Saturday, March 8
Lynchburg, Va.
2:00 PM ET
Liberty University
23-6,16-2CUSA
74
vs
70
Western Kentucky
22-8,13-5CUSA
1
2
3
4
F
Western Ky.
26
13
14
17
70
Liberty
14
18
28
14
74
The Lady Flames celebrate their 1st CUSA regular-season title.
Resilient Liberty Tops WKU 74-70 for Share of CUSA Title, No. 1 Seed
3/8/2025 7:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Trailing Western Kentucky 35-21 midway through the second quarter of Saturday afternoon's regular-season finale at Liberty Arena, the Lady Flames displayed championship mettle. The Lady Flames came all the way back to win 74-70, earning a share of their first CUSA regular-season title and the No. 1 seed for next week's CUSA Women's Basketball Championship in Huntsville, Ala.
Liberty (23-6, 16-2 CUSA), which enters postseason play with an eight-game overall winning streak and a 13-game home winning streak, earns its first conference regular-season title and No. 1 seed since 2018, its final year of Big South Conference membership. The Lady Flames shared the regular-season championship with Middle Tennessee but won the tiebreaker for the top seed by virtue of their season sweep of No. 3 seed WKU.
The Lady Flames' first game at the CUSA Women's Basketball Championship will be a Wednesday quarterfinal clash against the winner of Tuesday's first round matchup between No. 8 seed Sam Houston and No. 9 seed Jax State. Liberty's quarterfinal is set for 12:30 p.m. Eastern at Propst Arena in Huntsville, Ala., and will air live on ESPN+.
Single-session tickets are now available at LibertyFlames.com/CUSABasketball.
WKU (22-8, 13-5) sees its five-game winning streak snapped despite a pair of Liberty Arena women's basketball single-game records by Josie Gilvin (31 points, 7 steals). The Lady Toppers were outscored 28-14 during a pivotal third quarter after building a 39-32 halftime advantage.
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Asia Boone – 15 points, 4-7 3FG; Avery Mills – 13 points, 3-4 3FG; Emma Hess – 12 points, 6 rebounds; Jordan Hodges – 11 points, 3-8 3FG; Bella Smuda – 10 points, 3 rebounds.
Western Kentucky Individuals: Gilvin – 31 points, 6 rebounds, 7 steals, 5-9 3FG; Zsofia Telegdy – 9 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists; Mackenzie Chatfield – 9 points, 5 assists.
Key Team Stats: Liberty finished the contest at 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the field and 43.3 percent (13-of-30) from beyond the arc. After a scalding start, WKU ended up at 47.5 percent (29-of-61) from the floor and 31.3 percent (10-of-32) from long range. The Lady Flames enjoyed an advantage at the foul line, shooting 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) to the Lady Toppers' 2-of-4 (50 percent). Liberty had the upper hand in rebounds (38-24), second-chance points (15-5) and bench points (24-11). WKU converted Liberty's 21 turnovers into 24 points and outscored the Lady Flames in the paint, 32-22.
Turning Point
Destiny Salary's three-pointer broke a tie and put the Lady Toppers in front 51-48 with 3:50 left in the third quarter.
Liberty then took the lead for good with a 9-0 run. The first six points came at the foul line, and then Avery Mills nailed the first of her three triples in 4:23, spanning the third and fourth quarters.
Now on top 57-51 late in the third quarter, Liberty never trailed again.
Game Summary
First Quarter
Liberty (23-6, 16-2 CUSA), which enters postseason play with an eight-game overall winning streak and a 13-game home winning streak, earns its first conference regular-season title and No. 1 seed since 2018, its final year of Big South Conference membership. The Lady Flames shared the regular-season championship with Middle Tennessee but won the tiebreaker for the top seed by virtue of their season sweep of No. 3 seed WKU.
The Lady Flames' first game at the CUSA Women's Basketball Championship will be a Wednesday quarterfinal clash against the winner of Tuesday's first round matchup between No. 8 seed Sam Houston and No. 9 seed Jax State. Liberty's quarterfinal is set for 12:30 p.m. Eastern at Propst Arena in Huntsville, Ala., and will air live on ESPN+.
Single-session tickets are now available at LibertyFlames.com/CUSABasketball.
WKU (22-8, 13-5) sees its five-game winning streak snapped despite a pair of Liberty Arena women's basketball single-game records by Josie Gilvin (31 points, 7 steals). The Lady Toppers were outscored 28-14 during a pivotal third quarter after building a 39-32 halftime advantage.
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Asia Boone – 15 points, 4-7 3FG; Avery Mills – 13 points, 3-4 3FG; Emma Hess – 12 points, 6 rebounds; Jordan Hodges – 11 points, 3-8 3FG; Bella Smuda – 10 points, 3 rebounds.
