Liberty University Women's Basketball

Longtime assistant Alexis Sherard was announced as the seventh head coach in program history on Aug. 28, 2025. Sherard had spent 25 seasons as an assistant coach at the collegiate level, the last 18 of which came as a part of Carey Green’s staff at Liberty. After shifting from the Liberty men’s basketball staff to the women’s basketball staff prior to the 2007-08 campaign, Sherard served as an assistant women's basketball/recruiting coordinator coach for his first 10 seasons. He was then promoted to associate head coach in time for the 2017-18 season. Sherard has earned conference tournament championship rings during nine of his first 18 years with the Lady Flames. Liberty has made eight NCAA Tournament appearances and four trips to the Postseason WNIT Tournament with Sherard on staff. Sherard coached the Lady Flames’ post players during much of his time as an assistant. In that capacity, Sherard aided in the development of 2012 graduate Avery Warley. She graduated as the leading rebounder in Liberty and Big South Conference history and then began a WNBA career with the Phoenix Mercury in 2012. Additionally, Liberty has led the nation in rebound margin four times (2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14) during Sherard’s tenure with the Lady Flames. Sherard also oversaw the development of the “Big 3” of Katelyn Adams, Catherine Kearney and Ashley Rininger, each of whom wrapped up their time with the Lady Flames in 2015-16. The trio totaled 2,898 points and 2,431 rebounds during

Beginning her fifth season with the women’s basketball program in 2025-26, Amber Lee has taken on an updated title of assistant coach/director of basketball analytics and creative content. In addition to assisting with on-court coaching, Lee develops and manages content for use in recruiting and social media. She also assists the coaching staff in creating opponent scouting reports and coordinates all aspects of film exchange and video editing. Lee first joined the Liberty women’s basketball staff as coordinator of digital services/director of leadership performance and student services in time for the 2021-22 season. She then worked as video and creative content/assistant coach for three seasons (2022-23 through 2024-25). Lee arrived at Liberty after spending the previous four years (2017-21) as head girls’ basketball coach and physical education teacher at Chapel Hill High School in Douglasville, Ga. In charge of guard and wing development, Lee helped her team make three straight tournament appearances. Lee served as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Shorter University in her hometown of Rome, Ga., for three seasons (2014-17). After the Lady Hawks had posted a 6-20 record the season prior to her arrival, Lee helped them improve to 20-8 in two seasons. Lee also gained administrative experience at Shorter as the university’s senior woman administrator from 2015-17. Lee spent the 2013-14 season as an assistant women’s basketball coach at the University of Alabama-Huntsv

Andrea “Andy” Bloodworth begins her 19th year as an assistant on the Liberty women’s basketball coaching staff in 2025-26, making her the longest-tenured assistant in program history. The team’s director of recruiting also assists with development of the Lady Flames’ point guards and scouting. Liberty has claimed conference tournament titles during nine of Bloodworth’s first 18 seasons on Liberty Mountain, tallying a 406-176 record in the process. During the 2022-23 campaign, Bloodworth helped coach Kennedi Williams to a breakout season. The floor general finished No. 4 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.94) while dishing out 144 assists, the most by a Lady Flame in 25 years. In 2017-18, Bloodworth coached point guard Ashtyn Baker to Big South Freshman of the Year and Big South All-Tournament Team honors during a spectacular rookie year. Bloodworth previously served as recruiting coordinator for the Valparaiso women’s basketball team for two seasons (2005-06 and 2006-07), working with the Crusaders’ perimeter players and assisting with scouting. The team went 36-24 during her two seasons as part of the coaching staff, including a 20-win season in 2006-07. Six Crusaders earned All-Mid-Continent Conference recognition during those two seasons. Prior to her time at Valparaiso, Bloodworth worked for three years on the Gannon women’s basketball coaching staff. As an assistant coach, she served as the Golden Knights’ recruiting coordinator. Bloodworth also helped develop gua

Coaching veteran Brad Palmer joins the Liberty women’s basketball staff as an assistant coach/director of offense development for the 2025-26 season. Palmer ...

Chelsey Hoggard-Harris joined the Liberty women’s basketball staff as assistant director of operations in the summer of 2023. Her title was updated to executive assistant to the coaching staff and program operations prior to the 2025-26 season. In this role, Hoggard-Harris is responsible for a number of duties, including the team’s budget, intercampus relations, generating requisitions and reconciling expenses, assisting the director of operations and coordinating Coach Sherard’s daily schedule. Hoggard-Harris, who graduated from Liberty with a bachelor’s degree in sport management in 2020, has served her alma mater in a number of ways. She has worked as the assistant camp director for women’s basketball for three summers (2021-23). Hoggard-Harris spent time with the Liberty football program in two different roles (football operations coordinator in 2021 and student football equipment manager from 2018-20). She was also employed as a Liberty ticket office coordinator in 2021. Hoggard-Harris’ most recent experience prior to joining the Liberty women’s basketball staff came at Kent State, where she worked in football operations in 2023. She also served as interim director of football operations and assisted with recruiting at Norfolk State in 2021. From 2022-23, Hoggard-Harris worked with all 22 athletic teams at George Mason in the role of assistant business office manager.

