No. 1 Liberty (25-6, 16-2 CUSA) had little trouble No. 5 Louisiana Tech (16-15, 8-10 CUSA), defeating them 80-53 on Friday evening in the CUSA Semifinals. The Lady Flames advance to Saturday’s CUSA championship game tilt at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. Liberty will take on the No. 2 Middle Tennessee after they defeated No. 3 Western Kentucky.
“I think there are some advantages to getting a high seed,” said Liberty head coach Carey Green. “You get a little extra rest. It was sorta evident how the game started. We were tied or we had a little lead, and I think that rest and, for us, having a deep bench, really helped out a whole lot. As the game progressed, I thought we had a lot of energy and played very well. The legs and the competition, the craziness of the emotions and March Madness, just up and down. It’s hard to channel all of that. I really think the turnover rest period for us was a huge advantage. Of course, you work for that all year.”
The Lady Flames used an 8-0 run early in the contest to stake a 10-2 lead. Liberty would go on to lead throughout despite both teams shooting 50% or better in the first period. That would change for the Lady Techsters moving into the second quarter as they went a stretch where they missed 13 straight field goals. Liberty would open the second quarter on another 8-0 run and an extended 13-2 spurt to push the lead to as high as 17. It was 37-26 Liberty at the intermission.
Liberty went on a 12-1 run early in the third period to push hits lead to as high as 22. Outscoring Louisiana Tech, 16-6, in the third period, the Flames went into the fourth quarter up, 53-31. The Lady Techsters would get no closer than 18 points the rest of the way with the leading reaching as high as 31 as Liberty cruised to the victory.
“I thought our bench did well coming in,” said Green. “You just play to survive and move forward. We are excited to be in the championship game tomorrow.”
The Lady Flames improve to 4-1 all-time against the Lady Techsters, bouncing back from a 67-66 setback in the teams’ most recent matchup on Feb. 6 in Ruston, Louisiana. Since that time, Liberty has won 10 straight as the team returns to the conference championship game for a third year in a row and a 25th time in 29 seasons.
Avery Mills paced the Lady Flames in scoring with 17. She was 6 of 9 from the floor and 3 of 4 from three. Elisabeth Aegisdottir scored 13. Emma Hess and Emmy Stout eached finished with 8 points while Asia Boone and Bella Smuda each had 7. Liberty finished the game shooting 50.9% from the field and 8 of 20 (40%) from three while holding Louisiana Tech to 37.8% shooting from the field.
The Lady Flames improve to 46-1 in conference tournaments as the No. 1 seed and will be looking for a 16th title in 17 appearances as the No. 1 seed. Liberty has won 17 conference tournament championships, all of them coming in the Big South with the most recent being in 2018.
It will be the third meeting this season between Liberty and Middle Tennessee. The two teams tied for the regular season title and split the regular season series. The Lady Flames defeated the Blue Raiders just last Thursday at Liberty Arena, 61-42 behind a stifling defensive effort. The win was Liberty’s first ever in five all-time meetings with the Blue Raiders and it halted Middle’s 11-game winning streak. It will also be a rematch of last year’s CUSA Championship Final where Middle Tennessee defeated the Flames, 67-51, on the same floor in Huntsville, Alabama.
“We are not going to change anything,” Green said. “We will tweak and expect the effort that we’ve had all year in practice and even in the summer. If that’s not good enough, we will live with it.”
