Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Saturday, January 28
Murfreesboro, TN
1 p.m.
Middle Tennessee
-182,110 CUSA
67
vs
41
FIU
-1010,56 CUSA
1
2
3
4
F
FIU
15
6
10
10
41
Middle Tenn.
12
17
18
20
67
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
Team Stats
FIU
MTSU
FG%
.288
.482
3FG%
.176
.182
FT%
.615
.692
RB
28
43
TO
18
14
STL
8
10
Game Leaders
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballC
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
Photo by: @MTAthletics
Lady Raiders clean up in the paint, on the boards to cruise over FIU
1/28/2023 4:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MTSU scores 68.6 percent of their points in the paint thanks to strong driving and finishing at the rim
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — No. 23 Middle Tennessee women's basketball found a groove early and kept it going late, converting a plethora of opportunities at the rim while keeping FIU off the glass to cruise to a 67-41 victory at the Murphy Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Raiders (18-2, 11-0 C-USA) scored their 16th straight win by outscoring the Panthers (10-10, 5-6 C-USA) 46-22 in the paint, holding FIU to just 28.8 percent shooting from the field. Despite giving up a 15-6 lead to start the game, the Lady Raiders quickly countered punch, ending the first quarter on a 6-0 run and the second quarter on a 17-2 run to take a 29-21 lead in the locker room at halftime.
From there, it was all Lady Raiders, as MTSU held FIU to 10 points in each of the final two quarters while scoring 38 points of their own, shooing 9-for-15 in the final quarter to easily get past the Panthers, exploiting a spread out defense with drives to the basket and post moves on the block to get easy scores.
Savannah Wheeler continued her excellent season with 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting, helping start multiple fast breaks with her prowess at the point. Courtney Blakely was big in helping Wheeler break up FIU's press off the bench, scoring 11 points while hauling in six rebounds and being a menace of defense, nabbing four steals. Blakely led all players with a +/- of +29. Kseniya Malashka was huge defensively in the paint, swiping four steals and swatting three blocks while scoring 13 points on the other end of the court. Courtney Whitson led the way on the boards with nine rebounds, followed closely by Malashka with eight.
By the Numbers
41: Total points scored by FIU, the third time the Lady Raiders have held a C-USA opponent to 41 points this season. The Panthers shot just 28.8 percent (15-for-52) as a team on Saturday. MTSU has held their opponents to 50 or fewer points nine times in the 2022-23 season.
46: Points in the Paint for MTSU, a key spark for the offense after FIU's early 15-6 lead. The Lady Raiders scrapped on the boards (nine second chance points), but also took advantage of Malashka and Anastasiia Boldyreva's skill on the block, as well as the speed on the team on the perimeter and in transition to get a plethora of looks right at rim on Saturday.
43-28: Rebounding advantage for MTSU against FIU. The Panthers entered Saturday averaging over 16 offensive rebounds per game. The Lady Raiders held them to just seven offensive boards, their second lowest total of the season. Their 28 overall rebounds were the Panthers' lowest rebounding output of the season.
Lady Raider Notes
Thoughts from Head Coach Rick Insell
"I thought we played a pretty overall game tonight. Four quarters, we had 12, 17, 18 and 20 (points). First quarter, I don't know if you'd call it a slow start. But I'll tell you what we did — we played real good defense all night long. I think they had 34 points with like three minutes to go, ended up with 41.
"You play a Division I basketball team in our conference, and they're pretty good, they (were) 5-5, and we hold them in the 40s. I'm very proud of our young ladies they did a great job defensively."
Player's Perspective – Courtney Whitson
"We knew that they were the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in the conference, so we just had to come in with that mindset of just going and getting the basketball. We've been struggling with our 50/50 balls, so just going and really pursuing the basketball."
Up Next
The Lady Raiders start a two-game Texas swing next Thursday in El Paso, taking on the UTEP Miners. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT on the Blue Raider Radio Network.
