Friday, March 15
Huntsville, Ala.
9:00 PM ET/8:00 PM CT
Liberty University
18-15,11-5CUSA
82
vs
70
New Mexico State
13-18,6-10CUSA
1
2
3
4
F
New Mexico St.
12
18
14
26
70
Liberty
23
20
16
23
82
Asia Boone
Liberty Advances to CUSA Final with 82-70 Triumph Over New Mexico State
3/16/2024 12:24:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Hot-shooting No. 2 seed Liberty led No. 6 seed New Mexico State from start to finish during Friday evening's CUSA semifinal tilt at Propst Arena. The Lady Flames' 82-70 victory punches their ticket to Saturday's championship game in their first year as a league member.
Led by CUSA Freshman of the Year Asia Boone (20 points), Liberty improves to 18-15 and reaches its conference tournament's championship game for the 24th time in the last 28 seasons. The Lady Flames shot 50.8 percent (30-of-59) from the field and 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from beyond the arc. In the process, Liberty set a program single-season record for three-pointers made with 225.
Liberty will now face No. 1 seed and defending CUSA champion Middle Tennessee (28-4) in the title game Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern, live on CBS Sports Network. The Lady Flames are the first CUSA newcomer to reach the championship game in its inaugural season since WKU in 2015.
New Mexico State drops to 13-18 with its third loss to fellow CUSA newcomer Liberty this season. The Aggies put five players into double digits in the scoring column but could never catch up after the Lady Flames built a 15-point lead in the opening quarter.
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Boone – 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3-4 3FG; Emma Hess – 18 points, 2-3 3FG, 6-6 FT; Jordan Hodges – 14 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists; Bella Smuda – 12 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks.
New Mexico State Individuals: Molly Kaiser – 16 points, 4 assists, 9-12 FT; Fanta Gassama – 13 points, 7 rebounds; Femme Masudi – 12 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks; Imani Warren – 11 points; Jaila Harding – 10 points.
Key Team Stats: In addition to its proficiency from the field, Liberty also shot well from the foul line (14-of-16 for 87.5 percent). New Mexico State finished at 38.2 percent (26-of-68) from the floor and 33.3 percent (3-of-9) from three-point range. Liberty outrebounded the Aggies, 39-37, and scored 10 more points in the paint (38-28). However, New Mexico State converted 15 offensive boards into 15 second-chance points, six more than the Lady Flames scored in that category. Liberty blocked eight shots on the night. New Mexico State dominated the bench points category, 27-11.
Turning Point
Liberty took control early on, jumping out to a 23-8 lead within the contest's first nine minutes.
The Lady Flames' starting backcourt of Boone, Hodges and Hess scored 21 of those points, each knocking down an early triple.
New Mexico State could get no closer than eight the rest of the night.
Game Summary
First Quarter
Notes and Nuggets
Led by CUSA Freshman of the Year Asia Boone (20 points), Liberty improves to 18-15 and reaches its conference tournament's championship game for the 24th time in the last 28 seasons. The Lady Flames shot 50.8 percent (30-of-59) from the field and 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from beyond the arc. In the process, Liberty set a program single-season record for three-pointers made with 225.
Liberty will now face No. 1 seed and defending CUSA champion Middle Tennessee (28-4) in the title game Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern, live on CBS Sports Network. The Lady Flames are the first CUSA newcomer to reach the championship game in its inaugural season since WKU in 2015.
New Mexico State drops to 13-18 with its third loss to fellow CUSA newcomer Liberty this season. The Aggies put five players into double digits in the scoring column but could never catch up after the Lady Flames built a 15-point lead in the opening quarter.
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Boone – 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3-4 3FG; Emma Hess – 18 points, 2-3 3FG, 6-6 FT; Jordan Hodges – 14 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists; Bella Smuda – 12 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks.
