Lady Raiders Face Rice for Second Time

MURFREESBORO, Tenn.—RV/RV Middle Tennessee women's basketball and Rice square off for the second time this season Wednesday at the Glass House. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

The Lady Raiders handed the Owls their first loss of the season back on Dec. 20 in a 74-68 win.

Tickets are available at goblueraiders.com/tickets. The game will also be streamed on ESPN+ and the Blue Raider Network.

LAST TIME OUT

Make it 10 wins in a row for the Middle Tennessee women's basketball team as the Lady Raiders defeated North Texas on the road, 76-57 Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Raiders (12-2, 5-0) never looked back after scoring nine unanswered points to start the game and hitting 10 of their first 16 field goals (62.5 percent). North Texas (4-10, 1-3) outscored MTSU 11-4 in the first six minutes of the second quarter but Courtney Blakely and Jalynn Gregory combined to outscore the Mean Green 10-2 in the closing four minutes.

Twenty five Lady Raider points on 10-for-14 shooting (71.4 percent) in the third quarter created more distance by stretching the lead to 62-40 after three. The largest lead of the night (25) came as Ta'Mia Scott's free throw put the Lady Raiders up 70-45 with 5:26 left to play.

Gregory led all scorers with 24 points while shooting 6-for-15 from the field. Gregory also collected seven rebounds, three steals and two assists in an all-around performance. Anastasiia Boldyreva finished with 16 points, four rebounds and two blocks as three more Lady Raiders finished with at least eight points. Courtney Blakely's stat line included five assists, four rebounds and nine points in 40 minutes.

MTSU outrebounded North Texas 40-32 with Courtney Whitson bringing down eight.

ON THE COURT

Overall Stat Leaders:
Points - Kseniya Malashka (16.3 PPG)
Rebounds - Courtney Whitson (8.0 RPG)
Assists - Savannah Wheeler (3.7 APG)
Steals - Jalynn Gregory (2.0 SPG)

LADY RAIDER NOTES

Middle Tennessee remains at the 23rd spot in the NET rankings as of Jan. 9 and continues to receive votes in both the AP and USA Today Coaches Poll.
MTSU is 124-35 vs. C-USA members since joining the league prior to the 2013-14 season. The 124 wins are the most of any league member during this span.
Middle Tennessee leads all of Conference USA and ranks 26th in the nation with a 18.7 scoring margin.
The 10-game winning streak is the program's longest since winning 11 in a row from Feb. 8, 2014 to March 15, 2014.
Starting in eight of the last nine games, Courtney Blakely's impact is not going unnoticed. A sophomore out of Gary, Ind., Blakely played the full duration of the last two games as the team's point guard and almost finished with a triple-double vs. UTSA Jan. 5 after an 11-point, 11-assist, eight-rebound game.
Including Saturday's 24-point performance at North Texas, Jalynn Gregory has made four-or-more threes in her last three games and five times overall this season. Gregory leads all of C-USA in 3-point field goal percentage (37.8 percent), 3-point field goals per game (3.0), free throw percentage (90.2 percent) while ranking second in minutes per game (35.7).
Anastasiia Boldyreva has played a key role in the last two Lady Raider wins by scoring 16 points in each of the last two games. She nearly finished with a double-double vs. UTSA after pulling down nine rebounds while also adding four blocks. Boldyreva was an efficient 8-for-9 from the field while recording two blocks and four rebounds at North Texas.

OBSERVING THE OWLS (again)

Rice has lost two of three since falling to the Lady Raiders Dec. 20. The games have been decided by an average margin of 6.4 points. Louisiana Tech handed the Owls their first road loss of the season Jan. 5.
In conference play, opponents are shooting 42.3 percent beyond the arc vs. Rice, which is the highest percentage in the league. The Owls are putting up 69.5 points per game vs. C-USA foes and are giving up 71.3 points per game through four games. Rice is second behind MTSU in free throw percentage (79.1 percent).
Ashlee Austin is averaging 13.8 points in conference play while Malia Fisher is averaging 12.5.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Courtney Blakely

Anastasiia Boldyreva

Jalynn Gregory

Kseniya Malashka

Ta'Mia Scott

Savannah Wheeler

Courtney Whitson

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics