No. 21/23 Lady Raiders Open Week in Texas with UTEP

EL PASO, Texas— Five of No. 21/23 Middle Tennessee women's basketball's next seven games are on the road. The stretch begins at UTEP Feb. 2 at 8 p.m. CDT inside the Don Haskins Center.

The program's best record through 21 games is up for grabs as no Lady Raider team has ever started the season 19-2. MTSU holds the third longest active winning streak in the nation at 16 games, trailing only South Carolina (27) and LSU (21).

The game will air on the Blue Raider Network and CUSA.TV.

LAST TIME OUT

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.

ON THE COURT

Overall Stat Leaders:
Points - Kseniya Malashka (16.5 PPG)
Rebounds - Courtney Whitson (8.1 RPG)
Assists - Savannah Wheeler (3.4 APG)
Steals - Jalynn Gregory (1.8 SPG)

LADY RAIDER NOTES

For the second consecutive week, Middle Tennessee was ranked in the AP poll, moving up two spots to No. 21 in the poll Jan. 30. The Lady Raiders also cracked the Top 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll at No. 23 in the Jan. 31 poll.

The Lady Raiders rank 12th nationally and lead C-USA in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to 35 percent shooting. In overall scoring defense, Middle Tennessee's opponents are scoring just 54.4 points per game, which ranks 16th in the country and first in the conference. In addition, the Lady Raiders are forcing just under 18 turnovers per game and 9.1 steals per game.
Middle Tennessee leads all of Conference USA and ranks ninth in the nation with a 19.5 scoring margin. In their 18 wins, the Lady Raiders are averaging a 22.3 point differential.

MONITORING THE MINERS

UTEP won nine of its first 11 games and started conference play 4-1. The last three games played by the Miners have been decided by a combined six points, including a 79-78 overtime win at Florida Atlantic Jan. 21.
Three Miners are averaging double figures, including N'Yah Boyd, who scores 12.3 points per game, grabs 3.2 rebounds and is tied for the team lead in assists with 43. Just two UTEP players have started all 19 games this season in Jazion Jackson and Avery Crouse.
UTEP is outscoring teams 67.8 to 63.4 per game and outrebounding opponents 35.4 to 33.4 per game.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Courtney Blakely

Jalynn Gregory

Kseniya Malashka

Savannah Wheeler

Courtney Whitson

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics