Thursday, January 9
Lynchburg, Va.
7:00 PM ET
Liberty University
9-5,2-1CUSA
69
vs
54
Sam Houston
7-6,0-3CUSA
1
2
3
4
F
Sam Houston
8
19
14
13
54
Liberty
14
14
23
18
69
Bella Smuda finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots on Thursday.
Big 3rd Quarter Pushes Liberty Past Sam Houston, 69-54
1/9/2025 10:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty used a big third quarter to create some separation from Sam Houston during the Lady Flames' CUSA home opener, Thursday at Liberty Arena. The Lady Flames closed out a 69-54 victory, led by the senior duo of Emma Hess (19 points, 7 rebounds) and Bella Smuda (16 points, 11 rebounds, 6 blocks).
Liberty improves to 9-5 overall and 2-1 in CUSA play with its fifth consecutive home win. The Lady Flames won the rebounding battle (42-31) and scored 52 points in the paint to offset an off night (4-of-18 for 22.2 percent) from beyond the arc.
Sam Houston drops to 7-6 overall and 0-3 in CUSA action despite forcing 20 turnovers and creating 13 lead changes in the contest. The Bearkats are now 0-9 all-time in CUSA road games and 0-3 all-time against the Lady Flames.
Box Score Highlights
Other Liberty Individuals: Elisabeth Aegisdottir – 11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks; Asia Boone – 8 points, 7 rebounds; Brooke Moore – 6 points, 4 rebounds.
Sam Houston Individuals: Deborah Ogayemi – 14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals; Nyla Inmon – 14 points, 3 steals; Sydnee Kemp – 7 points, 4 assists.
Key Team Stats: Liberty finished at 47.6 percent (30-of-63) from the field, as compared with 36.1 percent (22-of-61) for the Bearkats. Sam Houston attempted only eight three-pointers, hitting two of them for 25 percent. Both teams were active on the offensive glass, with Liberty tracking down 17 offensive boards and Sam Houston collecting 15. Liberty scored 19 points off Sam Houston's 18 turnovers and blocked nine shots. The Bearkats' bench outscored Liberty's reserves, 23-15.
Turning Point
Sam Houston's Aysia Ward-Strong hit a driving layup with 7:01 to play in the third quarter, giving her team what proved to be its final lead of the evening, 33-32.
Hess then knocked down back-to-back triples to ignite a 12-0 Liberty run over the next three minutes.
Now leading by 11 points, the Lady Flames never let their advantage dip below seven for the remainder of the contest.
Game Summary
First Quarter
Liberty will play host to Louisiana Tech (9-5, 2-1 CUSA) on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. inside Liberty Arena between the squads currently tied for second place in the conference standings, and the game will air on ESPN+.
Liberty improves to 9-5 overall and 2-1 in CUSA play with its fifth consecutive home win. The Lady Flames won the rebounding battle (42-31) and scored 52 points in the paint to offset an off night (4-of-18 for 22.2 percent) from beyond the arc.
Sam Houston drops to 7-6 overall and 0-3 in CUSA action despite forcing 20 turnovers and creating 13 lead changes in the contest. The Bearkats are now 0-9 all-time in CUSA road games and 0-3 all-time against the Lady Flames.
Box Score Highlights
Other Liberty Individuals: Elisabeth Aegisdottir – 11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks; Asia Boone – 8 points, 7 rebounds; Brooke Moore – 6 points, 4 rebounds.
Sam Houston Individuals: Deborah Ogayemi – 14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals; Nyla Inmon – 14 points, 3 steals; Sydnee Kemp – 7 points, 4 assists.
Key Team Stats: Liberty finished at 47.6 percent (30-of-63) from the field, as compared with 36.1 percent (22-of-61) for the Bearkats. Sam Houston attempted only eight three-pointers, hitting two of them for 25 percent. Both teams were active on the offensive glass, with Liberty tracking down 17 offensive boards and Sam Houston collecting 15. Liberty scored 19 points off Sam Houston's 18 turnovers and blocked nine shots. The Bearkats' bench outscored Liberty's reserves, 23-15.
Turning Point
Sam Houston's Aysia Ward-Strong hit a driving layup with 7:01 to play in the third quarter, giving her team what proved to be its final lead of the evening, 33-32.
Hess then knocked down back-to-back triples to ignite a 12-0 Liberty run over the next three minutes.
Now leading by 11 points, the Lady Flames never let their advantage dip below seven for the remainder of the contest.
Game Summary
First Quarter
- Liberty scored eight of the first period's final 10 points, building a 14-8 cushion through 10 minutes of play.
- The Lady Flames missed all six of their three-point tries during the stanza, scoring all 14 of their points inside the paint. Six of those came off Sam Houston's eight turnovers.
- Sam Houston outscored the Lady Flames 12-4 over the first 4:46 of the second period, taking a 20-18 lead on Kyleigh McGuire's free throw.
- The lead changed hands six times during the period, with Smuda's layup at the 1:18 mark sending Liberty into halftime with a slim 28-27 edge.
- The Bearkats enjoyed their best offensive period of the contest (19 points), with both of their triples coming during the quarter.
- The Lady Flames outscored the visitors 23-14 during the pivotal third quarter, led by Hess's 11 tallies.
- Liberty nailed 58.8 percent (10-of-17) from the field for the period.
- The Bearkats pulled within seven on three separate occasions in the fourth quarter. But Aegisdottir's triple with just 1:25 left enabled Liberty to rebuild a double-digit advantage (64-54), essentially sealing the triumph.
- Similar to last Thursday's CUSA-opening win at WKU, Hess posted a big second half at the offensive end. Fifteen of her game-high 19 points came after the intermission. At WKU, Hess notched 15 of her 16 tallies in the second half.
- Now averaging 19.7 ppg in three career meetings with Sam Houston, Hess pulled within 17 points of becoming Liberty's 22nd 1,000-point scorer in program history. Hess's 19 points on Thursday were her most since recording a 20-point game during the season-opening win over Valparaiso on Nov. 4.
- Smuda (16 points, game-high 11 rebounds) notched her third double-double of the season and the 23rd of her career. However, it was her first since a Nov. 24 win at Towson.
- Smuda's six blocked shots tied her career high and her own Liberty Arena single-game record from Nov. 4, 2023 vs. Towson.
- Smuda's 11 boards enabled her to leapfrog from 11th place to eighth on Liberty's all-time list. She passed Carla Weaver, Katelyn Adams and former teammate Bridgette Rettstatt on Thursday, finishing the night with 869 career caroms.
- Guards also came up big on the boards for Liberty, including Hess (season-high seven), Boone (season-high seven) and Claudia Acin (season-high five).
- Aegisdottir (11 points) scored in double figures for the third time this season and the fifth time in her career.
- Liberty improves to 8-0 this season when winning the rebounding battle.
- The Lady Flames are now 31-3 in conference games at Liberty Arena, including 7-2 in CUSA tilts.
Liberty will play host to Louisiana Tech (9-5, 2-1 CUSA) on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. inside Liberty Arena between the squads currently tied for second place in the conference standings, and the game will air on ESPN+.
Team Stats
SHSU
Lib
FG%
.361
.476
3FG%
.250
.222
FT%
.727
.714
RB
31
42
TO
18
20
STL
10
9
Game Leaders
Pts
16
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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