MTSU women’s basketball (4-5) defeated an in-state opponent, the University of Memphis (5-5), 60-51, after a 20-point first quarter set the Lady Raiders up for the rest of the game.
Head coach Rick Insell switched the lineup against the Tigers, starting junior Emily Monson and bringing freshman Yu Han Lin back while guards Savannah Davis and Alayna Contreras came off the bench.
“She [Lin] has always had confidence,” Insell said. “She just jumps off the cruise ship every now and then…I thought her and Emily deserve a start, I thought Emily did a good job.”
Lin kickstarted the MTSU offense with a three from the left wing and a driving layup within one minute of each other.
Middle Tennessee scored 20 points in the first quarter by committee with five players knocking down shots, led by freshman Blair Baugus who had seven points.
The last time MTSU scored 20 or more points in the first frame was against Tennessee Tech, a game that Middle Tennessee lost.
The Lady Raider offense slowed down throughout the second quarter, shooting 4 of 9 to add nine points. To go along with the low scoring, MTSU struggled with turnovers once again with 11 in the second quarter.
Middle Tennessee limited the turnovers in the first quarter, committing only three.
“That is just on all of us, not just one of us to get open, step to the ball and be somebody that wants to take care of the ball, wants to bring the ball up the court,” Baugus said.
Memphis came out of halftime and scored eight unanswered points to cut the deficit to one. The Tigers offensive performance was consistent throughout the game but struggled to limit the large scoring runs by Middle Tennessee.
The Lady Raiders had two separate seven-point scoring runs in the third quarter to rebuild their lead. Going into the final 10 minutes, MTSU led by nine points.
Memphis helped out Middle Tennessee as six Tigers found themselves in foul trouble. With seven minutes left in the game, all five Memphis players on the floor had at least three fouls with three players having four fouls. Three Tigers ended up fouling out of the game in the final minutes.
The Tigers attempted a comeback with five minutes left, playing stingy press defense forcing multiple turnovers by the Lady Raiders under the Memphis basket.
“We’ve got to be able to handle the press better than we handled it,” Insell said. “We made some mistakes there and that was a part of the 27 turnovers.”
The second half saw MTSU turn the ball over 13 times, with nine in the fourth quarter. In the final six minutes, the Lady Raiders struggled with five and 10 second calls with four possessions ending before half court.
Middle Tennessee will travel to the University of Southern Indiana on Dec. 14 before returning home to take on the Auburn University Tigers on Dec. 16.
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