Friday, March 6
Lynchburg, Va.
7:00 PM ET
Liberty University
17-12,11-7CUSA
71
vs
64
Delaware
12-18,6-12CUSA
1
2
3
4
F
Delaware
17
15
19
13
64
Liberty
17
14
21
19
71
Liberty celebrated Senior Night prior to Friday's regular-season finale.
Liberty Pulls Out 71-64 Senior Night Win Over Delaware
3/6/2026 10:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Defending CUSA champion Liberty is heading back to Huntsville on a high note. The Lady Flames closed out the regular season on Friday with a 71-64 Senior Night triumph over Delaware at Liberty Arena, marking their third straight win and eighth victory in the last 10 contests.
Liberty (17-12, 11-7 CUSA) could still finish as high as a tie for second in the CUSA regular-season standings after recording its sixth consecutive home triumph. The Lady Flames, who got 18 points from Emmy Stout and 17 more from Avery Mills, broke open a back-and-forth game with a 10-2 run to open the final period.
Delaware (12-18, 6-12 CUSA) wraps up its first season of CUSA play with a six-game losing streak. Lay Fantroy paced all players in points (19) and rebounds (10), but the visitors committed 20 turnovers that led to 15 Liberty points.
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Stout – 18 points, 6 rebounds; Mills – 17 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 3-8 3FG; Ify Nwaobi – 13 points, 6 rebounds, 6-7 FG; Claudia Acin – 7 points, 8 assists, 2 steals.
Other Delaware Individuals: Kaila Correa – 12 points, 2-3 3FG; Ande'a Cherisier – 10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists; Trinity Vance – 10 points, 5 assists, 3-5 3FG.
Key Team Stats: Both teams shot well from the floor, with Liberty finishing at 48.3 percent (29-of-60) and Delaware connecting at a 49 percent (25-of-51) clip. The Lady Flames were 6-of-19 from three-point range for 31.6 percent, while the Blue Hens hit 8-of-20 for 40 percent. Liberty hit 63.6 percent (7-of-11) of its foul shots, while Delaware shot only 50 percent (6-of-12). The two teams ended up even on the glass (31-31), but Liberty had a 10-point advantage (42-32) in points in the paint. The Lady Flames notched 19 assists on 29 made field goals and tallied 18 bench points to Delaware's five.
Turning Point
The first three quarters featured 13 lead changes (the second most in a Liberty game this season), and the Lady Flames headed to the final 10 minutes with a slim 52-51 advantage.
Liberty then outscored the visitors 10-2 over the first 4:57 of the fourth quarter, getting four layups and a pair of Mills free throws while Delaware was busy committing five turnovers.
Now trailing 62-53, the Blue Hens got no closer than six points down for the remainder of the contest.
Nwaobi, who had missed the teams' first meeting in Newark due to injury, tallied six points in the final three minutes to help seal the decision.
Notes and Nuggets
The Lady Flames will look to defend their title at the 2026 CUSA Women's Basketball Championship, set to take place March 10-14 at Propst Arena in Huntsville, Ala.
The tournament bracket will be announced Saturday evening. The March 14 championship game will air on CBS Sports Network, with all other tournament contests slated for 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.
Liberty (17-12, 11-7 CUSA) could still finish as high as a tie for second in the CUSA regular-season standings after recording its sixth consecutive home triumph. The Lady Flames, who got 18 points from Emmy Stout and 17 more from Avery Mills, broke open a back-and-forth game with a 10-2 run to open the final period.
Delaware (12-18, 6-12 CUSA) wraps up its first season of CUSA play with a six-game losing streak. Lay Fantroy paced all players in points (19) and rebounds (10), but the visitors committed 20 turnovers that led to 15 Liberty points.
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Stout – 18 points, 6 rebounds; Mills – 17 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 3-8 3FG; Ify Nwaobi – 13 points, 6 rebounds, 6-7 FG; Claudia Acin – 7 points, 8 assists, 2 steals.
