Featured photo by Khori Williams
Story by Calvin White
COOKEVILLE, Tenn- A defensive game in the Eblen Center ended with a 63-47 MTSU win over Tennessee Tech in which Jalynn Gregory and Anastasiia Boldyreva combined for 42 of MTSU’s 63 points.
There wasn’t much offense from either team but even when MTSU wasn’t scoring, Tennessee Tech never threatened the Lady Raider lead.
MTSU’s defense held TTU to 18-of-57 from the field and 4-of-24 from 3-point range.
“We just stuck to our principles,” Gregory said. “Staying in the passing lanes and making every catch tough. We just stuck to that and when they didn’t make the shot, we tried our hardest to clean up the board.”
Gregory finished with 25 points on 8-of-15 shooting. When Gregory was making shots from the perimeter, Tennessee Tech’s guards started overplaying her and that opened up driving lanes for Gregory to either pull up for a mid-range shot or get all the way to the rim for a layup.
MTSU head coach Rick Insell says Gregory’s play just boils down to her being a winner.
“She’s just a player,” Insell said. “She’s big time. Big time.”
To go along with her offensive success, Gregory held TTU’s leading scorer Maaliya Owens to two points on 1-of-10 shooting. Owens likes to shoot and Gregory was able to run her off the 3-point line and force her into multiple tough shots or turnovers.
When TTU’s guards were scrambling to find Gregory on the perimeter, Boldyreva became more open under the basket. MTSU’s offense forces its opponent to switch a lot of ball screens and Boldyreva was able to get a lot of easy layups when she was guarded by a Golden Eagle guard. The MTSU post player finished with 17 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
47 points is the second-lowest total that MTSU has held a Division I opponent to this season, barely edging out the game it held Houston to 45. For the last four days since it allowed 62 to Tennessee, all MTSU has worked on in practice is defense.
“Ever since Tennessee, that’s all we’ve worked on is our defense,” Insell said. “That’s all we’ve worked on. You know, we’ve got to get better but we held a good team to 47 points today so I’m pretty happy with that.”
Calvin White is the sports editor of MTSU Sidelines. If you have information for a story, you can contact him at [email protected]. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com. Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @mtsusidelines, or on X @MTSUSidelines.
