“We've got a target on our back” - Lady Raiders return to the Top 25 - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Alexis Whittington was glad to have the day off on Sunday. After three wins in six days last week, the graduate student wing certainly needed a chance to rest ahead of the remainder of Middle Tennessee women's basketball's season, with two games coming this week in the Murphy Center.

But her thoughts were still with her team, and the big goal they had set for themselves which was almost within reach.

"Yesterday, I was sitting in my bed like 'Man, I want this off day,'" Whittington said. "But I cannot wait for Monday to come to see if we're actually going to be ranked.'"

Monday came and with it, the Women's AP Poll at Noon CT, showing the Lady Raiders back in the Top 25 for the first time since the 2013-14 season. Their No. 23 ranking broke the program through their seven-week stay as "Receiving Votes" in the poll, giving MTSU its 22nd week ranked in program history in the midst of a 14-game win streak.

"I feel really, really proud for our players," Head Coach Rick Insell said. "It's been one of our goals. Every year that we sit down, we talk about how we've got to get this program back into the Top 25 in the country. We've been right on the edge of getting back in, but just never could pull it off."

The Lady Raiders have made their move into the AP Poll in dominating fashion, ranking 11th in the country with an average scoring margin of 19.7 points. A team with dynamic threats that often cycles through different leading scorers each game, MTSU has been able to grind out defensive wins, score a plethora of threes and find open post players than win matchups on the block, sometimes all in the same game.

Even more impressive is the team's response after a 2-2 start, which Whittington credits for their sustained success against a wide variety of opponents all over the country.

"Coming in every day to practice, we have the mindset that we aren't going to lose," Whittington said. "After that Texas Tech game, we made up in our mind that we're never going to lose."

Her fellow captain, Courtney Whitson, pointed out the intensity of the team's focus, always at a high level, as anyone who might've poked their head into Lady Raiders practice from the Murphy Center track can attest, has been ticked up a notch.

"Our focus and intensity, every single time we step on the court, we just have this mindset," Whitson said. "This is the most intense I've ever been since I've been here."

For their head coach, that intensity his players possess was forged long before they ever set foot on campus in Murfreesboro. Much like his last ranked team, the 2013-14 squad featuring Lady Raider greats like Ty Petty, Ebony Rowe, KeKe Stewart and Laken Leonard, which ended the year ranked No. 22 in the AP Poll, this was a group that knew how to win long before wearing the MTSU Blue.

"They were winners," Insell said. "They came from championship high school programs. They came from travel team programs that were very successful. And that's kind of what we made our living on, we go out and try to recruit those young ladies that we know can get along together as a team, take their egos off, set them on the floor and pull together. That's what we had then and that's what we've got now with this group."

That winning mindset, plus a willingness as a program to test themselves with tough home and road games during non-conference play and not just schedule "wins," Insell said, set the team up for this milestone. Now, the Lady Raiders will focus on keeping their focus with two games this week at the Glass House, taking on FAU Thursday night and FIU Saturday afternoon.

"We're going to celebrate this for sure, but we're also going to make sure we keep our focus," Whitson said. "We can't have a slip up and ruin everything that we've got to so far. Just because we got ranked doesn't mean that our mindset is going to change."

It's a position that Rick Insell is familiar with, and clearly excited to be back in once again.

"We've got a target on our back," Insell said, the scout for FAU in his hand. "Who shot Billy the Kid? They're going to be famous. Who knocks off the Lady Raiders? They're going to be famous, so we've got to be careful."

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics

“We've got a target on our back” - Lady Raiders return to the Top 25

Players Mentioned

Courtney Whitson

Alexis Whittington

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