Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
“When she went under, I knew right then, it was dead on” - Gregory’s fourth quarter barrage pushes Blue Raiders into CUSA Championship
3/15/2025 11:52:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Gregory went three-for-three beyond the arc in the fourth quarter on Friday to give MTSU the lead for good against WKU in the Conference USA Semifinals
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Western Kentucky head coach was blunt about his team's mistakes in the fourth quarter on Friday night.
After leading the Conference USA semifinals against Middle Tennessee most of the night, never able to pull away from MTSU, but generally controlling the game, the veteran head coach said that one mistake, repeated multiple times, cost his Lady Toppers the game, one the Blue Raiders pulled out 71-63 when the buzzer sounded.
Letting Jalynn Gregory shoot open threes in the fourth quarter.
First, it was allowing a step back three after Josie Gilvin went under a top of the key ball screen from Anastasiia Boldyreva, giving Gregory all the space she needed to give MTSU its first lead since the end of the first quarter with 3:05 left to play. After Alexis Mead tied the game back up with a three of her own, the mistake was repeated, this time by Mead, as she slipped under Boldyreva, allowing Gregory to drill another three to take back the lead.
Finally, Western Kentucky adjusted back, with Mackenzie Chatfield going over the screen, allowing Gregory to kick out to Courtney Blakely with 40 seconds to play. But with Chatfield caught up by the screen and Gilvin forced to follow a driving Blakely off the wing, Gregory slipped to the corner, wide open for a dagger three that gave MTSU a six-point lead with 35.7 second to play.
"We weren't aware," Collins said. "Those are some costly mistakes we made on defense. We had a pretty good job defensively, I felt like throughout the game. But what we had talked about was finish the job."
Mistakes made, to be sure, but ones that were set up by the Middle Tennessee Coaching Staff in-game, MTSU Head Coach Rick Insell revealed in the post-game press conference. Against one of MTSU's most common set plays, Associate Head Coach Matt Insell had noticed Gilvin had been lulled into going under the top of the key ball screen when she was guarding Courtney Blakely, understandable given the Blue Raider point guard's propensity to drive. If MTSU could switch Gilvin onto Gregory, Insell thought, the repetition of the play might take over for Gilvin and give Gregory the open look.
"She knew what was coming up," the elder Insell said of Gregory. "It's green light. When she went under, I knew right then, it was dead on."
A veteran guard, Gregory knew what the Insell's were looking for by putting her at point for the play. And the player that Collins described as Conference USA's best three-point shooter was ready for the moment.
"The opportunity, that was just the option that they gave us, I just had to step up and make that shot," Gregory said.
The Blue Raiders wouldn't have been able to give Gregory that opportunity without several of her teammates gritting their way through the runs of Western Kentucky, who led by as many as nine points on Friday night. There was Ta'Mia Scott, who scored 12 of her 17 points in the first half to help MTSU keep pace with the Lady Toppers. There was Savannah Davis, called into early action due three first half fouls on three MTSU starters, making her first five shots of the night, including a trio of threes, for 13 points off the bench and leading the Blue Raiders in plus/minus when she was on the court.
"I don't know if I've ever been in a game where there was that much pressure from the beginning of it all the way until the end," Insell said.
Now, the Blue Raiders turn to Liberty, who rolled over LA Tech in the other semifinal to set up a clash of the regular season co-champions in Saturday's final. The two teams exchanged blowouts in the regular season, with both teams winning on their home courts. But with MTSU making its third CUSA Tournament final in a row, Insell is confident his team will be ready.
"The tough game is getting to the finals," Insell said. "It's this game we just played.