Follow the Lady Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Women's Basketball on social media on Facebook (/MTSUWBB), Twitter (@MT_WBB) and Instagram (@mt_wbb).
The Lady Raiders (18-2, 11-0 C-USA) scored their 16th straight win by outscoring the Panthers (10-10, 5-6 C-USA) 46-22 in the paint, holding FIU to just 28.8 percent shooting from the field. Despite giving up a 15-6 lead to start the game, the Lady Raiders quickly countered punch, ending the first quarter on a 6-0 run and the second quarter on a 17-2 run to take a 29-21 lead in the locker room at halftime.
From there, it was all Lady Raiders, as MTSU held FIU to 10 points in each of the final two quarters while scoring 38 points of their own, shooing 9-for-15 in the final quarter to easily get past the Panthers, exploiting a spread out defense with drives to the basket and post moves on the block to get easy scores.
Savannah Wheeler continued her excellent season with 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting, helping start multiple fast breaks with her prowess at the point. Courtney Blakely was big in helping Wheeler break up FIU's press off the bench, scoring 11 points while hauling in six rebounds and being a menace of defense, nabbing four steals. Blakely led all players with a +/- of +29. Kseniya Malashka was huge defensively in the paint, swiping four steals and swatting three blocks while scoring 13 points on the other end of the court. Courtney Whitson led the way on the boards with nine rebounds, followed closely by Malashka with eight.
By the Numbers
41: Total points scored by FIU, the third time the Lady Raiders have held a C-USA opponent to 41 points this season. The Panthers shot just 28.8 percent (15-for-52) as a team on Saturday. MTSU has held their opponents to 50 or fewer points nine times in the 2022-23 season.
46: Points in the Paint for MTSU, a key spark for the offense after FIU's early 15-6 lead. The Lady Raiders scrapped on the boards (nine second chance points), but also took advantage of Malashka and Anastasiia Boldyreva's skill on the block, as well as the speed on the team on the perimeter and in transition to get a plethora of looks right at rim on Saturday.
43-28: Rebounding advantage for MTSU against FIU. The Panthers entered Saturday averaging over 16 offensive rebounds per game. The Lady Raiders held them to just seven offensive boards, their second lowest total of the season. Their 28 overall rebounds were the Panthers' lowest rebounding output of the season.
Lady Raider Notes
- Middle Tennessee tied a season high with 46 points in the paint.
- For the second consecutive game the Lady Raiders have held their opponent to 20-or-less points in a half after holding FIU to 20 in the second half and FAU to 14 in the first half Thursday.
- 16 consecutive wins ties for the fifth longest streak in program history and the longest since the Lady Raiders won 17 in a row from Nov. 29, 2013 to Feb. 5, 2014.
- Middle Tennessee extends its home winning streak to 10 and its home court conference winning streak to 15. In addition, the Lady Raiders have won 27 straight regular season home games.
- Kseniya Malashka, Conference USA's leading shot blocker, now has multiple blocks in 13 games this season.
Thoughts from Head Coach Rick Insell
"I thought we played a pretty overall game tonight. Four quarters, we had 12, 17, 18 and 20 (points). First quarter, I don't know if you'd call it a slow start. But I'll tell you what we did — we played real good defense all night long. I think they had 34 points with like three minutes to go, ended up with 41.
"You play a Division I basketball team in our conference, and they're pretty good, they (were) 5-5, and we hold them in the 40s. I'm very proud of our young ladies they did a great job defensively."
Player's Perspective – Courtney Whitson
"We knew that they were the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in the conference, so we just had to come in with that mindset of just going and getting the basketball. We've been struggling with our 50/50 balls, so just going and really pursuing the basketball."
Up Next
The Lady Raiders start a two-game Texas swing next Thursday in El Paso, taking on the UTEP Miners. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT on the Blue Raider Radio Network.
Follow the Lady Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Women's Basketball on social media on Facebook (/MTSUWBB), Twitter (@MT_WBB) and Instagram (@mt_wbb).
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