Friday, January 23
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
7:30 PM ET/6:30 PM CT
Liberty University
9-9,3-4CUSA
54
at
63
Middle Tennessee
11-9,6-2CUSA
1
2
3
4
F
Liberty
12
17
11
14
54
Middle Tenn.
17
10
16
20
63
Lydie Mwamba scored 10 points during Friday's setback at Middle Tennessee.
Middle Tennessee Outlasts Liberty 63-54 in Defensive Battle
1/23/2026 10:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Similar to their last meeting in the 2025 CUSA title game, points were hard to come by during much of Friday's battle between Liberty and Middle Tennessee. Led by Blair Baugus (22 points, 8 rebounds, 6 steals), the host Blue Raiders reversed that result for a 63-54 decision over the Lady Flames at the Murphy Center.
Liberty falls to 9-9 overall and 3-4 in CUSA play after finishing with a split of its CUSA road games on back-to-back days. Elisabeth Aegisdottir (season-high 12 points, season-high 11 rebounds) earned her first career double-double. But Liberty shot just 35.4 percent (17-of-48) for the game and committed 19 turnovers that led to 22 points.
Middle Tennessee improves to 11-9 on the season and 6-2 in conference action with Head Coach Rick Insell's 500th career victory. The Blue Raiders hit nine triples on the evening and broke open a close game with a 15-4 run to begin the final period.
Box Score Highlights
Other Liberty Individuals: Avery Mills – 11 points, 3 assists; Lydie Mwamba – 10 points, 2-2 3FG; Emmy Stout – 9 points, 7 rebounds; Emma Leon – 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 2-5 3FG.
Other Middle Tennessee Individuals: Alayna Contreras – 15 points, 3-7 3FG; Macie Phifer – 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists.
Key Team Stats: MTSU ended the game at 43.5 percent (20-of-46) from the floor, 39.1 percent (9-of-23) from beyond the arc and 66.7 percent (14-of-21) at the line. Liberty made eight triples at a 34.8 percent clip (8-of-23) and knocked down 70.6 percent (12-of-17) from the charity stripe. The Blue Raiders edged the Lady Flames in points in the paint (18-16), came up with 11 steals and notched all three of the game's blocked shots. Liberty won the rebounding battle (37-27), converting 14 offensive boards into 15 second-chance points. The Lady Flames also tallied 18 bench points to MTSU's 0 for their largest bench scoring effort in CUSA play this season.
Turning Point
Liberty tallied the third quarter's final five points, pulling within 43-40 on Mwamba's buzzer-beating layup.
However, Middle Tennessee held the Lady Flames to a pair of Stout field goals during the first 7:36 of the fourth quarter.
The Blue Raiders reeled off a 15-4 run during that time, sparked by Baugus' final seven points of the night. Phifer's layup at the 3:49 mark extended the home team's advantage to 14 points (58-44), its largest of the contest.
Liberty got no closer than the final margin of nine points during the closing stages.
Notes and Nuggets
The Lady Flames will return home for their next two contests, beginning with a Thursday matchup against FIU. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Liberty Arena, and the game will air on ESPN+.
CUSA Championship Ticket Information
Ticket packages for the 2026 CUSA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are now on sale. Both the Flames and Lady Flames will look to defend their conference tournament titles at Propst Arena in Huntsville, Ala., March 10-14.
Fans can purchase an all-session booklet through the Liberty Ticket Office for $175, a savings of $25. This includes tickets to all nine men's games and all nine women's games throughout the tournament. To purchase tickets and find more information, please visit http://www.libertyflames.com/CUSABasketball.
Students will be able to purchase tickets for the tournaments on a session-to-session basis. These may be purchased at Propst Arena with a valid student ID (of a CUSA school) for half the price of the current day's session.
Liberty falls to 9-9 overall and 3-4 in CUSA play after finishing with a split of its CUSA road games on back-to-back days. Elisabeth Aegisdottir (season-high 12 points, season-high 11 rebounds) earned her first career double-double. But Liberty shot just 35.4 percent (17-of-48) for the game and committed 19 turnovers that led to 22 points.
