Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Friday, March 14
Huntsville, Ala.
8 p.m.
Middle Tennessee
26-7,16-2CUSA
71
vs
63
WKU
23-9,13-5CUSA
1
2
3
4
F
Western Ky.
18
19
14
12
63
Middle Tenn.
19
15
15
22
71
Fourth quarter sharp shooting propels Blue Raiders into CUSA Championship game
3/14/2025 10:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — It was neck-and-neck for 38 minutes on Friday night, but Middle Tennessee women's basketball (26-7) pulled away late in the Blue Raiders' 71-63 win over rivals Western Kentucky (23-9) to advance to the Conference USA finals on Saturday afternoon.
The first segment of the game was a lengthy one. Anastasiia Boldyreva scored the first Blue Raider points and Ta'Mia Scott had five at the game's first media timeout, six minutes and 35 seconds into the first quarter with the Blue Raiders trailing by three.
In the final minute and a half of the first quarter, the Lady Toppers went from leading by eight to trailing by one after a Savannah Davis 3-pointer, Courtney Blakely layup, Jalynn Gregory three, and a layup by Scott that beat the buzzer.
Elina Arike picked up where she left off on Wednesday with a 3-pointer coming out of the second quarter media timeout to cut the Topper lead to six. Davis fired up another three, and that cut the deficit to three.
Scott took control offensively in the last minute of the first half with an and-1 play and another layup, and Jada Harrison added an offensive rebound and putback, but the Toppers led 37-34 after 20 minutes.
The third quarter saw eight minutes and 10 seconds go by until the first media timeout, and points were hard to come by for both teams. MTSU outscored WKU 15-14 in the frame, and the Toppers took a 51-49 lead into the fourth.
Davis scored the first five Blue Raider points of the fourth quarter, and Blakely added a layup to tie the game at 56 with 4:39 left to play.
Gregory knocked down a three from the top of the key, but it was matched by the Toppers. Not to be outdone, Gregory drained another 3-pointer on the ensuing possession and followed it up with another one with just 36 seconds remaining in regulation.
Boldyreva, Gregory and Scott knocked down their free throws in the final minute, and the Blue Raiders held on for the 71-63 win.
Notable performances for the Blue Raiders include a team-high 17 points to go with eight rebounds for Scott, 16 points for Gregory with four made 3-pointers, 13 points for Davis off the bench, a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double for Boldyreva, and 10 points for Blakely.
By the Numbers
13 – Savannah Davis notched a new career high for points with 13 and tied her career high for 3-pointers made with three.
+16 – Davis finished with a plus/minus of +16 in her 28 minutes of action.
15 – The Blue Raiders have now beaten Western Kentucky two more times in a single season on 15 occasions. 11 of those seasons have come in the Rick Insell era.
36 – Jalynn Gregory is now 36-for-38 from the free throw line in CUSA tournament games in her career (2-for-2 today).
Head Coach Rick Insell:
"What a game. I don't know if I've ever been in a game that there was that much pressure in the beginning of it all the way through, since I've been coaching. And what a team. Every time they jumped up seven or eight points, we'd come back and hit a couple of threes and think we've got control of things, and next thing you know they'd hit a couple of threes. Then we come right back, and the kids just played hard. Played their hearts out."
Senior guard Jalynn Gregory:
"Our energy really picked up in the second half and that's something we were struggling with to close the first half. For us, picking up our energy and staying together was what pulled us through this game."
Freshman guard Savannah Davis:
"He called me off the bench to go in and I just wanted to go in and just play my role and that's knock down shots and not let my person score. I struggled a little bit with that, but just bringing the energy off the bench is what I look to do, and I feel like I did that tonight."
Up Next
Middle Tennessee advances to the championship game of the Conference USA tournament. The Blue Raiders will take on top-seeded Liberty at 4:30 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network with a chance to reach the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive season.
Follow the Blue Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Women's Basketball on social media on Facebook (/MTSUWBB), X (Formerly known as Twitter) (@MT_WBB) and Instagram (@mt_wbb).
The first segment of the game was a lengthy one. Anastasiia Boldyreva scored the first Blue Raider points and Ta'Mia Scott had five at the game's first media timeout, six minutes and 35 seconds into the first quarter with the Blue Raiders trailing by three.
In the final minute and a half of the first quarter, the Lady Toppers went from leading by eight to trailing by one after a Savannah Davis 3-pointer, Courtney Blakely layup, Jalynn Gregory three, and a layup by Scott that beat the buzzer.
Elina Arike picked up where she left off on Wednesday with a 3-pointer coming out of the second quarter media timeout to cut the Topper lead to six. Davis fired up another three, and that cut the deficit to three.
Scott took control offensively in the last minute of the first half with an and-1 play and another layup, and Jada Harrison added an offensive rebound and putback, but the Toppers led 37-34 after 20 minutes.
The third quarter saw eight minutes and 10 seconds go by until the first media timeout, and points were hard to come by for both teams. MTSU outscored WKU 15-14 in the frame, and the Toppers took a 51-49 lead into the fourth.
Davis scored the first five Blue Raider points of the fourth quarter, and Blakely added a layup to tie the game at 56 with 4:39 left to play.
Gregory knocked down a three from the top of the key, but it was matched by the Toppers. Not to be outdone, Gregory drained another 3-pointer on the ensuing possession and followed it up with another one with just 36 seconds remaining in regulation.
Boldyreva, Gregory and Scott knocked down their free throws in the final minute, and the Blue Raiders held on for the 71-63 win.
Notable performances for the Blue Raiders include a team-high 17 points to go with eight rebounds for Scott, 16 points for Gregory with four made 3-pointers, 13 points for Davis off the bench, a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double for Boldyreva, and 10 points for Blakely.
By the Numbers
13 – Savannah Davis notched a new career high for points with 13 and tied her career high for 3-pointers made with three.
+16 – Davis finished with a plus/minus of +16 in her 28 minutes of action.
15 – The Blue Raiders have now beaten Western Kentucky two more times in a single season on 15 occasions. 11 of those seasons have come in the Rick Insell era.
36 – Jalynn Gregory is now 36-for-38 from the free throw line in CUSA tournament games in her career (2-for-2 today).
Head Coach Rick Insell:
"What a game. I don't know if I've ever been in a game that there was that much pressure in the beginning of it all the way through, since I've been coaching. And what a team. Every time they jumped up seven or eight points, we'd come back and hit a couple of threes and think we've got control of things, and next thing you know they'd hit a couple of threes. Then we come right back, and the kids just played hard. Played their hearts out."
Senior guard Jalynn Gregory:
"Our energy really picked up in the second half and that's something we were struggling with to close the first half. For us, picking up our energy and staying together was what pulled us through this game."
Freshman guard Savannah Davis:
"He called me off the bench to go in and I just wanted to go in and just play my role and that's knock down shots and not let my person score. I struggled a little bit with that, but just bringing the energy off the bench is what I look to do, and I feel like I did that tonight."
Up Next
Middle Tennessee advances to the championship game of the Conference USA tournament. The Blue Raiders will take on top-seeded Liberty at 4:30 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network with a chance to reach the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive season.
Follow the Blue Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Women's Basketball on social media on Facebook (/MTSUWBB), X (Formerly known as Twitter) (@MT_WBB) and Instagram (@mt_wbb).
Team Stats
WestKy
MTSU
FG%
.352
.511
3FG%
.400
.529
FT%
.813
.842
RB
27
31
TO
11
15
STL
7
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
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