Lady Raiders cruise past Blazers

Saturday, January 30

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

4:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

-114,91 CUSA

UAB

-77,26 CUSA

UAB

Middle Tennessee

1/30/2021 6:33:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Game Book Cumulative Stats C USA Stats

MT has won 11 of its last 12

By: JOSH VARDAMAN, MT Athletic Communications

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee had to battle back from seven points down in the fourth quarter to get an overtime win at UAB Thursday. It wasn't quite the same fight between the two Conference USA foes Saturday in Murfreesboro.

The Lady Raiders (11-4, 9-1) built a double-digit lead over the Blazers (7-7, 2-6) early in the second quarter and kept it there most of the rest of the way thanks to terrific ball handling, winning 95-68.

The Raiders only committed three turnovers, one off the program record that was set Jan. 15 against Southern Miss.

"I was very happy with our play. We had a complete game tonight," MT head coach Rick Insell said. "I think when we started the third quarter with five, six, seven possessions in a row where we executed to a T and knocked down shots, that probably hurt their confidence, gave us confidence and separated it enough to where the game was over."

With a little less than a month left in the regular season, MT looks like it's hitting a bit of a groove with 11 wins in its last 12 games. That's especially true for leading scorer Anastasia Hayes, the reigning C-USA Player of the Week. She went into Saturday leading the country in scoring (28.1) and C-USA in assists (4.9) and steals (2.7) per game.

The junior guard from Murfreesboro scored a career-high 42 points against UAB on Thursday, the seventh most in program history and sixth most in C-USA history for a conference game. She also had six steals, a new career best.

Hayes followed the career night with another good outing Saturday, scoring a game-high 35 points on 12-of-22 shooting and adding eight rebounds, six assists and two steals. She's scored at least 20 points in 19 straight games, the longest such streak in the country.

She got things rolling in the first half, leading the way with 11 points in the first 20 minutes as the Lady Raiders built a 38-27 lead at the break. That advantage grew to as many as 28 in the second half.

"I read the defense really well," Hayes said. "If I had the shot I had it; if I had the lane, I took it; and if it was crowded, I found my teammates. That's been my main thing this year is reading the defense and making smart choices on the court."

Hayes and her sister, sophomore Aislynn Hayes, the team's second-leading scorer (15.3 points per game), are leading the way for the highest-scoring team in C-USA (77.5 points per game), but it might be the team's defense that has been the difference over its fantastic 12-game stretch.

The Lady Raiders have held their opponents to under 40 percent shooting this season, and they did another good job Saturday, holding UAB to 37 percent shooting from the field and 16.7 percent (5-30) from 3-point range. They forced 10 turnovers, leading to 10 points on the other end.

"I think we're all buying into our roles on defense and paying attention to the scout," sophomore Courtney Whitson said. "We have that mentality that if my teammate is going to help, I'm going to help her out, too. It's team defense."

Aislynn Hayes finished with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists Saturday, while senior Deja Cage added 12 points and Whitson had 15 points and 11 rebounds, her third double-double this season.

Middle Tennessee will hit the road next weekend with games Friday and Saturday at Charlotte, the first tipping off at 2 p.m. CT.

The 49ers are currently second in the C-USA East Division, though they're only 4-2 due to four of their games being postponed with COVID-19 issues.

"Charlotte is going to be a tough two games, but we have a tough basketball team," Insell said. "We'll see how it all comes out. I'm pretty happy with the group I have right now."