Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
1-0,0-0CUSA
Memphis
0-1,0-0AAC
Lady Raiders defensively dominated Tigers, 67-47, to open 2023-24 season
11/6/2023 8:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MTSU held Memphis to just 26.8 percent shooting on Monday evening
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Middle Tennessee women's basketball program never let their opponent have a chance on Monday night, stifling visiting Memphis to just 47 points in a 67-47 victory to open the 2023-24 season at the Murphy Center on Monday evening.
The Lady Raiders (1-0) held the Tigers (0-1) to just 19-for-71 (26.8 percent) from the field, scoring 25 points off of 20 Tiger turnovers to power their way past the American Athletic Conference foe. MTSU got to the free throw line 27 times of Monday, draining 24 of those attempts, compared to a 5-for-11 effort from the charity stripe for Memphis
MTSU jumped out to a fast start on Monday, leading 13-4 at the first media timeout on the way to a 25-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter. A cold shooting second quarter from the outside (0-for-7 from three) allowed Memphis to pull within single digits at halftime, though MTSU maintained a 36-27 lead at the break thanks to 15 points from Anastasiia Boldyreva.
The Lady Raiders would hold the Tigers to just 10 points in both the thrid and fourth quarters, allowing them to expand their lead, particularly in the fourth quarter, where they shot 6-for-11 from the floor for 14 points.
Boldyreva posted her second career double-double, scoring 23 points while hauling in 12 rebounds. Savannah Wheeler was next on the scoresheet leaders, scoring 17 points, with seven of those coming at the free throw line. Ta'Mia Scott just missed a double-double in her first career start, scoring eight points while grabbing 10 rebounds.
By the Numbers
20: Fast break points for the Lady Raiders, who stole the ball from the Tigers 10 times on Monday. Jalynn Gregory led the way with five steals for MTSU.
3-for-5: MTSU's three-point shooting performance in the first quarter. The Lady Raiders would not make a three-pointer the rest of the night (0-for-11).
2: Lady Raiders who played 40 minutes on Monday (Wheeler and Gregory). Iullia Grabovskaia made her Lady Raider debut on Monday night off the bench, scoring two points and grabbing four rebounds. She was the only substitute used by Rick Insell all evening.
Lady Raider Notes
• Jalynn Gregory is the first Lady Raider to make 10 free throws in a game since Savannah Wheeler made 13 against WKU on Feb. 2, 2023. She went a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe on the evening.
• Anastasiia Boldyreva logged the first double-double of the season for the Lady Raiders. She tallied 23 points and 12 rebounds on the night.
• Courtney Whitson made her 122 consecutive start for the Lady Raiders. She is nine games away from breaking the all-time record of games started set by Ebony Rowe.
Thoughts from Head Coach Rick Insell
"If you come to our practices, we really concentrate and focus on our defensive end. We know we can shoot the ball well, we've got to get better defensively. We've held a pretty good Memphis team, I think at the end of the year we'll see that. They were picked third or fourth (or fifth) in their conference. We held them to 47 points tonight. That's pretty good defense. We didn't shoot the ball extremely well, but we played pretty good defense.
Player's Perspective – Savannah Wheeler
"We just prepare every day. We've been going over their plays since the beginning of the week, really just kind of settling in and preparing ourselves, our minds, mentally and physically. Every game matters. Now we've got this one over with, now we've got to move on to the next."
Up Next
The Lady Raiders will stay at home for the second game of their three game homestand to start the 2023-24 season, hosting Florida A&M on Thursday, November 9 for the program's annual Education Day game. Tipoff is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
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).
