.png&width=100&height=100&type=webp)
Saturday, February 14
Lynchburg, Va.
2:00 PM ET
Liberty University
13-11,7-6CUSA
67
vs
42
New Mexico State
8-17,4-9CUSA
1
2
3
4
F
New Mexico St.
5
10
11
16
42
Liberty
18
18
15
16
67
Elisabeth Aegisdottir
Fast Start, Tough Defense Fuel Liberty’s 67-42 Win Over NM State
2/14/2026 6:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty completed a 2-0 week on Saturday with a similar formula to Thursday. The Lady Flames started quickly (18-5 first quarter) and stifled New Mexico State's offense in a 67-42 victory at Liberty Arena.
Now 4-1 since the calendar flipped to February, Liberty moves to 13-11 overall and 7-6 in CUSA action. The Lady Flames recorded their largest margin of victory over a Division I foe this season (25 points) to improve to 7-0 all-time against the Aggies. Claudia Acin came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points, helping Liberty's bench players tally 36 for the contest.
New Mexico State, which matched its season-low scoring output, drops to 8-17 overall and 4-9 in conference play. The Aggies have lost three in a row overall and have dropped six consecutive road games.
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Acin – 17 points, 6-11 FG, 2-5 3FG; Ify Nwaobi – 14 points, 11 rebounds, 2-2 3FG; Lydie Mwamba – 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4-6 FG; Lynn Peters – 8 points, 4 rebounds; Emma Leon – 7 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists.
New Mexico State Individuals: Imani Warren – 11 points; Senoj Jones – 7 points, 3-4 FG; DeAvion Wilson – 7 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists.
Key Team Stats: Liberty connected on 44.1 percent (26-of-59) from the field, 33.3 percent (6-of-18) from three-point range and 81.8 percent (9-of-11) from the foul line. New Mexico State also fared well at the charity stripe (78.6 percent, 11-of-14) but struggled from the floor (26.8 percent, 15-of-56) and from beyond the arc (9.1 percent, 1-of-11). Liberty controlled the rebounding (47-28), points in the paint (34-26) and second-chance points (14-9) categories and recorded 16 assists on 26 field goals. The Aggies converted Liberty's 14 turnovers into 10 points and recorded all eight of the game's fast break points.
Turning Point
New Mexico State scored the afternoon's first four points within 90 seconds. However, the Aggies did not make another field goal for more than 11 minutes.
Liberty closed the opening period with an 18-1 run, sparked by Acin's 10 points, and took an 18-5 advantage into the quarter break. Two days earlier, the Lady Flames had outscored UTEP 24-8 during the first 10 minutes of an eventual 58-48 victory.
On Saturday, the Lady Flames' lead got as large as 33 (65-32) following Acin's final two points of the night with 3:12 remaining.
Notes and Nuggets
The Lady Flames will begin their last road trip of the regular season on Thursday with their first-ever visit to Missouri State (15-10, 7-5 CUSA). Liberty will seek its second win over the Lady Bears this month in a 7:30 p.m. Eastern/6:30 p.m. Central matchup 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.
Now 4-1 since the calendar flipped to February, Liberty moves to 13-11 overall and 7-6 in CUSA action. The Lady Flames recorded their largest margin of victory over a Division I foe this season (25 points) to improve to 7-0 all-time against the Aggies. Claudia Acin came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points, helping Liberty's bench players tally 36 for the contest.
New Mexico State, which matched its season-low scoring output, drops to 8-17 overall and 4-9 in conference play. The Aggies have lost three in a row overall and have dropped six consecutive road games.
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Acin – 17 points, 6-11 FG, 2-5 3FG; Ify Nwaobi – 14 points, 11 rebounds, 2-2 3FG; Lydie Mwamba – 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4-6 FG; Lynn Peters – 8 points, 4 rebounds; Emma Leon – 7 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists.
New Mexico State Individuals: Imani Warren – 11 points; Senoj Jones – 7 points, 3-4 FG; DeAvion Wilson – 7 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists.
Key Team Stats: Liberty connected on 44.1 percent (26-of-59) from the field, 33.3 percent (6-of-18) from three-point range and 81.8 percent (9-of-11) from the foul line. New Mexico State also fared well at the charity stripe (78.6 percent, 11-of-14) but struggled from the floor (26.8 percent, 15-of-56) and from beyond the arc (9.1 percent, 1-of-11). Liberty controlled the rebounding (47-28), points in the paint (34-26) and second-chance points (14-9) categories and recorded 16 assists on 26 field goals. The Aggies converted Liberty's 14 turnovers into 10 points and recorded all eight of the game's fast break points.
Turning Point
New Mexico State scored the afternoon's first four points within 90 seconds. However, the Aggies did not make another field goal for more than 11 minutes.
Liberty closed the opening period with an 18-1 run, sparked by Acin's 10 points, and took an 18-5 advantage into the quarter break. Two days earlier, the Lady Flames had outscored UTEP 24-8 during the first 10 minutes of an eventual 58-48 victory.
On Saturday, the Lady Flames' lead got as large as 33 (65-32) following Acin's final two points of the night with 3:12 remaining.
Notes and Nuggets
- Acin scored in double figures for the sixth time in her career, all of which have come this season.
- Nwaobi's double-double (14 points, game-high 11 rebounds) was her fourth of the season and third this month. She knocked down both of her three-point tries and has now hit six consecutive triple attempts over the last three games.
- Nwaobi's work on the boards boosts her season total to 204. She becomes the first Liberty freshman to collect 200 rebounds in a season since 2016-17 (Keyen Green).
- Mwamba (11 points) posted her third career game with double-digit points and matched her career high of six rebounds.
- Peters' eight points were the freshman's most in a CUSA contest.
- Leon dished out a game-high and career-high four assists and did not commit a turnover in a career-high 33 minutes.
- The Lady Flames' 7-0 record against New Mexico State is their best against any CUSA foe.
- Liberty's decisive victory was unusual for its head-to-head series with New Mexico State, which had seen the last three meetings each decided by 10 points or fewer.
- During the Lady Flames' CUSA opener at New Mexico State on Jan. 2, the Lady Flames trailed for 32:10 of the game. They needed a late 11-0 run and 21 second-half points from Avery Mills to pull out a 67-62 win that evening.
- Defense has been key to Liberty's successful February thus far. The Lady Flames are holding opponents to 52.2 ppg in five games this month.
The Lady Flames will begin their last road trip of the regular season on Thursday with their first-ever visit to Missouri State (15-10, 7-5 CUSA). Liberty will seek its second win over the Lady Bears this month in a 7:30 p.m. Eastern/6:30 p.m. Central matchup 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
NMSU
Lib
FG%
.268
.441
3FG%
.091
.333
FT%
.786
.818
RB
28
47
TO
11
14
STL
4
3
Game Leaders
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballC
/ Women's BasketballCoach Sherard Talks About The Win Over UTEP
Friday, February 13
Liberty Women's Basketball Show with Alexis Sherard and Emma Leon (2-11-26)
Wednesday, February 11
Liberty Women's Basketball Show with Alexis Sherard and JaKayla Thompson (2-4-26)
Thursday, February 05
Coach Sherard Talks About The Win Over Missouri State
Monday, February 02