By Connor Ulrey//Contributing Writer
Middle Tennessee (3-2) came out firing right out of the gate and never looked back on Wednesday morning, defeating Clemson (3-5) 69-28. In front of 11,307 fans on Education Day, the Raiders were dominant from start to finish, improving their record to 3-0 on Education Day.
Students from many elementary schools from across Murfreesboro were present in Murphy Center to watch the game.
The Blue Raiders were up 9-0 before the Tigers scored their first point on a layup by Shelbie Davenport.
Offensively, the Raiders were on fire, as all but one player who saw action scored. Olivia Jones led all scorers with 17 and added 12 rebounds to grab her fourth straight double-double.
Defensively, Middle Tennessee was stout and held Clemson to their lowest scoring output in school history.
The Lady Tigers shot 23.4 percent from the field, their lowest percentage on the season. The Lady Raiders, however, shot 40 percent from the field, but shot 50percent in the first half and held a 46-12 advantage at halftime.
Clemson finished with 23 turnovers, and the Blue Raiders capitalized scoring 34 points off turnovers for the game, 27 of those points came in the first half.
Middle Tennessee scored 28 points in the paint and doubled up Clemson in the rebound category 52-26.
Ty Petty added 13, a season high for her, and 5 assists, while China Dow and Cheyenne Parker each added 6 rebounds.
The Blue Raiders poured it on in the second and extended their lead to 64-21 and never had a lead lower than 40 the rest of the way.
Middle Tennessee will look to continue their winning ways on Sunday as Xavier visits the Murphy Center at 2 pm.
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To contact sports editor Connor Grott, email sports@mtsusidelines.com.
