Blue Raiders set for home showdown vs. Louisiana Tech

Thursday, February 11

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

6:30 PM

Middle Tennessee

LA Tech (MT 10)

2/10/2016 4:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Tipoff at Murphy Center is 6:30 p.m.

By: @MTAthletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Two of the nation's all-time winningest women's basketball programs will go head-to-head in a pivotal C-USA showdown at Murphy Center Thursday. Tipoff is 6:30 p.m.

Middle Tennessee (15-7, 9-2) will play host to Louisiana Tech (12-9, 7-3) in a game with serious conference implications on the line. The Blue Raiders come into the contest riding a six-game winning streak and they are only one game behind first-place UTEP in the C-USA standings.

The Lady Techsters have overcome a slow start to the season by winning seven of their first 10 conference games. They are just one game out of second place heading into the weekend road series.

"Louisiana Tech is playing very well, and Coach Tyler Summitt has done a really good job with his team," Middle Tennessee Head Coach Rick Insell said. "He has brought them along and continued to develop them. Louisiana Tech is playing quality basketball and they will bring one of the conference's most athletic teams into the Murphy Center."

Louisiana Tech's storied program is third all-time in terms of winning percentage with a .788 clip. Middle Tennessee is 18^th on the all-time winningest programs list. In fact, C-USA boasts four of the Top 25 all-time winningest programs in regard to winning percentage with Old Dominion and WKU also listed.

Louisiana Tech features one of the league's top performers in senior Brandi Wingate, who averages 18.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Brooke Pumroy (11.1) and Ashley Santos (10.5) also average double figures for the Lady Techsters. The Lady Techsters are one of the top defensive teams in the conference and allow just 64.6 ppg.

The all-time series between the teams is tied, 4-4. Interestingly, Louisiana Tech won the first four games of the series and the Blue Raiders have followed with four straight to even the series. The Blue Raiders are 4-0 against the Lady Techsters under Insell.

Speaking of streaks, Middle Tennessee has won six straight overall with four of the wins coming on the road. More players have been involved in the offense during the streak, in particular, but during the last nine games in general. As a result, the Blue Raiders are 8-1 during that span.

The Blue Raiders have had four players score double figures in five of its last six games, all wins, and the teams is averaging 78.4 ppg during that stretch, which is up almost 10 points per game over the season average. Getting more players involved in the offense has been a winning recipe. MT is 6-1 when four or more players reach duble figures. The only loss was an 84-73 setback at UTEP.

By contrast, MT is 9-6 when three or fewer players score double figures.

Three players are averaging double figures during the six-game winning streak, and another is averaging 9.5. Brea Edwards (18.5), Alex Johnson (16.7) and Ty Petty (14.2) are all averaging double figures, and Abby Sissom (9.5) is not far off of the pace.