Middle Tennessee women’s basketball (15-13,10-6 CUSA) ended its two-game losing skid by beating the University of Delaware (12-17, 6-11 CUSA), 67-53.  

Reigning two-time CUSA Freshman of the Week, Macie Phifer led the Lady Raiders with a career-high 22 points, six steals, five rebounds and three assists. 

“We knew we had to come away with a win,” head coach Rick Insell said on WGNS radio. “I was really proud of all of them.” 

The Lady Raiders had gone 2-4 in the month of February coming into Saturday and had suffered their largest conference loss of the season at Liberty University just days ago.  

“It’s really hard to lose confidence when you have coaches that believe in you every single day,” Phifer said on WGNS radio. “Coach said we had 18 assists in the locker-room, that’s just beautiful basketball.”  

Turnovers remained an issue early for the Lady Raiders and the Blue Hens, two of CUSA’s worst teams in turnover margin this season. Each team lost possession of the ball five times in the first quarter. 

 After taking an early 5-0 lead, the Blue Hens struggled to hit shots running a perimeter-centric offense, going on an eight-minute scoring drought. The Lady Raiders went on a 12-0 run and ended the quarter up 12-7.  

The Blue Hens shot 3-of-14 from the field and 1-of-6 from three-point range in the first quarter.  

The second quarter began with the Lady Raiders and the Blue Hens exchanging baskets back and forth with the Blue Hens finding success attacking the inside. The Blue Hens reverted to a perimeter-focused offense and went cold as their turnover woes extended into the second quarter.  

The Lady Raiders capitalized while cleaning up their ball protection, going on a 9-0 run from the 6:24 mark to the 2:19 mark and taking a 38-23 lead into the half. 

Phifer contributed 10 points in the quarter, including two three-point field goals, ending the half with 14 points as well as snagging five steals.  

The Blue Hens fought back in the third quarter, as a three-point field goal from freshman guard Kailah Correa brought them within eight points; Delaware trailed 46-38 with 1:41 left in the third quarter.  

After scoring 26 points in the second quarter, the Lady Raiders struggled to find offensive consistency, posting 12 points and committing four turnovers. 

Freshman guard Blair Baugus contributed eight of the Lady Raiders’ 12 points for the quarter.  

“Blair really got going today and we needed that; she was a force today,” Phifer said. 

The fourth quarter began with a 10-2 Lady Raiders run, and with 4:45 left to play in regulation Phifer hit her fourth three-pointer of the game to give MTSU its largest lead of the game at 63-44.  

Baugus finished the game with 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, contributing to her 12th double-double of the season. Kirston Verhulst, Savannah Davis and Alayna Contreas also contributed nine points each for the Lady Raiders.  

“Blair fell into a hole where she had too many turnovers, but we’re still going to go to her,” Insell said. “She’s going to have to get over that because she’s going to get some more turnovers because we’re going to go to her every possession down the floor.”  

With the win, MTSU is tied for second in the conference standings with Florida International University and Missouri State University.  

Louisiana Tech claimed the regular season conference championship, but the Lady Raiders can still claim the two seed in the conference tournament if they win their last two regular season conference games.  

“I believe in this bunch because they trust their coaches,” Insell said, “I believe in them, and I’m proud of them.”  

The Lady Raiders will host Florida International University on March 5 at 6:30 p.m. CDT and Missouri State on March 7 at 2:00 p.m. CDT, both at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee to close out the regular season.