Cage sinks buzzer beater to lift Lady Raiders

Saturday, January 2

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

2:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

-43,20 CUSA

Florida Atlantic

-24,02 CUSA

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Fla. Atlantic	23	8	17	16	64
Middle Tennessee	12	18	18	18	66

Photo by: Emily Cole/MT Athletic Communications

1/2/2021 4:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Game Book Cumulative Stats C USA stats @MT_WBB vs Florida Atlantic Highlights

MT sweeps FAU to start C-USA play

By: JOSH VARDAMAN

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A thrilling come-from-behind victory Saturday punctuated Middle Tennessee's Conference USA opening weekend.

A day after beating Florida Atlantic 84-65 in the Murphy Center, MT (4-3, 2-0) had a fight with the Owls (2-4, 0-2) Saturday, using an 18-6 run over the game's last five minutes to take a 66-64 win.

Senior Deja Cage hit a layup with nine-tenths of a second remaining to avoid overtime and give Middle Tennessee the victory. Junior Anastasia Hayes snaked through the lane and found Cage on a back-door cut for a wide-open score.

"The play wasn't for me. It was definitely for Annie to go and do her thing," Cage said. "I know how she plays, and she knows how I do my sneaky little cuts. She found me, and it just happened."

C-USA amended its conference schedule this season due to travel concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Friday and Saturday were MT's first chance to play under the changes.

Teams are playing back-to-back games on Fridays and Saturdays against the same opponent in the same arena. That promises to create unique challenges for the rest of the season for the entire league.

"Playing two games like this is tough," Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Insell said. "We have to figure out what these two games in a row is going to do. We'll come up with some kind of system. What we did today wasn't bad, but we'll tinker with it."

The Lady Raiders used a second-half barrage to win Friday, outscoring the Owls 50-28 after halftime in the rout.

They had that same magic Saturday, though it took a little longer to manifest.

After entering the fourth quarter tied at 48, FAU scored 10 straight points to open a double-digit lead five minutes into the final frame. Middle Tennessee wouldn't quit, though, finishing the game with the strong run on the back of three 3-pointers from sophomore Aislynn Hayes.

After missing two games because of an injury, Hayes came back with two well-rounded outings against the Owls. She scored 13 points with seven rebounds and three steals on Friday then Saturday added a game-high 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 4-for-6 from 3-point range, with 12 rebounds, a career high. It was her second career double-double.

"I've been working hard on my rebounding," she said. "We started out a little slower today. I think it was because our legs were a little tired … but once the game started going, we were fine."

Hayes' sister, junior Anastasia Hayes, led the way offensively for Middle Tennessee in the first three quarters but had to miss some time in the fourth due to a minor injury.

She came back in and had the assist on the game's final play, her fourth of the game. She scored 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting.

Anastasia Hayes entered the day leading the country in scoring (29.7 points per game) and scored her 1,000^th career point on Friday.

Cage finished with eight points and nine rebounds Saturday, and sophomore Courtney Whitson added 11 points.

Middle Tennessee will hit the road for its first conference road trip of the season next weekend. It'll play Friday and Saturday at FIU.

"I know what our girls can do," Insell said. "They're not going to lay down, and they're going to pay their hearts out. We'll be prepared."