MTSU women’s basketball (16-14, 11-7 CUSA) closed out its final Conference USA regular season game beating Missouri State (19-12, 11-7 CUSA) 86-75.
Lone senior Alayna Contreras led the Lady Raiders with a season high 31 points on senior day as Middle Tennessee now prepares for the CUSA tournament.
“I was a little down at first because I thought we played a really good game, and it didn’t go our way [Thursday], but I think we all just used that as a motivation to get the win today,” Contreras said.
MTSU fell to Florida International University on Thursday in double overtime, where Contreras missed a game-winning attempt in the first overtime and a game-tying attempt in the second overtime period.
The Lady Raiders led the entire way against the Lady Bears, jumping out to a seven-point lead by the midway point of the first quarter. The MTSU defense started strong, holding Missouri State to 30 points in the first half.
“I mean, we just try to play team defense and get everybody to help everybody,” freshman Carsyn Swaney said.
Swaney started, only her fourth start of the season, over sophomore guard Savannah Davis in the final regular season game.
The Maryville, Tennessee native finished the night with six points and a positive 13 plus minus.
“You got four or five young ladies that we have free substitution in practice, so she’s been playing good and so the other night, she had a good game, so I decided I’d come back and start her,” head coach Rick Insell said.
MTSU’s Blair Baugus managed foul trouble as she picked up four fouls but still had 29 points and 10 rebounds in 37 minutes of play. As a team, the Lady Raiders had 28 points in the paint and 21 points off turnovers.
“Not only did they [Baugus and Macie Phifer] have to play offense, they had to play defense,” Insell said. “Those two post players they got are very, very good and I think you saw down at the end how good their outside perimeter was.”
Mo. State’s two post players, Maiesha Washington and Lainie Douglas combined for 23 points on the night.
The end of the third and fourth provided a back-and-forth physical few minutes as the Lady Bears cut the deficit to within six. Missouri State closest deficit was five points before Contreras iced the game with five straight made free throws over the last 35 seconds.
MTSU’s next game will be in Huntsville, Alabama, for the CUSA tournament on Thursday, March 12.
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