MTSU women’s basketball gets set for a brand-new season with a brand-new team while still trying to get back to the NCAA March Madness Tournament.
Head coach Rick Insell is entering his third decade at Middle Tennessee with a program seeing more change than ever.
The Lady Raiders schedule has the University of Tennessee and Auburn University coming to the Murphy Center, a possible matchup against Mississippi State and a full Conference USA slate with new members Missouri State and Delaware, alongside perennial powers like Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky
“I’ve often said when I don’t get excited about coming in and working with our team and working with my coaches, at that time, I’ll get out,” Insell said. “It makes it enjoyable for me to come in and be able to work with these people, all of them are a lot younger than me, and it kind of keeps me young to be honest with you.”
Middle Tennessee will have plenty to figure out as they welcome eight new players with seven of them being freshmen.
BRAND NEW STARTING FIVE
2025 will be the first season in Insell’s twenty-year tenure with a completely new starting five after four players graduated and one transferred from the 2024 starting five.
“This is the first time in my career coaching, and I think in my 50 years, that I didn’t have somebody returning,” Insell said. “I had never really thought about that.”
The players this year, even though they are new, do their job well on the court, in the classroom and out in the community, Insell said.
The Lady Raiders will have to fill the holes left by the likes of Jalynn Gregory, Ta’Mia Scott and Anastasiia Boldyreva, a trio that averaged 35 minutes per game and were the three leading scorers for Middle Tennessee.
Out of the four returning players, sophomore guard Savannah Davis averaged 14.7 minutes per game last season, which is almost eight more minutes than fellow guard Emily Monson.
In MTSU’s two exhibition games, Insell started five guards on the floor with freshmen Yu Han Lin, Macie Phifer and Blair Baugus, Davis and transfer senior Alayna Contreras.
“Having a three-four that can play outside and in, helps a lot because people have to go in and help, leaving us open on the outside,” Davis said. “Phifer and Baugus are dominating in the paint, so we know we can pass it in.”
Phifer and Baugus, compared to last year’s duo of Boldyreva and Elina Arike, shot the ball better and provided stronger perimeter defense.
The shorter lineup will be much different from the past Lady Raiders starting five, with 6-foot-7 Boldyreva, 6-foot-2 Arike and 6-foot-3 Jada Grannum in the front court for the past four years.
A smaller lineup could fare well in CUSA where the tallest player the Blue Raiders will face is Kennesaw State 6-foot-6 center Mame Kane.
“Having Naz [Boldyreva] last year was well just so we could get blocked shots, but having them be more active, it helps with our defense and then it goes to offense, and they can score for anybody,” Davis said.
Middle Tennessee still has height to compete with the taller competition with 6-foot-4 Jenna McClendon and 6-foot-10 Nicole Dominguez slated to come off the bench, as one of the tallest players in NCAA women’s basketball.
GUARDS GALORE
Nine of the 12 members of the Lady Raiders are listed as guards on the official roster. The only non-guards on the team are Dominguez, McClendon and redshirt sophomore forward Stanislava Kabernick.
Exhibition games don’t show the full picture of how a lineup will shake out when its time for the regular season, especially for the Lady Raiders where bench minutes are few and far between.
“We’ll try to play everybody just to get a look at them, see what’s going on,” Insell said. “We use our exhibitions for two reasons…We try to use our exhibitions to get ready for Tennessee State…they’ll get to play before some people and hopefully we’ll get some of the nerves out.”
In Middle Tennessee’s first exhibition game, three guards off the bench saw double-digit minutes. Kirston Verhulst played for 15 minutes, mainly coming into running the offense at point guard. Carson Swaney played 18 minutes and Emily Monson added 10 minutes.
MTSU’s first game is Nov. 3 at 10:30 a.m. for school day with Murfreesboro City Schools.
The Blue Raiders will play in front of 10,000 people in the first game with all the schools coming, and then the second home game against Tennessee will have another 10,000 people, Insell said.
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