The Liberty Women’s basketball team opened its season on November 4th with a win over Frostburg St, ending 78-49. This is the first time the Women’s team has played Frostburg State since the 2023-24 season opener, when Liberty won 68-46. This extends the Flames’ wins in a row in the regular season to 17.
“I knew God would open up the door for me at the right time”, Head Coach Alexis Sherard stated about his start as Liberty Women’s head coach. He also talked about expectations for the team, stating, “I wanted our team to look organized, look like we have been coached, look like we have practiced, so I am pleased overall and very pleased with the effort the team gave tonight.”
He also talked about what the next few days will look like with now harder competition, “I told the team to enjoy the moment, review the film, and look at strengths and weaknesses from this game because it will be a quick turnaround coming Friday, so we will get a game plan for ECU and get some film together”.
Liberty started the first quarter close but had an easy time pulling away and building up a heavy lead in the next three quarters. Liberty had struggled in their first exhibition game this season against NC A&T, losing in overtime, but these problems seem to be just a preseason problem, as the flaws shown in that game have looked to disappear, and the team has elevated themselves on all ends.
A headline that was talked about before the season was whether or not young players like Emmy Stout and Avery Mills could be leaders on this team and help guide the Flames to another successful season. The Flames seem to have done just that. Emmy Stout posted a big stat line of 16 points and 11 rebounds, followed by a block.
Stout talked about setting the tone for her team and keeping good pace “I think what’s really helpful to set the tone, is early on my teammates are looking for me, when my teammates give me a good pass that gives me the energy to make a good move and that sets me up for success, so I feel like having that chemistry between the guards and the post is very helpful.”
She also talked about becoming more of a leader for this group this season stating, “I think we have a lot of great leaders on this team, a few returners, and a lot of incoming people I think we want to really focus on being a family, everyone stepping up in a role, it’s not just one person we are depending on so if one person is having a bad day another person can step up and bring the energy and effort so I think our whole team is going to be a great leader.”
Avery Mills also ended the game well with points and three assists while also being very vocal on the floor.
Something that has been talked about is how good Liberty’s defense could perform this season and whether or not this would dictate games; well, that was answered this game. LU had 26 points from turnovers at the end of the game and even a 21-point scoring run in the 2nd. Liberty recorded 4 blocks and 7 total steals, with Claudia Acin leading the way with 2 steals recorded.
Liberty was also very strong in the paint tonight with the clear advantage over Frostburg St all night. The Flames at halftime had a margin of 30 points compared to 2 for Frostburg St, and at the end of the game, they had 40 points in paint compared to 12. Liberty also had a great game from the bench during halftime LU’s bench outscored Frostburg 16-6, then for the end of the game, the bench surged with the final tally at the end of the game having the bench outscoring Frostburg 34-12. A lot of these factors are very promising, but it should be interesting to see whether or not these stats hold up next game against a much stronger opponent.
There were multiple high scorers for this game aside from just Emmy Stout and Avery Mills, the veteran guard and leader, Claudia Acin had 9 points with 4 assists, plus scoring a team high 3 three pointers. Boston College transfer Jakayla Thompson also had a good debut for her new team, she had 9 points, followed by 1 steal, and she was perfect from the free throw line 2-2. Lydie Mwamba and Lynn Peters also made the most of their minutes, with Mwamba having 9 points and Peters having 8, both just playing 15 minutes.
Liberty has a few areas to work on before the next game, with one being their field percentage, only shooting 26.7% from three and 42.6 percent from the field. Something the Flames struggled with was having consistency each quarter, scoring with 38% percent from the field in the first, 42.9% in the second, 58.3% in the third, and 35.7% in the 4th.
Coach Sherard spoke on these struggles and how to fix this saying, “In the game of basketball I don’t think anything fixes itself, I think you have to address it, work at it, but again with a youthful team that’s the inconsistency we are trying to minimize, but overall they responded pretty well and I did not have to call any timeouts to regroup so they got that recalibrated and regenerated on their own which from a coaching perspective is something you want to see.”
Liberty will face its first Division I matchup Friday against ECU. The Flames have an all-time record of 1-2 against ECU. The teams last played in 2022, with LU losing 72-64. This game should be a big testament to how far Liberty has come and is going to be a big test for all of the players. This game will be on Friday, Nov. 7, at 2:00 pm at Liberty Arena.
