The Liberty Lady Flames (25-2, 13-1 ASUN) welcome No. 24 Florida Gulf Coast (24-2, 13-1 ASUN) into Liberty Arena for a matchup of the top two women’s basketball teams in the ASUN on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in a game that will be streamed on ESPN+.
Liberty became the first NCAA Division I women’s basketball team to reach 25 wins this season with a win over Stetson this past Saturday afternoon. That win, the 10th straight for the Lady Flames, helped the team clinch a first round bye and a quarterfinal round home game in the upcoming ASUN Tournament.
Over the past several years, FGCU has asserted themselves as the premier women’s basketball program in the ASUN. FGCU has won the ASUN Tournament the past four seasons (not counting 2020 which was canceled due to COVID) and seven of the past nine years. Since joining the ASUN for the 2007-08 season, FGCU has advanced to either the NCAA Tournament or the Women’s NIT every year.
Liberty has won a program record 13 ASUN games, but will be looking for the program’s first ever win over FGCU. The lady Flames are 0-9 all-time against the Eagles and have lost 35 consecutive meetings against Top 25 foes. Liberty and FGCU have each reached the ASUN title in all three seasons since Liberty joined the ASUN in 2018-19.
In the first meeting between Liberty and FGCU this season, on Jan. 15, the Lady Flames led, 55-41, with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter. They wouldn’t be able to hold onto the lead though, as FGCU’s Kierstan Bell scored 20 of her 25 points the rest of the way, spearheading a comeback that resulted in a 73-69 win. Liberty had 17 turnovers in the loss, two of which came in the final 68 seconds. The Flames also had a season low with just one three-pointer made in the game.
This meeting will be without Bell, FGCU’s top player, as she succumbed to a knee injury. Bell underwent surgery for a torn meniscus the last week of January and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks which could have her back in the lineup as soon as this weekend. Without her, the Eagles suffered their first and only conference loss so far this season, falling to Stetson, 58-55, on Feb. 12.
With just two regular season games remaining for both teams, Thursday’s contest will likely determine the No. 1 seed in the ASUN’s East Division and home court throughout the ASUN Tournament.
“Every game has got value as far as seeding goes,” said Liberty head coach Carey Green following his team’s win over Stetson on Saturday. “Do we have to win? No, they don’t need to have that pressure, but if I have to play Florida Gulf Coast one more time, I want to play them at home. We’ve got them at home. We will prepare our best we possibly can. We know that head to head it’s a tie (in the standings), but tiebreaker goes to them based on NET rankings. Next game is a big one, every one of them is big. A lot of value in preparing and playing your very best the next two games.”
