WBB Game Day: Missouri State

Game Day Coverage

Liberty Storylines

Liberty (13-11, 7-6 CUSA) will tip off its final road trip of the regular season on Thursday with its first-ever visit to Missouri State (15-10, 7-5 CUSA).
The Lady Flames will look to complete a season sweep of the Lady Bears. Liberty led from wire to wire in the teams' inaugural matchup, which resulted in a 60-52 win on Feb. 1 in Lynchburg.
The victory over the Lady Bears has catapulted Liberty to a successful start to the month of February. Fueled by strong defense (52.2 ppg allowed), the Lady Flames are 4-1 to begin the month, improving to 25-3 in their last 28 February outings.
CUSA leading rebounder Ify Nwaobi went for 11 points and 10 rebounds against Missouri State on Feb. 1 for her first of three double-doubles this month. She is the first Liberty freshman to collect 200 rebounds since Keyen Green in 2016-17.
Claudia Acin shot 5-of-5 and tallied a team-high 13 points during the last meeting with Missouri State, helping Liberty's bench outscore the Lady Bears' reserves, 23-0. The junior finished with a game-high 17 points during Saturday's 67-42 victory over New Mexico State, contributing to Liberty's 36 bench points, its most in a CUSA game this year.

Notes and Anecdotes

Liberty is facing Missouri State for the second time in 19 days, marking the Lady Flames' shortest gap between matchups against an opponent this season.
Louisiana Tech has been the only visiting CUSA team to win at Missouri State this year and became the first conference foe to go 2-0 against the Lady Bears in the regular season since Belmont in 2022-23. Liberty hopes to do the same.
Liberty has gone 2-0 in CUSA play against an opponent 13 times (including vs. New Mexico State and UTEP this season), while going 0-2 just once (vs. MTSU in 2023-24).
The Lady Flames have won four of their last five, moving to 7-6 in CUSA play. They need to go 3-2 the rest of the way to record a 27th straight season with 10+ conference wins.
Liberty has made 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2005. The Lady Bears have gotten to the Big Dance on 17 occasions, including a pair of Final Four trips (1992 and 2001).
The Lady Flames are 3-2 against Beth Cunningham teams, also including her nine years at VCU (2003-04 to 2011-12).
Women's basketball will be the second Liberty team to visit Springfield since Missouri State joined CUSA. Volleyball recorded a pair of five-set wins over the Bears in November.

February is for the Flames

Liberty is off to a 4-1 start in its first five games this month after going 1-5 during its last six January tilts.
The Lady Flames are shooting 43.1 percent from beyond the arc in February while holding opponents to 52.2 ppg.
Individually, Ify Nwaobi is averaging a double-double (11.6 ppg, 10.2 rpg) and 2.0 bpg.

At Home on the Road

Liberty actually owns a better road winning percentage this year (5-4, 55.6 percent) than it does at home (6-5, 54.5 percent).
Sophomores Avery Mills (19.5 ppg, 32 three-pointers, 51.6 3FG%) and Emmy Stout (16.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 57.0 FG%) have both been effective on the road this season.
The Lady Flames need one more road triumph to clinch a winning road record for the fourth time in five seasons.

CUSA Checkup

Liberty has been successful during its first three years of CUSA membership, headlined by its regular-season and tournament titles in 2024-25.
The Lady Flames are 39-14 versus CUSA foes over the last three seasons, including 34-13 in conference play, 5-1 in the CUSA Championship, 18-5 at home and 16-8 on the road.
Liberty is unbeaten against a pair of CUSA foes, New Mexico State (7-0) and UTEP (6-0).

Bombs Away!

Liberty set program records for three-pointers made (267) and three-point field goal percentage (36.9) last season. Despite losing 75.7 percent of their triples from 2024-25, the Lady Flames have been proficient from beyond the arc once again this year.
Liberty tops CUSA and ranks No. 21 nationally for three-point field goal percentage at 36.3. The Lady Flames have hit six more triples than their opponents this season (165 to 159) on 71 fewer attempts.

Schedule