Other Delaware Individuals: Kaila Correa – 12 points, 2-3 3FG; Ande'a Cherisier – 10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists; Trinity Vance – 10 points, 5 assists, 3-5 3FG.
Key Team Stats: Both teams shot well from the floor, with Liberty finishing at 48.3 percent (29-of-60) and Delaware connecting at a 49 percent (25-of-51) clip. The Lady Flames were 6-of-19 from three-point range for 31.6 percent, while the Blue Hens hit 8-of-20 for 40 percent. Liberty hit 63.6 percent (7-of-11) of its foul shots, while Delaware shot only 50 percent (6-of-12). The two teams ended up even on the glass (31-31), but Liberty had a 10-point advantage (42-32) in points in the paint. The Lady Flames notched 19 assists on 29 made field goals and tallied 18 bench points to Delaware's five.
Turning Point
The first three quarters featured 13 lead changes (the second most in a Liberty game this season), and the Lady Flames headed to the final 10 minutes with a slim 52-51 advantage.
Liberty then outscored the visitors 10-2 over the first 4:57 of the fourth quarter, getting four layups and a pair of Mills free throws while Delaware was busy committing five turnovers.
Now trailing 62-53, the Blue Hens got no closer than six points down for the remainder of the contest.
Nwaobi, who had missed the teams' first meeting in Newark due to injury, tallied six points in the final three minutes to help seal the decision.
Notes and Nuggets
- Stout (18 points) led the Lady Flames in scoring for the sixth time in the last eight games and for the second time in as many meetings with Delaware. She went for 21 points during the teams' first matchup on Jan. 17.
- Mills (17 points) reached double figures for the 21st time in 24 appearances this season, while dishing out a season-best five assists and tying her career high of three steals.
- Mills' three triples give the sophomore 75 for the season, just one shy of assistant coach Emma Hess' program record of 76 from the 2023-24 campaign.
- Nwaobi's six rebounds push her season total to 249. That ranks fourth among freshmen in program history and is the top rebounding total by a Liberty rookie since 2009-10, when Devon Brown collected a Liberty freshman-record 271 caroms.
- Acin's eight assists give the junior three contests with eight or more helpers this season. With 107 assists on the season, Acin is the first Lady Flame to dish out 100 or more since former teammate Jordan Hodges in 2023-24.
- Liberty's 71 points were their most in a game since the Lady Flames tallied 72 against Louisiana Tech on Jan. 11.
- Friday's triumph was Liberty's first ever against Delaware (in three tries).
- Liberty is now 100-60 all-time when playing in March.
- The Lady Flames won their regular-season finale for the fifth year in a row, improving to 15-2 in the last game of the year over the last 17 seasons.
- The Lady Flames finished their sixth season at Liberty Arena with a 9-5 home record, giving them a 74-14 all-time mark at the facility.
- Friday's game drew 1,518 fans, the second largest home attendance figure of the season.
- Liberty honored seniors Lydie Mwamba and Caroline Shiery prior to tipoff. Meanwhile, a separate ceremony announced the naming of the Liberty women's basketball locker room in honor of Carey and Denise Green.
The Lady Flames will look to defend their title at the 2026 CUSA Women's Basketball Championship, set to take place March 10-14 at Propst Arena in Huntsville, Ala.
The tournament bracket will be announced Saturday evening. The March 14 championship game will air on CBS Sports Network, with all other tournament contests slated for 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
UD
Lib
FG%
.490
.483
3FG%
.400
.316
FT%
.500
.636
RB
31
31
TO
20
12
STL
4
9
Game Leaders
Pts
18
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
4
Pts
13
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballC
/ Women's BasketballCoach Sherard & Emmy Stout Talk About The Win Over Delaware
Saturday, March 07
Liberty Women's Basketball Show with Zeynep Avci (3-6-26)
Friday, March 06
Avery Mills: Playing with Freedom
Tuesday, March 03
Coach Sherard & Ify Nwaobi Talk About The Win Over MTSU
Friday, February 27