Dan Lumpkin first joined the Liberty women’s basketball coaching staff in August 2017 as the program’s first director of player development and was later named an assistant coach in July 2023. Most recently, Lumpkin took on the title of special assistant to the head coach/director of student-athlete development and NIL operations prior to the 2025-26 season. Lumpkin formerly served as women’s basketball head coach at Cleveland State Community College in Cleveland, Tenn., with 25 years of collegiate coaching experience. Lumpkin won 337 games at Cleveland State at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I level, making him the winningest basketball coach in the school’s history. His teams made it into the NJCAA Division I rankings a number of times over the years, with the highest ranking being No. 7 during the 2010-2011 season. Lumpkin had over 40 players selected to the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association (TCCAA) All-Conference teams and NJCAA Region 7 All-Region teams, and had two selected as NJCAA All-Americans. His teams were TCCAA Conference and NJCAA Region and District Tournament runners-up in 2014-15 and 2015-16, and Lumpkin was selected as 2016 TCCAA/NJCAA Region 7 Coach of the Year. Prior to moving into the junior college ranks, Lumpkin was an assistant coach at Martin Methodist College, which won the 1995 Small College National Championship. Before coaching at Martin Methodist, he was a graduate assistant for two seasons at Aus

Emma Hess begins her coaching career as an assistant coach/director of player development in 2025-26. She joined the staff less than six months after helping the Lady Flames earn their inaugural CUSA title and return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven years during a memorable senior season. A sharpshooter from Beavercreek, Ohio, Hess was a part of 96 victories during her four years at Liberty. She set the program single-season record with 76 three-pointers made as a junior and finished No. 2 in program history for career triples (224) and career three-point field goal percentage (37.0). Hess also wrapped up her time as a Lady Flame ranked No. 13 on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,183 points. Hess was a two-time All-CUSA performer, earning first team honors in 2023-24 and second team accolades in 2024-25. Also a standout in the classroom, Hess was a three-time CSC Academic All-District honoree (2023, 2024 and 2025) and made back-to-back CUSA All-Academic Team appearances in 2024 and 2025. Hess graduated from Liberty in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. She is currently working toward a master’s degree in sport management.

Liberty Athletics Hall of Famer Katie Mattera is beginning her seventh season with the Lady Flames after returning to her alma mater as a women’s basketball ...

Laura Mancuso stepped into her role as Associate Athletic Trainer in February 2019. She is responsible for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation for the Liberty women's basketball program. Prior to coming to Liberty, Mancuso served as an Assistant Athletic Trainer at Davidson for three years, working with the baseball, field hockey and golf programs. Mancuso previously served as a Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer at Liberty for two years, where she worked with the women's soccer, swimming & diving, softball, baseball and men's soccer programs. Before that, she was an Intern Athletic Trainer at Austin Peay, working with the baseball program. Mancuso earned her bachelor's degree in athletic training from North Florida in 2013. She earned a Master's of Business Administration degree with a cognate in healthcare management from Liberty in 2016. Mancuso currently resides in Lynchburg.

Sarah Boruta is in her 15th season on the Liberty women’s basketball staff as director of operations in 2025-26. In that role, she is responsible for the daily operations of the program, including the logistics of budget, game-day management, team travel arrangements, scheduling of games, equipment coordination, designing recruiting materials and assisting with recruiting visits. Boruta previously served as director for the Lady Flames’ summer camps for 14 years (2012-25), overseeing a 1,000 percent increase in campers during that time. She started a team camp from scratch in the summer of 2012, and it is now known as one of the best team camps in the Mid-Atlantic region, selling out for the first time in 2022. Boruta is an active member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and a former member of Women Leaders in College Sports (formerly known as NACWAA) and has presented at both organizations’ conventions. She is a 2015 graduate of the NACWAA Institute for Administrative Advancement (IAA) and was nominated for the Judith M. Sweet Commitment Award that NACWAA presents each year to an athletics administrator below the senior ranking level who is committed to providing high-level leadership and guidance within intercollegiate athletics, goes beyond the call of duty, and provides outstanding service to their organization. Before arriving at Liberty, Boruta spent three years (2008-09 through 2009-11) at Stanford, where she was promoted from video intern to directo

Will Graham began serving as the Liberty women’s basketball assistant athletic performance coach during the summer of 2021. Since then, the Lady Flames have enjoyed a considerable amount of success, tying the program record with 28 wins in 2021-22 and making back-to-back WNIT appearances in 2022 and 2023. Since arriving at Liberty in July 2019, Graham has also spent time working with softball, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, swimming & diving, men’s soccer, women’s soccer and golf. During his first full year (2020-21), five of the six teams Graham coached won conference titles. Graham previously spent four years (2015-19) as a sports performance specialist at APEC in Tyler and Fort Worth, Texas. He worked as the director of adaptive training at APEC Fort Worth. During Graham’s time with APEC, he worked with a number of high-level football, basketball and baseball athletes headlined by NFL standout quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Graham worked for two seasons (2013-14 and 2014-15) as the men’s basketball strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater LeTorneau University. Graham graduated from LeTorneau with a bachelor’s degree in Christian ministry in 2015. He and Liberty softball associate head coach Kasey Fagan were married in 2022.