Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
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Virginia (MT 10)
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Edwards shines, but Raiders suffer rare home loss
11/13/2015 9:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MT drops 70-66 decision to Virginia
MURFREESBORO – Middle Tennessee had won 20 out of its last 23 games in the Murphy Center heading into Friday night's matchup against Virginia.
In just the 19th home loss under MT head coach Rick Insell, the Blue Raiders fell, 70-66, to the Cavaliers (1-0) after a late comeback effort came up short in front of 5,613 at the Murphy Center.
Brea Edwards exploded for a career-high 30 points (8-of-16 shooting) and a game-high seven rebounds against the Cavaliers. She also converted nine of her 12 free-throw attempts, also setting a new personal best.
Edwards' performance, especially her free-throw numbers, reflected her work over the course of the offseason, after she cut weight to improve her quickness to the basket.
Even with Edwards' phenomenal game, Virginia managed to hold on to its lead.
"I'd rather have the victory than 30 points," Edwards said about her career outing. "We just have to keep building after this game."
Petty was the only other Blue Raider to score in double figures, finishing with 12 points, five rebounds and two assists.
Abbey Sissom added eight points and three rebounds, and Rebecca Reuter tallied six points, five rebounds and a game-high three blocks.
Both teams got out to sluggish starts, as the Blue Raiders (33.3 percent) and the Cavaliers (38.9 percent) shot below 40 percent at the halftime break.
Specifically, Middle Tennessee had trouble converting its free throws towards the beginning of the contest.
Early in the game, MT was 2-of-10 from the free-throw line, eventually finishing 6-of-15 (40 percent) at halftime.
"The first quarter we missed seven or eight free throws," Insell said. "We missed 13 free throws all game and the difference in the ball game was [four]. We just didn't do what we should have done at the line."
The Blue Raiders were also behind in the rebounding column in the first half.
Virginia held a 28 to 17 advantage on the boards, something that rarely happens to the Blue Raiders.
"Very seldom do we get outrebounded, even when we play teams that are bigger or more athletic than us," Insell said. "At halftime they were dominating us on the boards, but we managed to out-rebound them in the second half."
The Blue Raiders got out to a quick 9-4 lead after junior guard Ty Petty dropped in two layups.
MT held the lead for a little over six minutes, before Virginia's Breyana Mason dropped in a layup to give the Cavaliers a 13-11 lead with 2:48 left in the first period.
The Blue Raiders kept it close before Virginia took a 10-point lead with 3:36 remaining before halftime.
Olivia Jones made a layup, followed by an Edwards three-pointer to cut the deficit to five with 49 seconds left before the intermission.
Mason connected on another three-pointer to give Virginia a 35-27 lead at the break.
Late in the fourth period, the Cavaliers held a comfortable 60-49 advantage at the 7:12 mark.
The Blue Raiders wanted to make that comfortable lead vanish.
Led by Edwards and a 13-3 run, Middle Tennessee cut the deficit to 63-62 with 2:34 remaining in the game.
Late Virginia free throws, eventually, sealed the game after costly turnovers.
