No. 13 seed Liberty trailed No. 4 seed Kentucky by as many as 17 points and rallied to pull within one on three different occasions in Friday afternoon’s NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament at Historic Memorial Coliseum, including the final score of 79-78.
20 years after the Lady Flames went on a Sweet 16 run back in 2025, Liberty (26-7) nearly posted its first NCAA Tournament win since then. However, Liberty had to settle for the narrow setback, its closest among 20 NCAA Tournament contests in program history. The loss also halted Liberty’s 11 game winning streak as the Lady Flames season came to a close.
Kentucky’s Amelia Hassett opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer, pushing the Wildcats lead to 67-50 with 9:36 left, its largest lead of the day. The Flames then outscored the Wildcats, 23-7 over the next 8:22, pulling to 74-73 on an Avery Mills triple with 1:14 left. Georgia Amoore responded for Kentucky with a layup at the other end and hit 3 of 4 free throws over the final 10 seconds to keep Liberty at bay. In the fourth quarter, Liberty shot 10 of 16 (62.5%) from the field and 3 of 5 from behind the arc, as well as a perfect 5 of 5 from the charity stripe.
Amoore was hot from the opening tip, scoring 15 points in the opening quarter by herself to help Kentucky to a 23-14 lead. The Flames shot just 5 of 18 from the field and 1 of 7 from the free throw line. In the second period, Emma Hess posted nine points and three rebounds, but the Wildcats were able to go into the locker with a 44-34 lead following 23 first half points from Amoore.
Emmy Stout paced four Lady Flames in double figures with 20 points, eight of which came during the final period when Liberty outscored the Wildcats, 28-15. It was the most for her since scoring 23 in her collegiate debut against Randolph on Dec. 11. She becomes the first Liberty true freshman to score 20 points in an NCAA Tournament game and the 6th Lady Flame to post a 20-point contest during March Madness.
Emma Hess scored 17 to go with 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Hess finished her career with 224 career triples after knocking down three on Friday. She finishes just three off the Liberty all-time record in three-pointers made and finishes 13th in program history with 1,183 career points. Bella Smuda posted a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds and Jordan Hodges had 13 points, 5, rebounds, and 4 assists. It was Smuda’s 8th double-double of the season and 28th of her career as she notched Liberty’s 6th double-double in NCAA Tournament history and the first since Ashley Rininger in 2015 against North Carolina. She also finishes her career with 1,001 rebounds, 4th in Liberty’s all-time list.
Liberty ended the game shooting 46% from the field and 35% from three. The Lady Flames outscored Kentucky, 40-24, in the paint and also out-rebounded the home team, 41-32, and turned 18 offensive boards into 23 second chance points. It was Liberty’s first time losing this season when out-rebounding their opponent. The Flames were 23-0 when doing so prior to Friday. Liberty’s bench scored 28 points to just two off the bench for Kentucky. The Lady Flames are now 2-18 in all-time in the Big Dance, all of which have come since 1997.
Amoore led Kentucky with 34 points on 6 of 10 shooting from three as well as 8 assists as the Wildcats, playing on their home floor, advance to Sunday’s second round against No. 5 seed Kansas State. Kentucky hit 12 three-pointers in the win over the Lady Flames at a 41.4% clip and also blocked 12 Liberty shot attempts. Dazia Lawrence scored 16 and Clara Strack had 15 points and 10 rebounds to help the Wildcats advance.
*photo courtesy Liberty Athletics
