Lady Raiders Begin Week at UAB

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Middle Tennessee women's basketball begins a three-game week Monday when it travels to UAB. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. inside Bartow Arena.

The Lady Raiders (13-2, 6-0) remain in first place in the Conference USA standings while on a 11-game win streak. UAB (9-7, 1-6) sits in last place and has lost its last three games.

The game will air on CUSA.TV and the Blue Raider Network.

LAST TIME OUT

Middle Tennessee women's basketball embraced the physicality on Wednesday night in the Murphy Center, drawing 28 fouls to help push past Rice 85-56 in a dominant win over a C-USA foe to stretch their winning streak to 11 games.

The Lady Raiders held the advantage early, taking a 32-26 lead into the locker room at the break after a very physical first half in which 26 fouls were called between the two teams. MTSU took advantage, getting to the free throw line 23 times, knocking down 18 of them to push themselves into the lead despite shooting under 30 percent from the field as a team in the half.

It was a whole different game in the second half, however, as the Lady Raiders scored 33 points while holding the Owls to just 14 in the third quarter to run away with the game, making 11-of-18 shots in the frame, including a 4-for-8 clip beyond the arc. Playing heavy minutes for the Lady Raider bench, a modest four-point advantage in the fourth quarter gave MTSU the 85-56 final margin.

Anastasiia Boldyreva continued her excellent play from last week in the post, scoring 21 points to go with seven rebounds. The 6-foot-6 center is averaging 17.7 points over her last three games. Ksenyia Malashka and Savannah Wheeler each finished with 16 points, while Courtney Blakely followed closely behind with 15 points to go along with eight rebounds. Jalynn Gregory added 13 points to become the fifth Lady Raider to score in double figures.

ON THE COURT

Overall Stat Leaders:
Points - Kseniya Malashka (16.3 PPG)
Rebounds - Courtney Whitson (7.7 RPG)
Assists - Savannah Wheeler (3.7 APG)
Steals - Jalynn Gregory (1.9 SPG)

LADY RAIDER NOTES

Middle Tennessee sits in its highest spot in the NET rankings of the season at 18.
MTSU is 125-35 vs. C-USA members since joining the league prior to the 2013-14 season. The 125 wins are the most of any league member during this span.
Middle Tennessee leads all of Conference USA and ranks 21st in the nation with a 19.4 scoring margin. In their 13 wins, the Lady Raiders are averaging a 22.8 point differential.
The 11-game winning streak ties for the program's longest since winning 11 in a row from Feb. 8, 2014 to March 15, 2014.
Courtney Blakely's impact is not going unnoticed. A sophomore out of Gary, Ind., Blakely almost finished with a triple-double vs. UTSA Jan. 5 after an 11-point, 11-assist, eight-rebound game. Coming off the bench against Rice Jan. 11, Blakely scored 15 points and brought down eight rebounds.
Anastasiia Boldyreva is starting to find her rhythm inside the paint. Boldyreva has played a key role in the last three Lady Raider wins 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. Boldyreva scored a season-high 21 points vs. Rice with seven rebounds and two blocks.
Middle Tennessee ranks inside the top 10 nationally in several categories, including free throws made per game (second, 18.6), free throw attempts per game (seventh, 23.8) and fewest turnovers per game (ninth, 12.3).

BREAKING DOWN THE BLAZERS

Since starting the season 7-1, UAB is 2-6 since Dec. 19 and are off to a 1-6 start to C-USA play. With the exception of Dec. 29's loss to UTEP (58-76), the Blazers have stayed in games, including losing 89-91 to FIU Jan. 7 and 71-75 to WKU Jan. 11.
In overall stats, UAB leads the conference in defensive rebounding (29.1/g) while having the second-best offense at 75.6 points per game. The Blazers are making 9.4 treys per contest, which leads all of C-USA. Since the start of conference play, UAB is second in the conference in 3-point field goals made (8.0) and is second behind the Lady Raiders in defensive rebounds per game (28.3).
Leading the attack beyond the arc is Margaret Whitley, who is 15th in the country in 3-point percentage (44.9 percent). Whitley is averaging 12 points per game, including 2.5 threes through 16 games.
Denim DeShields is the team's leading scorer at 14.6 points per game. DeShields is also recording four assists per game.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Courtney Blakely

Anastasiia Boldyreva

Jalynn Gregory

Kseniya Malashka

Savannah Wheeler

Courtney Whitson

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics