Liberty Shoots Past Sam Houston, 89-57, Returns to CUSA Semifinals

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – No. 5 seed Liberty opened defense of its CUSA in most impressive fashion during Thursday afternoon's quarterfinal matchup with No. 4 seed Sam Houston at Propst Arena. Led by the duo of Ify Nwaobi (career-high 22 points) and Avery Mills (20 points), the Lady Flames set a season high for points and matched their season best of 12 triples in a dominating 89-57 victory.

Liberty (18-12), which avenged a 59-53 home regular-season setback to Sam Houston, defeated the Bearkats in the CUSA quarterfinal round for the second year in a row.

The Lady Flames advance to the semifinals of their conference tournament for the ninth straight year and the 29^th time in the last 30 seasons, where they will face No. 1 seed Louisiana Tech (25-5), Friday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. It will mark a rematch from the 2025 CUSA semifinals, when Liberty topped the Lady Techsters 80-53 to advance to the final.

Nwaobi got the Lady Flames off to a fast start on Thursday, scoring 20 of her 22 points and hitting all five of her triples in the first half as Liberty built a 47-29 halftime advantage. Mills then tallied 15 of her 20 points after the intermission, including a three-pointer 36 seconds into the third quarter which broke assistant coach Emma Hess' Liberty single-season record of 76 triples from the 2023-24 campaign.

Sam Houston falls to 18-12 despite a 20-point outing from Whitney Dunn. The Bearkats struggled from three-point range (3-of-18 for 16.7 percent) and the foul line (16-of-27 for 59.3 percent) and committed 16 turnovers that led to 25 Liberty points.

Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Nwaobi – 22 points, 7 rebounds, 8-9 FG, 5-6 3FG; Mills – 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4-8 3FG; Emmy Stout – 11 points, 6 rebounds, 7-9 FT; Claudia Acin – 9 points, 3 assists; Lynn Peters – 7 points, 5 rebounds.

Sam Houston Individuals: Dunn – 20 points, 6 rebounds; Nyla Inmon – 11 points, 4 rebounds; Aysia Ward-Strong – 9 points; Deborah Ogayemi – 8 points, 5 rebounds, 4-6 FG; Fanta Kone – 8 assists.

Key Team Stats: Liberty finished at 48.4 percent (30-of-62) from the floor, 41.4 percent (12-of-29) from beyond the arc and 73.9 percent (17-of-23) from the foul line, scoring 20 or more points in all four quarters. The Lady Flames had the upper hand in nearly every statistical category, including rebounds (40-30), points off turnovers (25-4), points in the paint (36-28), second-chance points (season-high 21-11), and bench points (26-6). Liberty blocked five shots to Sam Houston's one and committed a season-low eight turnovers.

Turning Point
Liberty emerged from a back-and-forth first quarter which featured six lead changes with a 22-17 edge.

Dunn then opened the second quarter scoring with a three-point play which drew Mills' third foul, sending her to the bench for the remainder of the opening half.

With its lead cut to two (22-20) and its leading scorer on the sidelines, Liberty responded with a 10-0 run and outscored Sam Houston 25-9 during the remainder of the first half. Four of Nwaobi's triples and 14 of her points spearheaded the Lady Flames' surge.

The Bearkats fashioned a 16-2 run late in the third quarter, but even that burst only pulled them within 18 (67-49).

Notes and Nuggets

Nwaobi (22 points, five triples) shattered her previous career highs of 17 points and three triples. Her 20 points in the opening half were the most by a Lady Flame in a single half since Mills tallied 21 second-half points during the CUSA opener at New Mexico State on Jan. 2.
Nwaobi's 88.9 field goal percentage (8-of-9) equals the second highest single-game field goal percentage in tournament history. Nwaobi is now shooting 14-of-16 from the field and 6-of-7 from three-point range in the last two outings.
Nwaobi's seven rebounds give her 256 for the season, tying her with Avery Warley (2008-09) for third place on Liberty's freshman single-season rebounding chart.
Mills posted her seventh 20-point game of the season, giving Liberty a pair of 20-point scorers in the same contest for the first time since Jan. 4 at UTEP (Mills and Acin). She has now reached double figures in three of four CUSA Tournament appearances during her career.
Mills finished with four triples on the afternoon, pushing the sophomore's Liberty single-season record total to 79.
Stout (11 points) scored in double figures for the 23^rd time this season, aided by a season-high seven free throws made.
Liberty has now won four games in a row and nine of 11 since the calendar flipped to February.
The Lady Flames improve to 6-1 all-time against Sam Houston and 6-1 in CUSA Tournament outings during their three years of conference membership.
Liberty's 32-point margin of victory was the largest in any CUSA Tournament game since Marshall beat FIU 76-44 in the 2016 second round.
The Lady Flames' season-low eight turnovers came against a Sam Houston team which was ranked No. 5 nationally with 25.5 turnovers forced per game.

Schedule

Liberty Shoots Past Sam Houston, 89-57, Returns to CUSA Semifinals

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Team Stats

Ify Nwaobi

Avery Mills

Emmy Stout

Claudia Acin

Players Mentioned

Claudia Acin

Avery Mills

Ify Nwaobi

Lynn Peters

Emmy Stout