No. 24 Lady Raiders Conclude Regular Season with Two-Game Homestand

MURFREESBORO, Tenn.---March is here for No. 24 Middle Tennessee women's basketball as the Lady Raiders are set to close out the regular season at the Murphy Center vs. North Texas Thursday at 6 p.m., followed by UTEP Saturday at 2 p.m.

Conference USA's regular season champion Lady Raiders (23-4, 16-2 C-USA) have won five in a row and are in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the fourth week this season.

Saturday, the team will recognize Alexis Whittington and Kseniya Malashka on Senior Day, while celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Title IX with a Next Level Club Luncheon starting at 11:30 a.m.

Both games will air on ESPN+ and the Blue Raider Network.

LAST TIME OUT

No. 25 Middle Tennessee women's basketball came out on top in a battle over Louisiana Tech, winning 61-59, in its regular season road finale Saturday.

Kseniya Malashka not only tied her career high of 27 points, but hit the go-ahead shot with three seconds left in the game and blocked La Tech's potential game-tying shot attempt soon after at the other end of the floor as time expired.

Jalynn Gregory scored the first nine Lady Raider points as MTSU got out to a 9-2 lead at the 5:45 mark in the first quarter. Kseniya Malashka took over in the second quarter, scoring MTSU's first 10 points and 12 of her own 15 first half points. With the help of Malashka, MTSU shot 60 percent (6-for-10) from the floor in the second and held a 30-24 advantage heading into the break.

MTSU led for the entire third quarter and was up 42-41 heading into the fourth. Neither team held more than a three-point lead in a tight final frame. Gregory's clutch three with 1:16 remaining put the Lady Raiders back in front (59-57) and set the stage for Malashka's heroics in the final seconds.

Malashka finished with eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 27 minutes. Gregory played in all 40 minutes and scored 16 points and five rebounds. Courtney Whitson, who also played 40 minutes, pulled down 11 rebounds and scored seven points. Savannah Wheeler added nine points and two assists.

ON THE COURT

Overall Stat Leaders
Points - Savannah Wheeler (16.0 PPG)
Rebounds - Courtney Whitson (7.9 RPG)
Assists - Savannah Wheeler (3.1 APG)
Steals - Jalynn Gregory (1.8 SPG)

LADY RAIDER NOTES

For the 20th time in program history and the second time as a member of Conference USA, Middle Tennessee women's basketball has clinched a regular season conference title after WKU's loss to Louisiana Tech Thursday night.
Middle Tennessee leads all of Conference USA and ranks ninth in the nation with a 17.4 scoring margin. In their 23 wins, the Lady Raiders are averaging a 19.3 point differential.
Nobody has played in more games in a Lady Raider uniform than Alexis Whittington. She enters Thursday's game with 853 career points, 164 steals and 567 rebounds in 146 games played over her five-year career.
Kseniya Malashka's 99 blocks as a Lady Raider ranks seventh on MTSU's career list. She needs five to pass Brandi Brown for sixth. Malashka's 51 blocks in 2022-23 ranks sixth on the program's single-season blocks chart. Malashka, who passed her total from last season (48), needs seven to pass Anastasiia Boldyreva's 56 from 2021-22.

SCOUTING NORTH TEXAS

North Texas currently sits in sixth place in the C-USA standings at 8-10 in conference play and 11-17 overall. UNT is coming off a 66-59 win over Charlotte Feb. 23 in Denton, Texas. The last three North Texas games have been decided by an average of 3.3 points.
Quincy Noble is averaging 17.4 points, 4.1 rebounds , 1.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game.
The Mean Green rank third in the conference in blocks per game (3.3) and fifth in steals per game (8.3). Scoring-wise, UNT is averaging 62.8 points per game while opponents are scoring 66.8 points per game.
Middle Tennessee has won the last 20 meetings vs. the Mean Green, including a 76-57 win in Denton Jan. 7. Overall, the Lady Raiders are 25-4 vs. North Texas with three of the four losses coming in the first three meetings in 2001 and 2002.

SCOUTING UTEP

UTEP has won five of its last six games and six of its last eight dating back to the Feb. 2 matchup against the Lady Raiders. The Miners face WKU Thursday night in a battle between teams tied for second place in the league standings.
The Miners lead C-USA in assists per game (14), free throw attempts per game (21) and are second in scoring margin (5.8) and turnovers per game (13.6), despite being at the bottom in both 3-point percentage defense (33.3) and blocks per game (1.8).
UTEP's scoring trip of Jazion Jackson (12.2), N'Yah Boyd (11.9) and Elina Arike (11.4) lead the team in scoring. Adhel Tac leads the team in rebounding at 6.5 per game while Arike has swatted a team-high 14 blocks. Jackson holds the team lead in steals with 59, which is third in C-USA.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS

Thursday is Beach Night at the Glass House. The first 250 students get a Blue Raider Athletics beach bag and the first 500 fans get floating key chains.
Saturday, Title IX 50th anniversary water bottles and rally towels will both be given away to the first 500 fans. Senior Day festivities will take place following the game.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Anastasiia Boldyreva

Jalynn Gregory

Kseniya Malashka

Savannah Wheeler

Courtney Whitson

Alexis Whittington

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics