Middle Tennessee women’s basketball (4-7) fell to Auburn University (9-3), 68-52, for the Lady Raiders’ final non-conference home game.
MTSU struggled to simply put the ball in the hole in the first half, head coach Rick Insell said.
“I just got no answer the way we start, we look good in practice, we look good in our preparation, our coaches are working hard, our players do good on preparation and then we go out there and start the game and we forget what we’re doing,” Insell said. “I have no answer for that.”
Against Auburn, Middle Tennessee scored 15 points in the first half, nine in the first quarter and six in the second quarter. Slow starts have become a trend for the Lady Raiders this season as they now have six games where they scored single digit points in the first quarter.
Middle Tennessee struggled in two parts with shot clock violations and a stingy press defense by Auburn.
The Lady Raiders had three official shot clock violation turnovers against the Tigers but throughout the game found themselves deep into the shot clock resulting in poor shot selection or loose ball turnovers.
MTSU started every game last season running Utah, where the players are constantly cutting and tonight Utah got called and by the third cut players stopped moving, Insell said.
“I don’t want to name any names, but we thought we’d come out and run Utah,” Insell said. “…We got a young lady that stops. I’m standing there thinking, what, then we get in a shot clock. Then we come back down and we in another shot clock.”
Middle Tennessee’s second struggle came with handling Auburn’s press defense that forced 25 turnovers by the Lady Raiders. MTSU continued to play around with player personal, having freshman Carsyn Swaney start at point guard.
Swaney missed the game against the University of Memphis back on Dec. 7, seen wearing a boot, but played Dec. 14 against Southern Indiana.
“I came here to be a shooting guard, but playing the point, I used to play that in high school a lot, so I feel a little bit comfortable here,” Swaney said. “Just getting that change from high school to college, the point guard position is a lot harder. I’m just trying to get a feel for that and told, he [Insell] told me to take the ball and go score.”
MTSU’s offense picked up in the second half, winning the back half 37-33 with a big contribution from senior guard Alayna Contreras. Contreras scored all 12 of her points in the second half with nine points coming in the final two minutes.
Contreras has the green light to shoot the ball when she gets an open look but up to this point she just won’t shoot it, Insell said.
“We need that shooting that she [Contreras] did in the first half,” Insell said. “That’s what we brought her on board for. If we could go with some of the things some of the things, the not swimming down in the backside, not stepping over the top of screen on defense with her, if she’s putting the ball in the hole.”
MTSU will travel to Wichita State University on Dec. 20 to finish its 2025 schedule. The Lady Raiders will start their Conference USA schedule on the road against Kennesaw State in the new year on Jan. 2, 2026.
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