Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
27-4,16-0CUSA
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UTEP
12-19,6-10CUSA
Red-hot second half blasts Lady Raiders past Miners in Conference USA Tournament
3/13/2024 3:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Courtney Whitson scored 21 points in the second half, Lady Raider buoyed by 17 bench points.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Middle Tennessee women's basketball battled through cold shooting in the first half to come alive in the second, scoring the nets for 48 points in the final 20 minutes to blast past UTEP 78-50 on Wednesday afternoon at Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center.
The Lady Raiders (27-4) led at the half, 30-25, after a back-and-forth first 20 minutes in which the lead changed hands five times. MTSU started the morning 0-for-14 from three, before Jalynn Gregory's attempt on the right wing found the net. Gregory was fouled on the play and drained the and-1 free throw, jump starting a 6-0 run for the Lady Raiders. With early foul trouble for the MTSU forwards, the Lady Raider got good minutes out of Iullia Grabovskaia and Jada Grannum, who combined for 10 points and four rebounds in 19 minutes of work at the break.
The Miners (12-19) could not contain the Lady Raiders in the second half, with MTSU nearly doubling UTEP's effort in the final 20 minutes. While holding the Miners to just 29 percent shooting from the field, MTSU shot 45.7 percent as a team in the second half, including a 10-for-23 half beyond the arc.
Courtney Whitson led all scorers with 21 points, all of them coming in the second half. The graduate forward also grabbed nine rebounds and dished three assists. Jalynn Gregory scored 18 points, including a 4-for-4 day at the free throw line, grabbing three rebounds with four assists. Savannah Wheeler was on a triple-double watch, scoring 10 points, grabbing seven rebounds and tossing a team-high six assists. Grabovskaia finished with 14 points off the bench, also graving five rebounds.
By the Numbers
18: Offensive rebounds for MTSU, an 18-3 advantage in the stat for the Lady Raiders. Unsurprisingly, this led to a 27-5 advantage in second chance points for MTSU.
14: The number of consecutive missed three pointers to start the game from the Lady Raiders. After finishing the first half 1-for-17 for three, MTSU was 10-for-23 from deep in the second half, including a 6-for-11 effort in the second half from Courtney Whitson.
17: Bench points for MTSU, led by a career-high 14 points from Iullia Grabovskaia.
Lady Raider Notes
• With one block on the afternoon, Anastasiia Boldyreva set the single-season program record for blocks with 89.
• Middle Tennessee pulled in a season high 51 rebounds. The last time the Lady Raider posted 50 or more boards was on January 1, 2021 against FAU (57).
• Iullia Grabovskaia was instrumental off the bench, tying her career-high in points with 14.
• Courtney Whitson logged six triples on the day, tying her career-high.
• MTSU moves to 18-5 all-time in CUSA Tournament action.
Thoughts from Head Coach Rick Insell
"I think the opening statement has to be that we didn't show up the first quarter or the second quarter. I thought the third quarter, the fourth quarter was more like what we've been seeing all year long. I can't explain why we didn't show up because we haven't had that type of start. Usually, we're out of the gates pretty quick and up on people, getting anywhere from 12 to 20 points in the first quarter. But today, we just couldn't put the ball in the hole. We had good shots, wide open shots, Courtney had wide open shots. What you saw there late was the Courtney Whitson that has played for me for the last five years."
Player's Perspective – Courtney Whitson
"Credit to my teammates. If I didn't have Jada, Iullia and Jalynn stepping in and giving me that stability that I could come back in and have better second half, then I wouldn't have been able to do it. We wouldn't be in the ball game. I can't, personally as a leader, start like out like that. But kudos to the people who did step up. Coach has been preaching that all week. It's going to come down to the people who don't think they're going to play, but then when their number is called, they step up."
Up Next
MTSU faces the winner of Thursday's game between the No. 4 seed Louisiana Tech and No. 5 seed Jacksonville State in the semifinals of CUSA Tournament on Friday. Tipoff in that game in the Von Braun Center is set for 5:30 p.m. on ESPN+ and the Blue Raider Radio Network.
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).
