Ranked Lady Raiders Host Florida Atlantic

MURFREESBORO, Tenn.— In its first game since the program's first ranking in a national poll since 2013-14, No. 23 Middle Tennessee women's basketball faces Florida Atlantic Thursday at the Murphy Center. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

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 caught on fire in the fourth quarter, outscoring LA Tech 31-12 in the final 10 minutes of the game to blast its way to a 68-50 victory on Saturday at the Murphy Center.

Trailing 37-38 after three quarters, MTSU (16-2, 9-0 C-USA) opened the fourth quarter on a rapid 7-0 run in under two minutes, forcing a timeout from LA Tech (11-8, 4-5 C-USA). The Lady Techsters were able to pull within as many as three points, but a pair of clutch three pointers from Alexis Whittington and Jalynn Gregory kept the Lady Raiders out of range.

LA Tech fouled Savannah Wheeler in the process of shooting a three-pointer at the 4:06 mark, and LA Tech Head Coach Brooke Stoehr earned a technical foul shortly thereafter protesting what she perceived as a no-call on a travel. Wheeler calmly stepped up and knocked down four of her five free throws and followed those up with a dagger of a floater on the extra possession to give MTSU a 12-point lead with under four minutes to play.

Wheeler led all scorers with a season-high 29 points, making 9-of-13 shots from the field, including 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Anastasiia Boldyreva was huge in the post, scoring 18 points while hauling in eight rebounds and blocking four LA Tech shots. Alexis Whittington did great work defensively on Keiunna Walker, holding her under her season scoring average while adding nine points to her team's effort on offense. Jalynn Gregory scored eight points while dishing out eight assists against LA Tech's 3-2 zone. Courtney Whitson was held scoreless, but hauled in 11 rebounds to lead all players.

ON THE COURT

Overall Stat Leaders:
Points - Kseniya Malashka (16.2 PPG)
Rebounds - Courtney Whitson (8.2 RPG)
Assists - Savannah Wheeler (3.6 APG)
Steals - Jalynn Gregory (1.8 SPG)

LADY RAIDER NOTES

With the nation's third longest active winning streak of 14 games and a 3-0 record last week considered, NCAA.com and USBWA both recognized the Lady Raiders as their team of the week Jan. 24.
Rick Insell was named ESPN.com's Coach of the Week in its weekly college women's basketball roundup Monday.
Junior guard Savannah Wheeler has been named Conference USA Player of the Week for the second time this season and the third time in her career Jan. 23. Wheeler, who reached 1,500 career points Jan. 19 at Charlotte, averaged 19.3 points, 3.3 assists, 2.7 rebounds and one steal in Middle Tennessee's 3-0 week, including a season-high 29 points vs. Louisiana Tech Jan. 21.
With her 135 appearance Jan. 16 at UAB, Alexis Whittington is now the program's all-time leader in games played. In her fifth season, the Murfreesboro, Tenn., native has started 75 games. She enters Thursday's game with 798 career points, 156 steals and 530 rebounds in 3,596 minutes played. Whittington was also on the list of participants for the 2023 WBCA "So You Think You Can Coach" program, which takes place March 30-31 during the WBCA Convention in Dallas, Texas.
Middle Tennessee leads all of Conference USA and ranks 11th in the nation with a 19.7 scoring margin. In their 16 wins, the Lady Raiders are averaging a 22.6 point differential.

OBSERVING THE OWLS

After an 8-1 start to the season, Florida Atlantic closed out non-conference play with a 46-81 loss at Illinois Dec. 21. After a four-point win over North Texas to begin conference play, the Owls lost four of their next five games. Last week, Florida Atlantic split its games vs. UTSA (W, 81-66) and UTEP (L, 78-79 OT).
As a team, the Owls are league leaders in 3-point percentage defense (28.1 percent) and are second in the conference in rebounds per game (40.5). • Aniya Hubbard is second in C-USA in steals per game (2.4) and averages 13.8 points per game.
Middle Tennessee leads the all-time series 29-1 vs. Florida Atlantic. The only loss in the series came in Boca Raton, Fla. on Feb. 21, 2009. Since then, the Lady Raiders have won 23 straight vs. the Owls, including both matchups last season (W, 60-56 Jan. 13) and (W, 72-49 Feb. 19).

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS

The Lady Raiders will wear "We Back Pat" warmup shirts prior to Thursday's game, recognizing Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt and the Pat Summitt Foundation. The foundation works to aid in research and promotion efforts for Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

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Players Mentioned

Anastasiia Boldyreva

Jalynn Gregory

Kseniya Malashka

Savannah Wheeler

Courtney Whitson

Alexis Whittington

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics