WBB Game Day: Kennesaw State

Game Day Coverage

Liberty Storylines

Liberty (20-6, 13-2 CUSA) will play its final regular-season road game at Kennesaw State (11-6, 6-10 CUSA), Saturday afternoon.
Liberty is 12-0 all-time against the Owls including a 74-39 home decision on Jan. 30. That marked the Lady Flames' largest margin of victory in a CUSA matchup in two seasons of conference membership.
The Lady Flames have won five games in a row, reaching the 20-win mark for the 23rd time in the last 29 seasons.
Emma Hess paced the Lady Flames with 14 points during their first meeting with Kennesaw State this season. All of them came during a 21-0 second quarter run which broke the game open.
Saturday's game will be No. 154 of Bella Smuda's career, tying her with former teammate Mya Berkman for the program record. She posted nine points and six boards during Liberty's last visit to Kennesaw State (Feb. 26, 2022), a 63-57 victory.
Freshmen Avery Mills and Emmy Stout scored 11 points apiece off the bench during Thursday's 71-55 victory at Jax State. Liberty's reserves outscored KSU's bench 37-1 on Jan. 30.

Notes and Anecdotes

Although Kennesaw State is new to CUSA this season, Liberty has faced the Owls more often (12 times) than any other conference opponent.
Liberty is 12-0 all-time against Kennesaw State with eight of the 12 matchups being decided by 10 points or fewer. However, the Lady Flames' 35-point victory over the Owls on Jan. 30 marked Liberty's largest win in two years of CUSA play.
The Lady Flames have only played one opponent more often without ever losing (14-0 versus Birmingham-Southern).
Liberty's first-ever ASUN Conference victory came at Kennesaw State (67-61 on Jan. 15, 2019). The Lady Flames are 7-1 overall at the KSU Convocation Center with the lone setback coming to FGCU in the 2021 ASUN title game.
Conversely, Liberty had never won a game at FIU's Ocean Bank Convocation Center or Jax State's Pete Mathews Coliseum prior to its victories during the first two stops of the current three-game road swing.
Prencis Harden won her fifth CUSA Player of the Week honor on Monday, giving Kennesaw State a conference-high six Player of the Week awards this season. Meanwhile, Liberty has yet to win a CUSA Player of the Week nod this year. The last time the Lady Flames went a full season without a conference Player of the Week was 2016-17 (Big South).

20 and Counting

Liberty's victory at Jax State on Thursday was No. 20 of the season. The Lady Flames have recorded their 23rd 20-win season in the last 29 years, dating back to 1996-97.
Prior to this current run of success, the Lady Flames posted zero 20-win campaigns during their first 21 seasons of women's basketball (1975-76 through 1995-96).
Combined with the Flames' 23-5 record in men's basketball, Liberty is the only CUSA school and one of 18 universities nationally with 20+ wins in both men's and women's basketball (through games played on Thursday).

Keys to the Streak

Liberty closed the month of February with five straight wins, marking its second winning streak of 5+ contests this season.
The Lady Flames have won four of the five games by double digits, holding all five opponents below 60 points.
A different player has led the team in scoring in each of the five victories.

On This Date

Liberty is 9-2 all-time when playing on March 1, having won nine straight games on this date. The Lady Flames have not dropped a March 1 contest since 1985 (vs. UMBC in the Mason-Dixon Conference Tournament).
On this date in 1997, Liberty topped UNCG 89-82 to win its first-ever Big South Championship title.
Liberty is 93-59 all-time in March, including 85-34 under Carey Green and 4-2 last season.

Schedule