Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
Michigan
Lady Raiders fall to Wolverines 63-49 in Atlantis
11/18/2023 8:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Middle Tennessee could not overcome poor shooting in a defensive battle on Saturday evening, falling 63-49 to Michigan in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The Lady Raiders (2-2) jumped out to a quick 11-6 lead in the first quarter, however, the Wolverines (3-0) closed out the period on 8-0 run. The two squads battled back and forth in the second quarter until Michigan pulled away thanks to an 11-0 run. MTSU entered halftime down 18-30.
Michigan caught fire offensively in the third quarter, taking advantage of Middle Tennessee in transition. Despite trailing by as many as 19 points, the Lady Raiders cut the Wolverines lead to six in the fourth period, however, Michigan used a pair of late scoring runs to pull away.
Anastasiia Boldyreva led all scorers with 23 points, shooting 10-of-15 from the field with seven rebounds, while Courtney Whitson tallied nine points and five rebounds.
By the Numbers
41-32: The Wolverine out rebounded the Lady Raiders 41-32 on the evening. This marks the third game of the season that MTSU has lost the battle of the boards.
Four: Michigan used a pair of 11-0 scoring runs and two 8-0 runs to pull away from Middle Tennessee throughout the game.
19-2: The Lady Raiders had two points off fast breaks to the Wolverines 19.
Lady Raider Notes
• Anastasiia Boldyreva tied her season high with 23 points on the evening. This marked 23rd career double-digit outing and second 20-point performance of the season.
• This marks the first time the Lady Raiders have lost back-to-back games since UTEP (2/2/23) and UTSA (2/4/23) last season.
Thoughts from Head Coach Rick Insell
"We let the second quarter get away from us. We did some things but just mishandled the ball and went away from our offense. The last two games we played two really good teams (Princeton and Michigan). Don't get me wrong, but we are as responsible for getting beat as the other team is. They did what they had to do, but we did not step up when we needed it. Against a team like that we have to step up, but we didn't. We started running and executing our offense with Anastasiia (Boldyreva) in the second half and cut it to six points, then we missed a defensive assignment and Michigan hit a three. If we get a stop there and come back down, maybe it's a different ball game. We had the momentum and their guard stepped in and did what she had to do."
"They have a really good team. Give Michigan credit. They did what they had to do, but still… we're a lot better basketball team than we showed. That is why we play the competition we play. We could play other teams and get a win, but how much better are you going to get doing that? Right now we just saw what our weaknesses are. Now it's up to our coaching staff to go take those weaknesses and make them our strengths.
Up Next
The Lady Raiders will take on DePaul on Sunday, Nov. 19 at the Battle 4 Atlantis. Tipoff set for 6:30 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed on FloSports.
Follow the Lady Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Women's Basketball on social media on Facebook (/MTSUWBB), X (Formerly known as Twitter) (@MT_WBB) and Instagram (@mt_wbb).