Middle Tennessee improves to 11-9 on the season and 6-2 in conference action with Head Coach Rick Insell's 500th career victory. The Blue Raiders hit nine triples on the evening and broke open a close game with a 15-4 run to begin the final period.
Box Score Highlights
Other Liberty Individuals: Avery Mills – 11 points, 3 assists; Lydie Mwamba – 10 points, 2-2 3FG; Emmy Stout – 9 points, 7 rebounds; Emma Leon – 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 2-5 3FG.
Other Middle Tennessee Individuals: Alayna Contreras – 15 points, 3-7 3FG; Macie Phifer – 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists.
Key Team Stats: MTSU ended the game at 43.5 percent (20-of-46) from the floor, 39.1 percent (9-of-23) from beyond the arc and 66.7 percent (14-of-21) at the line. Liberty made eight triples at a 34.8 percent clip (8-of-23) and knocked down 70.6 percent (12-of-17) from the charity stripe. The Blue Raiders edged the Lady Flames in points in the paint (18-16), came up with 11 steals and notched all three of the game's blocked shots. Liberty won the rebounding battle (37-27), converting 14 offensive boards into 15 second-chance points. The Lady Flames also tallied 18 bench points to MTSU's 0 for their largest bench scoring effort in CUSA play this season.
Turning Point
Liberty tallied the third quarter's final five points, pulling within 43-40 on Mwamba's buzzer-beating layup.
However, Middle Tennessee held the Lady Flames to a pair of Stout field goals during the first 7:36 of the fourth quarter.
The Blue Raiders reeled off a 15-4 run during that time, sparked by Baugus' final seven points of the night. Phifer's layup at the 3:49 mark extended the home team's advantage to 14 points (58-44), its largest of the contest.
Liberty got no closer than the final margin of nine points during the closing stages.
Notes and Nuggets
- Aegisdottir's first double-double came in her 85th career appearance. She scored in double figures for the third time in five contests and knocked down a pair of triples for the third game in a row.
- Mills (11 points) reached double digits for the eighth game in a row. Her pair of three-pointers give the sophomore 98 for her career, tying her with Megan Frazee for 16th in program history.
- Mwamba (10 points) posted her second double-digit scoring effort as a Lady Flame.
- Stout (9 points) was held below 10 points for the first time since Dec. 19 at Hawai'i and just the third time this season.
- Leon played a career-high 25 minutes off the bench, tripling her previous career rebounding high with six and equaling her career best of two triples.
- The Lady Flames only led for 58 seconds in the game, beginning the second half with a 29-27 edge after Aegisdottir's buzzer-beating triple to end the first half.
- Liberty is now 2-5 all-time against Middle Tennessee, dropping all three contests in Murfreesboro.
- The Lady Flames had won 55-53 at WKU 24 hours earlier. Friday's game was moved up one day from the original schedule due to an approaching winter storm.
- Liberty lost on Jan. 23 for the first time since 1992, its first season of Big South play. The Lady Flames had won eight straight games on this date.
The Lady Flames will return home for their next two contests, beginning with a Thursday matchup against FIU. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Liberty Arena, and the game will air on ESPN+.
CUSA Championship Ticket Information
Ticket packages for the 2026 CUSA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are now on sale. Both the Flames and Lady Flames will look to defend their conference tournament titles at Propst Arena in Huntsville, Ala., March 10-14.
Fans can purchase an all-session booklet through the Liberty Ticket Office for $175, a savings of $25. This includes tickets to all nine men's games and all nine women's games throughout the tournament. To purchase tickets and find more information, please visit http://www.libertyflames.com/CUSABasketball.
Students will be able to purchase tickets for the tournaments on a session-to-session basis. These may be purchased at Propst Arena with a valid student ID (of a CUSA school) for half the price of the current day's session.
Team Stats
Lib
MTSU
FG%
.354
.435
3FG%
.348
.391
FT%
.706
.667
RB
37
27
TO
19
11
STL
5
11
Game Leaders
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballC
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