MTSU women’s basketball is set to go on its final road series of the season as the Conference USA tournament looms.  

The Lady Raiders will spend the next two weeks on the road with three crucial games for tournament seeding. Middle Tennessee currently sits second in CUSA with multiple teams within striking distance.  

Road wins have been harder to come by this season for MTSU, with the team sitting 3-3 on opposing courts.  

The road losses were to good teams where MTSU had a chance, head coach Rick Insell said.  

“Who beat us on the road, LA Tech, FIU and then Missouri State?” Insell said. “Pretty good teams and we had a chance to win all three of those games.” 

The final away series starts with the 100 Miles of Hate matchup against Western Kentucky University, followed by Liberty University and the University of Delaware. Middle Tennessee faced all three teams at home, going 2-1, with the loss coming against Delaware. 

Last year the Lady Raiders fell to WKU in Bowling Green, Kentucky, 63-58, a loss that ended a 33-game conference win streak.  

Middle Tennessee’s success in the final weeks will be based on its perimeter play on both ends of the floor and the forward duo of Blair Baugus and Macie Phifer.  

“We have to come in practice our butts off every single day, just prepare as if we weren’t in this position,” Phifer said. “Keep grinding and keep getting better, because yes, we are going on the road but just focus on our defense because defense is ultimately what is going to win us the games.” 

Perimeter shooting  

Against Kennesaw State, senior guard Alayna Contreras scored a season-high 28 points, shooting 10-of-14 with six three-pointers. Insell’s first comment about Contreras’ performance wasn’t about offense but about the senior’s improvement on defense.  

“I’m going to be honest with you, I’m proud that she scored 28 but I’m more proud of the fact that she is playing pretty good defense now,” Insell said. “…Again, that’s two games in a row, we’ve played pretty good defense on the other team’s best player.”

Along with Contreras, the Lady Raiders are a top-ranked team in CUSA on defense. Opponents score 58.6 points per game, which is the third-lowest in the conference. Middle Tennessee is also the third–lowest in opposing teams’ field goal and three-point percentage.  

MTSU had mixed results against its three upcoming opponents when defending the perimeter earlier in the season. 

Liberty’s Avery Mills leads CUSA with three three-pointers per game while shooting 42.4% behind the arc. The Lady Raiders held Mills to 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting with two three-pointers.  

Delaware, on the other hand, shot 42.8% from deep, accounting for 21 points against the Lady Raiders. The Blue Hen’s Ella Wanzer burned MTSU, scoring all 12 of her points from behind the arc.  

Three point shooting 

MTSU loves to run its offense through the post and rightfully so, as Baugus and Phifer combine for 23 points per game and nearly 15 rebounds a contest.  

When Baugus gets the ball down low, then they have to help and when they do, the shooters can hit some threes, Insell said.  

When the forwards are struggling to score, the guards’ scoring ability becomes more important.  

In all four conference losses, either Baugus or Phifer were held to single-digit points and against FIU and Delaware both were held to less than 10 points. 

The shooters are improving down the stretch, though, especially Contreras. 

“When we shoot the ball well, it opens everything else … we brought AC [Contreras] in to shoot,” Insell said on Jan. 31 after Contreras scored 25 points. “…And we’ve had to kind of take her through the process, because she’s passed up so many shots early.”  

Contreras, through 12 non-conference games, had six double-digit scoring performances, but since CUSA play began, the senior guard has scored in double digits in 12 of 13 games.   

Middle Tennessee travels to Bowling Green, Kentucky, to take on the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers on Saturday with tipoff set for 2 p.m. CDT.  

The Lady Raiders’ next home game is set for March 5 against Florida International, and they will close out the regular season against Missouri State on March 7.  

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