5), rebounds (10.0), blocks (2.5) and steals (1.5) per game last week.
Smuda has now recorded five double-doubles and three 20-point games through Liberty's first eight CUSA contests.

Keys to the Streak

Liberty is on a season-best four-game winning streak.
During the streak, the Lady Flames have only trailed for 2:58 total and are winning by an average of 18.3 ppg (75.8-57.5). Liberty's rebound margin is +10.3, and the Lady Flames are dishing out 18.8 assists/game. The Lady Flames are shooting 49.8 percent from the field and 41.6 percent from 3.

Schedule