Liberty has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will face off against the Faith Lutheran Crusaders at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
You can't lose the matchup if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Liberty's strategy against Spring Valley on Thursday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Liberty blew Spring Valley out of the water with a 60-24 final score. Liberty pushed the score to 53-18 by the end of the third, a deficit Spring Valley had no chance of recovering from.
Lillian Hastings had an outrageously good game as she scored five points along with 33 steals and five rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Satsuki Bradley, who scored 20 points along with five rebounds and three steals.
Meanwhile, Faith Lutheran scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Thursday. They took their game at home with ease, bagging a 66-21 victory over Las Vegas. Given Faith Lutheran's advantage in MaxPreps' Nevada basketball rankings (they are ranked 17th, while Las Vegas is ranked 77th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Faith Lutheran relied on the efforts of Abby Blake, who scored six points along with two steals, and Tamiah Harrison, who scored 12 points along with five steals.
Liberty is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 13-7 record this season. As for Faith Lutheran, their victory bumped their record up to 9-10.
Saturday's game will pit two of the most dominant players against one another: Bradley and Emma Herpin. Bradley has been dynamite this season: she has averaged 16.7 points, 3.6 steals, and 3.7 rebounds. For her part, Herpin has averaged 11.1 points, 2.2 blocks, and 1.9 steals.
Liberty strolled past Faith Lutheran in their previous matchup back in January of 2023 by a score of 56-38. The rematch might be a little tougher for Liberty since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
