Photo by Tyler Lamb / Sports Editor
The Middle Tennessee Lady Raiders traveled to Georgia Tech to face off against the Yellow Jackets on Thursday night. The Lady Raiders’ season came to an end as they were defeated in the third round of the WNIT, 70-57.
The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a very hot start while the Lady Raiders stumbled out of the gates. GT immediately opened up the game with a 17-2 run against the Lady Raiders and pinned their backs against the wall.
MTSU’s slow start plagued them from ever coming close to the lead again. MT struggled to catch up and were unable to even cut the deficit to single digits.
The Yellow Jacket’s guard Francesca Pan was the driving force behind Georgia Tech’s offense. She opened the game with 16 points in the first quarter which led to the first quarter dominance of GT and carried throughout.
Likely the biggest stat of the night was the lopsided rebounding edge in favor of the Jackets, 46-31.
Senior Ty Petty gave her best effort to rally the Lady Raiders to victory, but was unable to pull off the miraculous comeback. Her teammates could never get on a roll and struggled to score offensively for the entire game, shooting 35% from the field as a team.
Petty ended her night with 21 points and six assists. She was the only player for the Lady Raiders to finish the game with double digits in points. The senior also ended her Lady Raider career with 1oo wins at MTSU.
The Lady Raiders finish with a 23-11 record for the 2016-2017 season.
Follow MTSU Lady Raider beat writers David Chamberlain (@D_Chamberlain_), Jonathan Clark (@JonDemetries) and Keenan Taylor (@keenantaylor_) on Twitter for more coverage.
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To contact Sports Editor Tyler Lamb (@Tlamb35), email sports@mtsusidelines.com.