New Mexico State Individuals: Molly Kaiser – 16 points, 4 assists, 9-12 FT; Fanta Gassama – 13 points, 7 rebounds; Femme Masudi – 12 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks; Imani Warren – 11 points; Jaila Harding – 10 points.
Key Team Stats: In addition to its proficiency from the field, Liberty also shot well from the foul line (14-of-16 for 87.5 percent). New Mexico State finished at 38.2 percent (26-of-68) from the floor and 33.3 percent (3-of-9) from three-point range. Liberty outrebounded the Aggies, 39-37, and scored 10 more points in the paint (38-28). However, New Mexico State converted 15 offensive boards into 15 second-chance points, six more than the Lady Flames scored in that category. Liberty blocked eight shots on the night. New Mexico State dominated the bench points category, 27-11.
Turning Point
Liberty took control early on, jumping out to a 23-8 lead within the contest's first nine minutes.
The Lady Flames' starting backcourt of Boone, Hodges and Hess scored 21 of those points, each knocking down an early triple.
New Mexico State could get no closer than eight the rest of the night.
Game Summary
First Quarter
- Liberty raced out to a 6-0 advantage during the game's first 75 seconds, setting the tone for a successful opening period.
- The Lady Flames' lead got as large as 15 (23-8) before they took a 23-12 cushion into the first quarter break.
- The Aggies shot just 17.6 percent (3-of-17) from the field for the quarter.
- Liberty scored five quick points to begin the second quarter, pushing its advantage to 28-12 on a Boone fast break layup, 7:54 before halftime.
- The Aggies battled back within eight on two occasions, but could not keep pace with the hot-shooting Boone, who made all four of her field goal tries during a 10-point session.
- Liberty led 43-30 at the break, paced by Boone's 17 points. The Lady Flames shot 53.1 percent (17-of-32) from the field and 66.7 percent (6-of-9) from three-point range over the first 20 minutes of action.
- The Lady Flames limited New Mexico State to 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from the field during the third quarter, adding two more points to their advantage.
- Liberty emerged from the period with a 59-44 edge after getting points from six different players during the stanza.
- New Mexico State exploded for 26 fourth-quarter points, shooting 61.1 percent (11-of-18) from the field.
- However, Liberty tallied 23 points of its own. After being held in check for much of the contest, Smuda recorded eight points and five boards during the final period to slow down the Aggies' furious comeback efforts.
Notes and Nuggets
- Boone scored 17 of her 20 points before halftime, reaching the 20-point mark for the second time in her young career. She is the first Liberty freshman to score 20 in a conference tournament game since Asia Todd tallied 20 points against Kennesaw State in the 2020 ASUN quarterfinals.
- Boone became the fourth different Lady Flame to score 20 or more in a game versus New Mexico State this season, joining Smuda, Hodges and Hess.
- Hess tallied 11 of her 18 points during the second half, including Liberty's record-breaking three-pointer in the third quarter. The Lady Flames had previously made a program-record 224 three-pointers last season.
- Hodges' six assists give the junior point guard 151 for the season. That ranks No. 5 in program history and is the most by a Lady Flame since 1996-97, when Sarah Wilkerson distributed 154 assists during Liberty's first NCAA Division I conference championship season.
- Smuda scored in double figures for the 14th game in a row. Liberty has gone 12-2 during that span with both losses coming to Middle Tennessee. She also recorded her 17th double-double of the year, tying her with assistant coach Katie (Feenstra) Mattera (2004-05) for third most in program history.
- Emily Howard contributed six points and four blocked shots in 11 minutes off the bench, matching her career high for rejections.
- Carey Green is now 58-9 coaching in conference tournament games all-timeL and 154-5 overall when his team shoots 50 percent or better from the field.
- Liberty moves to 63-3 in NCAA Division I conference tournament contests when favored by seed.
Team Stats
NMSU
Lib
FG%
.382
.508
3FG%
.333
.615
FT%
.750
.875
RB
37
39
TO
8
13
STL
7
3
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
14
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's BasketballC
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