WBB Game Day: Middle Tennessee

Game Day Coverage

Liberty Storylines

Liberty (8-4, 1-0 CUSA) will wrap up its opening week of CUSA play at Middle Tennessee (9-5, 1-0 CUSA) on Saturday for a nationally-televised rematch of the 2024 CUSA title tilt.
Thursday's 77-66 win at WKU makes Liberty 13-3 in its last 16 meetings with CUSA opponents. All three losses were to Middle Tennessee, the only current CUSA foe Liberty has never defeated.
Liberty will look to snap some lengthy streaks on Saturday, as the Lady Raiders have recorded 15 straight home wins, 29 consecutive home victories over CUSA opponents and 30 straight triumphs over CUSA teams overall.
Bella Smuda averaged 18.7 ppg and 12.0 rpg vs. Middle Tennessee last season, punctuated by a 21-point, 15-rebound effort in the title game. She needs six rebounds to join Liberty's all-time top 10 list.
Emma Hess scored 15 of her team-high 16 points after halftime at WKU on Thursday, bringing her within 41 of 1,000 for her career.
Liberty knocked down 12 triples at a 52.2 percent clip on Thursday, led by Jordan Hodges (career-high four three-pointers).

Notes and Anecdotes

Liberty and Middle Tennessee will square off in a rematch of the 2024 CUSA Championship title game, one of two meetings between 1-0 CUSA squads on Saturday (also New Mexico State at Louisiana Tech).
The Lady Flames handed Western Kentucky its first home loss of the season on Thursday. Middle Tennessee (5-0) is the only remaining CUSA squad which has yet to lose at home in 2024-25. The Lady Raiders are riding a 15-game home winning streak and are 47-2 at the Murphy Center over the last three seasons.
If Liberty is to record its first-ever win over the Lady Raiders, it will have to snap a pair of lengthy streaks. Middle Tennessee has won 29 straight home games vs. CUSA opponents and 30 consecutive meetings with CUSA foes overall, matching the league record set by Rice (2018-20).
The Lady Flames are averaging 75.8 ppg this season, superior to their NCAA Division I single-season record of 73.8 ppg set in 1997-98. Liberty will look to solve a Middle Tennessee defense which held the Lady Flames to 55 points or fewer in all three matchups a year ago and ranks No. 21 nationally for FG percentage defense (35.3) this season.
MTSU 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.

CUSA Checkup

Liberty tipped off its second season of CUSA play with a 77-66 win at Western Kentucky on Thursday. The Lady Flames reached the conference championship game during their inaugural year of CUSA membership (2023-24).
The Lady Flames went 13-6 (11-5 regular season, 2-1 tournament) against CUSA foes in 2023-24 and are now 20-12 all-time against members of the conference (at the time of meeting). Liberty is 13-3 in its last 16 matchups with CUSA foes, with all three setbacks coming at the hands of Middle Tennessee.
Liberty was picked second behind defending champion Middle Tennessee in this year's CUSA preseason poll. The Lady Raiders are the only current CUSA member Liberty has never defeated (0-3 record).
The Lady Flames opened conference play on the road for the ninth time in 11 seasons, dating back to their tenure in the Big South Conference. They are looking to start off 2-0 in conference play with both wins coming on the road for the first time since the 2012-13 season (Big South Conference victories at Radford and Winthrop).
Kennesaw State joins CUSA this season. The Lady Flames have faced the Owls more often than any other conference member, going 11-0 during the time the teams overlapped in the ASUN Conference (2018-19 through 2022-23).

Schedule