Sam Houston plays Liberty for conference showdown

Sam Houston Bearkats (7-5, 0-2 CUSA) at Liberty Lady Flames (8-5, 1-1 CUSA)

Lynchburg, Virginia; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Aysia Ward-Strong and Sam Houston visit Bella Smuda and Liberty on Thursday.

The Flames have gone 4-1 at home. Liberty averages 73.1 points while outscoring opponents by 9.1 points per game.

The Bearkats have gone 0-2 against CUSA opponents. Sam Houston is fifth in the CUSA giving up 61.3 points while holding opponents to 42.3% shooting.

Liberty makes 45.8% of its shots from the field this season, which is 3.5 percentage points higher than Sam Houston has allowed to its opponents (42.3%). Sam Houston averages 68.0 points per game, 4.0 more than the 64.0 Liberty allows to opponents.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Emma Hess is averaging 9.4 points for the Flames.

Kaila Kelley is averaging 14.1 points and 1.6 steals for the Bearkats.

LAST 10 GAMES: Flames: 6-4, averaging 73.4 points, 37.3 rebounds, 16.0 assists, 6.4 steals and 4.3 blocks per game while shooting 45.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.7 points per game.

Bearkats: 5-5, averaging 64.9 points, 35.8 rebounds, 14.0 assists, 11.2 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 36.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.1 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.