The Liberty University Women’s Basketball team clinched a 71-64 win against the University of Delaware March 6, at Liberty Arena in the senior night regular season finale.
Despite falling to the Fightin’ Blue Hens in Delaware Jan. 17, the Lady Flames managed to pull through on their home turf to mark their sixth consecutive win at Liberty Arena. The home-court advantage combined with the motivation of senior night spurred the Lady Flames through a closely fought battle.
Prior to tipoff, Liberty senior guard Lydie Mwamba and redshirt junior forward Caroline Shiery were honored in a brief ceremony at center court along with four senior managers for the team. Head Coach Alexis Sherard said that the team had celebrated senior night activities all day leading up to the match, and he encouraged the excitement.
“Any type of motivation that the girls use, I love it,” Sherard said.
Delaware was the first to put points on the board, but it was not until the 6:52 mark when sophomore guard Avery Mills scored the first bucket for the Lady Flames with a layup. Liberty mounted a comeback as both teams drained multiple baskets before the first half ended with Delaware in the lead 32-31.
“When a game is tight, from a coaching perspective you kind of like that, because you want your team to be tested, especially going into conference tournaments … ” Sherard said. “You see how your team responds. With a relatively young team, it’s good for us to go through that.”
Going into the second half, all eyes were on leading scorer Mills to break the single-season 3-point record of 76 triples. The record had previously been set by alumna Emma Hess, who is now the assistant coach for the Lady Flames. Mills finished the night only one 3-pointer away from tying the record and two away from setting a new one, according to Liberty Athletics.
Solid rebounds by junior forward Elisabeth Aegisdottir and redshirt freshman forward Ify Nwaobi steadied the Lady Flames on defense. Nwaobi was sent to the bench after reaching four fouls midway through the third quarter.
In Nwaobi’s absence, sophomore center Emmy Stout stepped up to lead the Lady Flames in points and rebounds for the rest of the game. A quick round of consecutive shots down low in the third quarter provided a burst of energy for Liberty. Freshman guard Emma Leon and freshman center Lynn Peters added to the momentum with buckets of their own.
“I think what I love about this team is we all complement each other really well. While some people may not score as much, they still impact the game,” Stout said. “Elisabeth impacted the game on defense and rebounds, Avery (Mills) with points, JaKayla (Thompson) with steals, Claudia (Acin) with steals, Emma Leon with steals … I can go on with all of them.”
Delaware stayed in the wake of the Lady Flames, keeping the score tight at the end of the third quarter, 52-51.
The Lady Flames responded in the final frame by extending their lead. Mills took a charge against a Delaware drive, and a subsequent steal from Acin assisted Mills in a basket.
Nwaobi’s return to the court sealed the deal as she contributed six points in the last three minutes of the game.
“I think a challenging thing for us was just remaining consistent, not having those lows, and just staying on the same level,” Stout said. “I think we were able to pull out the win this time, but we just need to remember to apply that to our next games.”
As the Lady Flames leave regular season play, their next battle will be the conference tournament. The 2026 Conference USA Women’s Basketball Championship will be held in Huntsville, Alabama, March 10-14. Liberty enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed and will face the No. 4 seed Sam Houston State University March 12 at 12:30 p.m. EST.
Defending the Lady Flames’ conference tournament title is a priority among Liberty’s coaching staff and players.
“We’ll prepare them; we’ll try to make practices harder than the games,” Sherard said. “I don’t want us to be tight; I want us to go in loose. I want us to play free and basically just do what we’ve been doing all season.”
Quam is a sports editor for the Liberty Champion.