WBB Game Day: New Mexico State

Game Day Coverage

Liberty Storylines

Liberty (6-5, 0-0 CUSA) will tip off defense of its CUSA regular-season title with a two-game road swing, beginning Friday at New Mexico State (4-8, 0-0 CUSA).
Playing for the first time in 13 days, the Lady Flames are aiming to halt a three-game losing streak, their longest since Dec. 31, 2023-Jan. 10, 2024.
Liberty is 5-0 against New Mexico State over the last two seasons, including 2-0 in Las Cruces. The contests in the Land of Enchantment have been decided by an average of 7.0 ppg.
Maui Classic All-Tournament Team member Ify Nwaobi leads the Lady Flames and ranks fifth nationally among freshmen with 10.1 rpg. Liberty has only been outrebounded once this season and owns a +10.7 rebound margin.
Emmy Stout has scored in double figures in nine of 11 contests this season, averaging 14.4 ppg. She tallied a team-best 14 points the last time Liberty faced the Aggies, aiding a 63-58 victory on Feb. 13, 2025 in Lynchburg.
Eight of Liberty's 11 active players have reached double digits in the scoring column at least once this season.

Notes and Anecdotes

Liberty will tip off its third season of CUSA competition with road games against the conference team who posted the worst non-conference record (New Mexico State - 4-8) and the CUSA squad with the best non-conference mark (UTEP - 8-3).
New Mexico State has only defeated one Division I foe this season (Utah Tech on Dec. 6). Meanwhile, the Lady Flames are seeking their first victory since Dec. 7 at George Mason.
Liberty is 5-0 versus the Aggies over the past two years. Three of those games have been decided by 10 points or fewer, including both matchups in Las Cruces.
Coming off its longest road trip of the season (Dec. 19-20 at the Maui Classic), Liberty is making its second longest road swing of the year to New Mexico State and UTEP. The Lady Flames are closing out a stretch where seven out of eight contests are played away from Lynchburg. Liberty is 3-3 during this challenging stretch thus far.
Like Liberty, New Mexico State features a large number of international players (eight total). The two teams have a combined five players from Spain.
New Mexico State is dealing with the loss of reigning CUSA Player of the Year Molly Kaiser to graduation. She averaged 20.6 ppg in five career meetings with Liberty.

Lady Flames in CUSA Openers

Liberty is 1-1 in CUSA openers during its time as a conference member, including 0-1 at home and 1-0 on the road.
Each of the Lady Flames' first two CUSA openers have come against Western Kentucky. WKU spoiled Liberty's conference debut with a 68-66 triumph at Liberty Arena on Jan. 6, 2024. The Lady Flames then returned the favor with a 77-66 decision at WKU on Jan. 2, 2025.
Friday's game will mark the 10th time in the last 12 seasons Liberty has opened conference play on the road, dating back to its time in the Big South Conference.

CUSA Checkup

Liberty has been successful during its first two years of CUSA membership, headlined by its regular-season and tournament titles in 2024-25.
The Lady Flames are 32-8 versus CUSA foes over the last two seasons, including 27-7 in conference play, 5-1 in the CUSA Championship, 15-2 at home and 12-5 on the road.
Liberty has faced four CUSA opponents without suffering a loss over the past two years, including Kennesaw State (2-0), New Mexico State (5-0), Sam Houston (5-0) and UTEP (4-0).
The Lady Flames are aiming to win back-to-back conference titles for the first time since 2011-12 and 2012-13 (Big South).

Non-Conference Nuggets

Liberty went 6-5 in non-conference play, marking the second straight year the Lady Flames have taken a winning record into CUSA action. Liberty was 7-4 to open the 2024-25 campaign.
The Lady Flames won 74-73 at defending A-10 champion George Mason on Dec. 7 when Avery Mills scored four points in the last 8.2 seconds. They also claimed the unofficial Navy Classic title (Nov. 29-30) with victories over Duquesne and Manhattan.
Liberty has lost three games in a row for the first time since Dec. 31, 2023-Jan. 10, 2024. The Lady Flames are looking to avoid their first four-game losing skid since Dec. 4-16, 2023.

Schedule