WBB Game Day: Kennesaw State

Game Day Coverage

Liberty Storylines

Coming off back-to-back victories, Liberty (11-10, 5-5 CUSA) will head to Kennesaw State (10-11, 3-7 CUSA) on Saturday to wrap up a two-game road swing.
The Lady Flames are 13-0 all-time against the Owls, but nine of the matchups have been decided by 10 points or fewer. Liberty needed a last-second hoop from Bella Smuda to escape with a 71-69 win last time it visited VyStar Arena (March 1, 2025).
The Lady Flames improved to 4-2 in CUSA road matchups this season with a 60-55 victory at Jacksonville State on Thursday. The game featured four ties and 10 lead changes.
Avery Mills tops CUSA and ranks No. 3 nationally with 3.19 three-pointers per game. She scorched the nets at Jax State, setting career highs for points (27) and three-pointers (7).
JaKayla Thompson added 11 points on Thursday, including the Lady Flames' final five tallies of the evening. Her driving layup with 14.2 seconds remaining helped seal the win.
Ify Nwaobi paced all players in rebounds (15) and blocked shots (3) on Thursday. The redshirt freshman ranks No. 2 in CUSA for rebounding (9.9 rpg).

Notes and Anecdotes

Kennesaw State is one of four CUSA opponents Liberty will face only once during the 2025-26 regular season, also including Jax State, Louisiana Tech and Sam Houston.
After Saturday, Liberty will have played against each of its 11 CUSA opponents exactly once this season.
Liberty is 13-0 all-time against Kennesaw State, but nine of the 13 matchups have been decided by 10 points or fewer.
The Lady Flames have only played one other opponent more often without losing (14-0 all-time record against Birmingham-Southern).
Liberty is 8-1 all-time at VyStar Arena, with the lone setback coming to FGCU in the 2021 ASUN title game.
The Lady Flames have won back-to-back contests, evening their CUSA mark at 5-5. The Lady Flames need to go 5-3 or better the rest of the way to reach 10 conference wins for the 27th straight year.
Both teams are coming off hard-fought contests on Thursday. Liberty pulled out a 60-55 win at Jax State, while Kennesaw State dropped a 65-60 overtime decision to Delaware. Despite the home setback, the Owls have been much better at VyStar Arena (8-4 record) this season than elsewhere (2-7 road record).

Thursday Tidbits

Liberty's 60-55 victory at Jax State improved the team's record to 4-0 in games decided by five points or fewer.
Avery Mills led the way offensively, setting career highs for points (27) and three-pointers (7) and falling just one triple shy of the Liberty single-game record which has stood since 1999.
JaKayla Thompson added 11 points, including the Lady Flames' last five of the game. She sealed the win with a driving layup with 14.2 seconds remaining.

At Home on the Road

Liberty has actually played better on the road (5-3 record) than it has at home (4-5) thus far in 2025-26.
Sophomores Avery Mills (19.5 ppg, 32 three-pointers, 51.6 3FG%) and Emmy Stout (16.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 57.5 FG%) have both been effective on the road this season.
The Lady Flames need one more road win to clinch a winning road record for the fourth time in the last 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 37-13 versus CUSA foes over the last three seasons, including 32-12 in conference play, 5-1 in the CUSA Championship, 16-5 at home and 16-7 on the road.
Liberty has faced three CUSA foes without suffering a loss over the past three years, including Kennesaw State (2-0), New Mexico State (6-0) and UTEP (5-0).

Spreading the Wealth

Nine different Lady Flames have scored in double figures this year, and those same nine have all led the team in scoring at least once. They include Avery Mills, JaKayla Thompson, Claudia Acin, Ify Nwaobi, Emmy Stout, Elisabeth Aegisdottir, Lydie Mwamba, Emma Leon and Lynn Peters.
Over the last four games, Liberty has doubled up its opponents in bench points, 56-28.

Schedule