Louisiana Tech Uses 2nd-Half Defense to Top Liberty, 61-48, in CUSA Semis

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – No. 5 seed Liberty jumped out to an early nine-point lead during Friday evening's CUSA Women's Basketball Championship semifinal meeting with No. 1 Louisiana Tech. However, the Lady Techsters held the Lady Flames to 17 second-half points on their way to a 61-48 victory and a trip to Saturday's title game.

Liberty's first season under Head Coach Alexis Sherard ends at 18-13 on Sherard's 56^th birthday. Emmy Stout led all players with 16 points. However, the Lady Flames shot just 22.2 percent (6-of-27) from the field, 15.4 percent (2-of-13) from three-point range and 37.5 percent (3-of-8) from the free throw line while committing nine turnovers after halftime.

Louisiana Tech (26-5) won its 19^th consecutive game to return to its first CUSA title game since 2022. The Lady Techsters will face the winner of the second semifinal between No. 2 seed FIU and No. 6 seed Missouri State, Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern.

The Lady Techsters got 14 points apiece from Paris Bradley and Jordan Marshall, who had both been freshmen when Louisiana Tech fell 80-53 to Liberty in the 2025 CUSA semifinal round. The duo scored the first eight points of a late 11-0 run which broke open a tight game for the first time.

Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Stout – 16 points, 7-14 FG; Avery Mills – 9 points, 6 assists, 3-8 3FG; Ify Nwaobi – 9 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks; Elisabeth Aegisdottir – 4 points, 10 rebounds.

Louisiana Tech Individuals: Marshall – 14 points, 6 rebounds; Bradley – 14 points, 4-8 3FG; Alexia Weaver – 9 points, 7-8 FT; Jianna Morris – 8 points, 8-9 FT.

Key Team Stats: Louisiana Tech shot better than Liberty from the field (42.5 percent to 37.3 percent), three-point range (31.3 percent to 23.5 percent) and the foul line (75.9 percent to 50 percent). The Lady Techsters were 22-of-29 at the charity stripe, including 18-of-25 after halftime. Liberty was just 6-of-12 for the game. The Lady Flames controlled the rebounding (35-26) and points in the paint (26-24) categories. However, LA Tech turned Liberty's 15 turnovers into 20 points and tallied 14 bench points to Liberty's four.

Turning Point
Liberty raced out to a 13-4 lead to open the game, and the Lady Techsters did not reclaim the advantage until 9:24 remained in the fourth quarter, when Morris hit all three of her free throws to make it 41-39.

LA Tech's advantage eventually reached seven (46-39) before a 7-2 Liberty burst. Mills' long triple from the top of the key pulled the Lady Flames back within two (48-46) with 5:00 to play.

However, those would be Liberty's final points until senior Lydie Mwamba scored the last hoop of her career, a baseline jumper, with 18 seconds left.

In the meantime, the Lady Techsters took control with the aforementioned 11-0 run. Bradley answered Mills' trifecta with one of her own on the next possession to get it started.

Bradley then connected on a backbreaking triple which pushed the lead to double figures (56-46) with only 1:17 left.

Notes and Nuggets

Stout scored 11 of her 16 points in the first half, helping the Lady Flames build a 31-25 halftime lead. She led the team in scoring for the seventh time in the last 10 games, reaching double digits for the 24^th time this season.
Mills tied her career high of six assists to lead all players. She also hit three triples, extending her Liberty single-season record to 82. Mills finished the year at 42.7 percent (82-of-192) from long distance, breaking Emily Lytle's Liberty single-season mark of 39.1 percent from the 2020-21 campaign.
Nwaobi's nine rebounds give her 265 for her redshirt freshman campaign. That ranks No. 3 all-time among Liberty freshmen, just six behind Devon Brown's Liberty freshman-record 271 boards from 2009-10.
Aegisdottir led all players with her 10 boards, marking her second time this season and the fifth time in the junior's career she has grabbed double-digit rebounds. She is now tied with Stacey White for 38^th in program history with 456 career caroms.
Liberty closed the season winning four of its last five games and nine of its last 12.
The Lady Flames reached the semifinals of their conference tournament for the ninth straight year and 29^th time in the last 30 seasons. However, this is just the fifth time in 30 seasons they will not play in the championship game.
Liberty fell to 15-2 this season when leading after three quarters.

Schedule

Louisiana Tech Uses 2nd-Half Defense to Top Liberty, 61-48, in CUSA Semis

Team Stats

Emmy Stout

Avery Mills

Ify Nwaobi

JaKayla Thompson

Players Mentioned

Elisabeth Aegisdottir

Avery Mills

Lydie Mwamba

Ify Nwaobi

Emmy Stout