Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Blue Raiders going dancing again; face Georgia in First Round
3/14/2011 7:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - For the eighth consecutive season, the Middle Tennessee women's basketball team will be playing in the postseason as it will square off as the No. 11 seed in the Dallas Region against No. 6 seed Georgia in Auburn, Ala., during First Round action of the NCAA Tournament Sunday. The two teams will tip-off at 6:30 p.m. live on ESPN2 with Cara Capuano as play-by-play and LaChina Robinson as the color analyst.
The Blue Raiders extended their current streak to compete in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in head coach Rick Insell's six seasons and 14th overall trip to the "Big Dance".
Middle Tennessee and Georgia have met 12 times previously in their histories with the Blue Raiders trailing the all-time series, 11-1. Only two of those meetings have come under Insell's watch with MT owning a 1-1 record during that timeframe, defeating the then-No. 8 Bulldogs 70-62 Dec. 7, 2007, in Athens, Ga., in the last matchup.
The at-large selection is just the second in the program's 14 total appearances, joining the 1996 squad that finished 24-6 under head coach Lewis Bivens and won the Ohio Valley regular-season title.
Tickets go on sale Tuesday morning at the Middle Tennessee ticket office. Call 1-888-YES-MTSU to order. First Round tickets are $16 each.
This year's Middle Tennessee team posted a 23-7 record and won the Sun Belt's East Division outright for a third-straight season with a 14-2 mark. The Blue Raiders carried a season-best eight-game winning streak once the calendar turned to 2011 and as they opened league play.
Sun Belt Freshman of the Year Ebony Rowe paced the squad with averages of 17.4 points and 10.3 rebounds, becoming just the second Middle Tennessee player to earn the honor in its SBC era. She set a conference record with four Player of the Week awards and established four school single-season freshman standards along the way to compliment her 16 double-doubles.
She was joined on the All-Sun Belt First Team by senior Anne Marie Lanning, who became the 25th member of the school's 1,000-point club. She finished the season ranked second behind Rowe for average points with 13.4 per game, while knocking down 71 3-pointers and 81-of-95 (85.3 percent) of her free throws. She moved into third place in the school record books for career 3-pointers and games played entering the postseason.
Georgia enters the game after posting a 21-10 record, including a 10-6 mark in the Southeastern Conference. The Bulldogs won their first SEC Tournament game against South Carolina before falling to Tennessee.
Jasmine James paced head coach Andy Landers' squad with 12.1 ppg, followed by an 11.1 average from Porsha Phillips. Phillips also tops the team with 10.8 rebounds per game.
The winner of Sunday's game will face the victor of No. 3 Florida State and No. 14 Samford in Tuesday's Second Round, also at 9,121-seat Auburn Arena in Auburn, Ala.
Florida State earned an at-large bid from Atlantic Coast Conference, while Samford captured the Southern Conference's automatic berth.
