After winning the 2025 CUSA regular season and tournament title, the Liberty Lady Flames will be making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2018. The next step in the journey begins on Friday in Lexington, Kentucky. The No. 13 seed in the region, Liberty will take on No. 4 seed and host Kentucky in the first round. The game will tip off at Noon Eastern and will air on ESPN.
The winner of Friday’s first round game between the Flames and Wildcats will face the winner of No. 5 Kansas State and No. 12 Fairfield on Sunday in the second round, also in Lexington.
The Lady Flames (26-6, 16-2 CUSA) earned their 18th bid to the NCAA Tournament with a 53-48 win over Middle Tennessee in the CUSA title game on Saturday in Huntsville, Alabama. Kentucky leads the all-time series, 2-1. The Lady Flames won the first ever meeting between these two teams, 80-76, in Lexington on Dec. 12, 1998. That was Liberty’s first win over an SEC team in program history.
Kentucky and Liberty will be meeting in the NCAA Tournament for the second time and first since March 20, 2010, a first round game that Kentucky won, 83-77, in Louisville, Kentucky. The Lady Flames went 1-1 against SEC opponents this season, defeating Arkansas 75-61 on Dec. 18 and falling 109-93 at Tennessee, Nov. 16.
Liberty rides an 11-game winning streak into the Big Dance this week. Emma Hess scored a team-high 14 points, including the last five points of the contest, on Saturday night in the win over MTSU for the CUSA crown. CUSA Tournament MVP Bella Smuda had a double double with 10 points and 13 rebounds and also 3 blocks.
The Wildcats have been selected to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in program history. Kentucky’s selection in the NCAA Championship is its first since 2022 and 18th selection in program history. The Wildcats are 22-17 all-time in the Big Dance including a 13-4 mark in first round games.
Kentucky is led by first year head coach Kenny Brooks. A Waynesboro, Virginia native, Brooks played his college ball at James Madison before beginning his coaching career at VMI. In 1998, he accepted an assistant coaching position at his alma mater with the men’s team before switching to become an assistant for the women’s team. Brooks was then the head coach of the Dukes from 2003-2016, posting a 337-122 record with six NCAA Tournament appearances. Prior to this season at Kentucky, Brooks spent the prior eight seasons at Virginia Tech where he compiled a 180-82 record and four trips to the Big Dance including a run to the Final Four in 2023.
