Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Photo by: @MTAthletics
Lady Raiders Host La Tech to Wrap Up Week
1/20/2023 12:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn—Carrying the nation's fourth longest winning streak, Middle Tennessee comes home to face Louisiana Tech Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. inside the Murphy Center.
Saturday will be a rematch of the last Conference USA loss handed to the Lady Raiders (15-2, 8-0 C-USA), which was against the Lady Techsters (11-7, 4-4 C-USA) back on March 11, 2022 in the 2022 Conference USA Championship semifinals.
Tickets are available for purchase at goblueraiders.com/tickets or by calling the Blue Raider Ticket office at 615-898-5261. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+ and the Blue Raider Network.
LAST TIME OUT
Middle Tennessee women's basketball held Charlotte to its lowest point total of the season and a 26 percent shooting from the field in a 65-41 road defensive clash Thursday night.
The Lady Raiders (15-2, 8-0) turned in a season-low 65 points but held the 49ers (7-10, 3-5) to four points in the first quarter and seven in the fourth.
Kseniya Malashka, who picked up where she left off against UAB, scored eight of Middle Tennessee's 11 unanswered points to close out the first quarter. Charlotte did not score a basket in the final 5:21 of the opening frame. The 49ers found answers offensively in the second quarter, cutting the Lady Raider lead to four heading into the locker room.
Charlotte stayed within reach until a 10-2 MTSU run to close out the third quarter stretched the lead to 47-34 heading into the fourth. Jalynn Gregory scored the first five points of the final quarter as part of a 9-0 run to help the Lady Raiders break away. Middle Tennessee held at least an 18 point lead the rest of the way with its largest coming at 1:09 on Courtney Blakely's three to make it 65-39.
Malashka impacted both ends of the floor, scoring 18 points on an 8-for-16 shooting performance while recording five blocks and two steals. The redshirt-senior forward also grabbed eight rebounds. Gregory finished with 15 points and five rebounds.
Savannah Wheeler rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. Courtney Whitson was all over the floor, adding nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
ON THE COURT
Overall Stat Leaders:
Points - Kseniya Malashka (16.9 PPG)
Rebounds - Courtney Whitson (8.1 RPG)
Assists - Savannah Wheeler (3.8 APG)
Steals - Jalynn Gregory (1.8 SPG)
LADY RAIDER NOTES
LOOKING AT LA TECH
UPCOMING PROMOTIONS
Saturday is Rock n' Roll Day at the Murphy Center. The first 200 fans will receive an MTSU/ACDC Rock 'N Roll t-shirt while the first 100 students will receive dinner from McDonald's.
Saturday will be a rematch of the last Conference USA loss handed to the Lady Raiders (15-2, 8-0 C-USA), which was against the Lady Techsters (11-7, 4-4 C-USA) back on March 11, 2022 in the 2022 Conference USA Championship semifinals.
Tickets are available for purchase at goblueraiders.com/tickets or by calling the Blue Raider Ticket office at 615-898-5261. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+ and the Blue Raider Network.
LAST TIME OUT
Middle Tennessee women's basketball held Charlotte to its lowest point total of the season and a 26 percent shooting from the field in a 65-41 road defensive clash Thursday night.
The Lady Raiders (15-2, 8-0) turned in a season-low 65 points but held the 49ers (7-10, 3-5) to four points in the first quarter and seven in the fourth.
Kseniya Malashka, who picked up where she left off against UAB, scored eight of Middle Tennessee's 11 unanswered points to close out the first quarter. Charlotte did not score a basket in the final 5:21 of the opening frame. The 49ers found answers offensively in the second quarter, cutting the Lady Raider lead to four heading into the locker room.
Charlotte stayed within reach until a 10-2 MTSU run to close out the third quarter stretched the lead to 47-34 heading into the fourth. Jalynn Gregory scored the first five points of the final quarter as part of a 9-0 run to help the Lady Raiders break away. Middle Tennessee held at least an 18 point lead the rest of the way with its largest coming at 1:09 on Courtney Blakely's three to make it 65-39.
Malashka impacted both ends of the floor, scoring 18 points on an 8-for-16 shooting performance while recording five blocks and two steals. The redshirt-senior forward also grabbed eight rebounds. Gregory finished with 15 points and five rebounds.
Savannah Wheeler rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. Courtney Whitson was all over the floor, adding nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
ON THE COURT
Overall Stat Leaders:
Points - Kseniya Malashka (16.9 PPG)
Rebounds - Courtney Whitson (8.1 RPG)
Assists - Savannah Wheeler (3.8 APG)
Steals - Jalynn Gregory (1.8 SPG)
LADY RAIDER NOTES
- Almost a month after Courtney Whitson scored 1,000 career points, Kseniya Malashka (1,000) and Savannah Wheeler (1,500) each reached career scoring milestones Thursday night at Charlotte. In addition, Alexis Whittington became the program's all-time leader in games played (135) Jan. 16 at UAB.
- The 13-game winning streak is the longest by a Lady Raider team since winning 17 in a row from Nov. 29, 2013 to Feb. 5, 2014. Middle Tennessee started 8-0 in conference play for the first time as a member of :Conference USA.
- Middle Tennessee leads all of Conference USA and ranks 11th in the nation with a 19.9 scoring margin. In their 15 wins, the Lady Raiders are averaging a 22.9 point differential.
- The Lady Raiders have both the top scoring offense (75.6/G) and scoring defense (55.8/G) in Conference USA. Both categories also rank in the top 50 nationally.
- Led by Kseniya Malashka's two blocks per game, Middle Tennessee is recording 4.2 blocks per game, which leads Conference USA and ranks 57th in the country. Malashka recorded a career-high five blocks Jan. 19 at Charlotte.
- The Lady Raiders are turning the ball over at a league-low 11.9 turnovers per game, which also ranks ninth nationally.
LOOKING AT LA TECH
- Louisiana Tech has won four and lost four conference games heading in to its matchup in Murfreesboro. The Lady Techsters recently fell to WKU 55-66 Jan. 19 after winning three of their previous four games.
- As a team, La Tech is shooting 45.3 percent from the field in conference play and is holding opponents to 38.8 percent. Beyond the arc, the Lady Techsters are shooting 41.5 percent, which leads the conference.
- Conference USA's preseason player of the year Keiunna Walker is averaging 17.1 points per game. Walker leads the conference and ranks ninth in the country in free throws with 99.
- Silvia Nativi leads the team in both assists (69) and steals (21).
- Middle Tennessee and Louisiana Tech have gone back and forth over the past five meetings with the Lady Raiders holding an 8-7 edge in the all-time series. MTSU defeated the Lady Techsters 77-71 in the first round of the 2021 C-USA Championship, but fell to La Tech in last season's semifinals.
UPCOMING PROMOTIONS
Saturday is Rock n' Roll Day at the Murphy Center. The first 200 fans will receive an MTSU/ACDC Rock 'N Roll t-shirt while the first 100 students will receive dinner from McDonald's.
Players Mentioned
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