Western Kentucky Individuals: Gilvin – 31 points, 6 rebounds, 7 steals, 5-9 3FG; Zsofia Telegdy – 9 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists; Mackenzie Chatfield – 9 points, 5 assists.
Key Team Stats: Liberty finished the contest at 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the field and 43.3 percent (13-of-30) from beyond the arc. After a scalding start, WKU ended up at 47.5 percent (29-of-61) from the floor and 31.3 percent (10-of-32) from long range. The Lady Flames enjoyed an advantage at the foul line, shooting 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) to the Lady Toppers' 2-of-4 (50 percent). Liberty had the upper hand in rebounds (38-24), second-chance points (15-5) and bench points (24-11). WKU converted Liberty's 21 turnovers into 24 points and outscored the Lady Flames in the paint, 32-22.
Turning Point
Destiny Salary's three-pointer broke a tie and put the Lady Toppers in front 51-48 with 3:50 left in the third quarter.
Liberty then took the lead for good with a 9-0 run. The first six points came at the foul line, and then Avery Mills nailed the first of her three triples in 4:23, spanning the third and fourth quarters.
Now on top 57-51 late in the third quarter, Liberty never trailed again.
Game Summary
First Quarter
- WKU dominated the first quarter, building a 26-14 lead. The Lady Toppers shot 71.4 percent (10-of-14), including four triples. The visitors scored 11 points off Liberty's seven turnovers and Gilvin (14 points) single-handedly matches Liberty's offensive output.
- Acacia Hayes gave the Lady Toppers their largest lead (35-21) on her three-pointer 6:08 before halftime.
- Liberty was then able to cut its deficit in half by the intermission, aided by two Hess trifectas. The Lady Flames trailed 39-32 at the break following a second period where they outscored WKU 18-13 and knocked down four three-pointers.
- Liberty doubled up the Lady Toppers 28-14 during the pivotal third quarter. The Lady Flames shot 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) from three-point range for the period, with Hodges and Mills hitting two apiece.
- The lead changed hands three times before Liberty went in front with its aforementioned 9-0 run and took a 60-53 edge into the final quarter.
- WKU did not go down quietly. Gilvin scored eight more points in the fourth quarter, including a layup off a steal with 20.5 seconds left to make it a two-point game (72-70).
- Hess then made two clutch free throws with only 3.5 seconds remaining to seal the victory, 74-70.
- Boone (15 points) scored in double figures for the fifth game in a row and matched her season high of four three-pointers. The sophomore has now tallied 648 points, moving into 50th place in program history.
- Mills scored all 13 of her points in a span of 4:46 between the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, single-handedly outscoring WKU 13-8 over that stretch.
- Hess (12 points, 6 rebounds) finished as the Lady Flames' leading rebounder for the first time since Nov. 27 at Grand Canyon, pulling down four offensive boards.
- Hodges (11 points) scored in double figures for the first time since Jan. 18 at New Mexico State. Her three triples give the senior point guard seven in two meetings with WKU this season.
- Smuda's (10 points) 71st time scoring in double figures for her career makes her the sixth Lady Flame to reach the 1,500-point mark. She closed the regular season at 1,503 career points.
- Pien Steenbergen paced the Lady Flames in assists (career-high five) and steals (career high-equaling three).
- Liberty's 13 triples on Saturday push its season total to 233, breaking the program single-season record of 230 from last season in five fewer contests. The Lady Flames finished with 25 three-pointers made in two regular-season wins over WKU this season.
- Saturday's successful comeback after trailing by 14 points marked the largest deficit Liberty has overcome to win a game since Feb. 21, 2021. That day, the Lady Flames trailed Shepherd 27-12 before winning 73-65 at Liberty Arena.
- Saturday's game marked a role reversal from WKU's only previous visit to Liberty Arena (Jan. 6, 2024). In that contest, Liberty's first-ever CUSA matchup, the Lady Flames owned a 15-point lead late in the first half before the Lady Toppers rallied for a 68-66 victory. That is one of only three conference losses the Lady Flames have suffered at Liberty Arena to date. Liberty is 39-3 in conference games played at the facility, including a perfect 9-0 mark this season.
- The Liberty men's basketball team also wrapped up its CUSA regular-season championship and No. 1 seed with a 90-61 win at WKU on Saturday. This is only the second time both Liberty basketball teams will be seeded No. 1 during the same season (also 2004 – Big South).
Team Stats
WestKy
Lib
FG%
.475
.463
3FG%
.313
.433
FT%
.500
.917
RB
24
38
TO
14
21
STL
12
7
Game Leaders
Pts
15
FGM
4
3FGM
4
FTM
3
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's Basketball
F
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