Saturday, February 15
Lynchburg, Va.
2:00 PM ET
Liberty University
67
vs
53
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UTEP
Liberty celebrated Senior Day following Saturday's victory over UTEP.
Liberty Celebrates Senior Day with 67-53 Win Over UTEP
2/15/2025 7:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Saturday was Senior Day at Liberty Arena, and the Lady Flames celebrated with a 67-53 triumph over UTEP. Seniors accounted for more than half of Liberty's points (34 of 67) in the Lady Flames' 11th consecutive home victory.
Liberty is 18-6 overall and 11-2 in CUSA action after completing a season sweep of the Miners. Senior Bella Smuda scored 11 of her game-high 15 points after halftime, helping Liberty improve to 4-0 all-time against the Miners.
The Lady Flames remain in second place in the CUSA standings, a half game behind Middle Tennessee (11-1 CUSA) with five regular-season contests remaining. Liberty has clinched a bye into the CUSA Women's Basketball Championship quarterfinal round and has already matched last season's final win total of 18.
UTEP (9-14, 2-10 CUSA) lost its fifth straight road game and its seventh consecutive contest overall. The Miners were dominated in the interior, as evidenced by Liberty's significant advantages in rebounding (45-26) and points in the paint (38-24).
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Smuda – 15 points, 7 rebounds; Pien Steenbergen – 11 points, 3-4 3FG; Emma Hess – 8 points, 2 steals; Elisabeth Aegisdottir – 2 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals; Emmy Stout – 5 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks.
UTEP Individuals: Thelma Barbitch – 13 points, 3-5 3FG; Ndack Mbengue – 9 points, 6 rebounds; Ivane Tensaie – 9 points, 2 steals.
Key Team Stats: Liberty finished the contest shooting 46.7 percent (28-of-60) from the field but only 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from three-point range. The Miners ended up at 36.8 percent (21-of-57) from the floor and 30 percent (6-of-20) from long distance. There were only 15 total free throws attempted on the afternoon, with UTEP going 5-of-9 for 55.6 percent and Liberty shooting 5-of-6 for 83.3 percent. Liberty turned UTEP's 15 turnovers into 23 points. Both teams recorded double-digit steals, including 11 for the Miners and 10 for the Lady Flames.
Turning Point
Tensaie's three-pointer trimmed UTEP's deficit to five (26-21) with 2:24 to play in a low-scoring first half.
Liberty then scored five straight points to close out the half and opened the third quarter with a 7-2 surge. The overall 12-2 run (highlighted by five points from Smuda) extended the Lady Flames' lead to 15 (38-23), and the advantage remained in double digits the rest of the way.
Game Summary
First Quarter
The Lady Flames will play their next three games on the road, beginning Feb. 22 at FIU (10-14, 6-7 CUSA). Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center in Miami, Fla., and the game will air on ESPN+.
Liberty is 18-6 overall and 11-2 in CUSA action after completing a season sweep of the Miners. Senior Bella Smuda scored 11 of her game-high 15 points after halftime, helping Liberty improve to 4-0 all-time against the Miners.
The Lady Flames remain in second place in the CUSA standings, a half game behind Middle Tennessee (11-1 CUSA) with five regular-season contests remaining. Liberty has clinched a bye into the CUSA Women's Basketball Championship quarterfinal round and has already matched last season's final win total of 18.
UTEP (9-14, 2-10 CUSA) lost its fifth straight road game and its seventh consecutive contest overall. The Miners were dominated in the interior, as evidenced by Liberty's significant advantages in rebounding (45-26) and points in the paint (38-24).
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Smuda – 15 points, 7 rebounds; Pien Steenbergen – 11 points, 3-4 3FG; Emma Hess – 8 points, 2 steals; Elisabeth Aegisdottir – 2 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals; Emmy Stout – 5 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks.
UTEP Individuals: Thelma Barbitch – 13 points, 3-5 3FG; Ndack Mbengue – 9 points, 6 rebounds; Ivane Tensaie – 9 points, 2 steals.
Key Team Stats: Liberty finished the contest shooting 46.7 percent (28-of-60) from the field but only 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from three-point range. The Miners ended up at 36.8 percent (21-of-57) from the floor and 30 percent (6-of-20) from long distance. There were only 15 total free throws attempted on the afternoon, with UTEP going 5-of-9 for 55.6 percent and Liberty shooting 5-of-6 for 83.3 percent. Liberty turned UTEP's 15 turnovers into 23 points. Both teams recorded double-digit steals, including 11 for the Miners and 10 for the Lady Flames.
Turning Point
Tensaie's three-pointer trimmed UTEP's deficit to five (26-21) with 2:24 to play in a low-scoring first half.
Liberty then scored five straight points to close out the half and opened the third quarter with a 7-2 surge. The overall 12-2 run (highlighted by five points from Smuda) extended the Lady Flames' lead to 15 (38-23), and the advantage remained in double digits the rest of the way.
Game Summary
First Quarter
- Back-to-back three-pointers by Pien Steenbergen and Jordan Hodges punctuated Liberty's 8-0 run to close out the opening stanza.
- The Lady Flames led 18-8 after eight different players scored the team's eight first-quarter field goals.
- UTEP chipped away at its deficit during the second quarter, aided by two triples and an old-fashioned three-point play.
- But bench players scored nine of Liberty's 13 points during the period, enabling the Lady Flames to keep their lead at 10 (31-21) heading to the break.
- Seniors tallied the Lady Flames' first 13 points coming out of the locker room, including nine by Smuda.
- Liberty recorded its highest-scoring quarter of the day (19 points), shooting 57.1 percent (8-of-14) on its way to a 50-37 lead through three.
- Thelma Barbitch gave the Miners a boost off the bench during the final period with seven points.
- But Emma Hess countered with six tallies for the Lady Flames, making sure she left the court victorious on her Senior Day.
- Liberty's six seniors recognized postgame included Smuda (15 points), Hess (8 points), Jordan Hodges (7 points), Anna Badosa (4 points) and the injured post duo of Emily Howard and Caroline Shiery.
- Smuda scored in double figures for the fifth time in the last six games and the 68th time in 151 career outings. Her seven field goals made push the redshirt senior's career total to 601, enabling her to overtake Sharon Wilkerson for fifth place in program history.
- Steenbergen (11 points) reached double digits for the fifth time in the last eight contests after she had only done so six times in her first 49 career outings. The redshirt sophomore knocked down three-of-four three-point tries on Saturday, making her 13-of-23 (56.5 percent) from beyond the arc over the last eight games.
- Hess, who was honored during a pregame ceremony for becoming Liberty's 22nd 1,000-point scorer in Liberty's 75-64 win at UTEP on Jan. 16, totaled eight points. She moved past Brenda Gunsallus and Ashtyn Baker on Liberty's career scoring chart on Senior Day, ending up in 19th place with 1,083 career points.
- Aegisdottir's game-high seven assists eclipsed her previous career high of five and were the most by a Lady Flame since the season opener (Nov. 4 vs. Valparaiso), when Jordan Hodges dished out eight.
- Liberty moves to 15-0 this season when outrebounding its opponent.
The Lady Flames will play their next three games on the road, beginning Feb. 22 at FIU (10-14, 6-7 CUSA). Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center in Miami, Fla., and the game will air on ESPN+.
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