Behind its Murfreesboro natives, Middle Tennessee knocked off the UTEP Miners 76-53 Saturday to stay firm atop the Conference USA standings.
“None of them are easy, and it was just another typical conference game,” Middle Tennessee Head Coach Rick Insell said. “I have 11 young ladies and I love every one of them. They’re good young ladies to be around, and they play hard for this University. I’m very proud of them.”
The win, the Blue Raiders’ 12th conference home win in a row and third consecutive overall, was fueled by senior Ty Petty and sophomore Alex Johnson. The Murfreesboro natives knocked home 52 combined points and hit 19 of 33 shots (57.5 percent).
Petty’s scoring output was imperative with Johnson, C-USA’s second-leading scorer at 20.1 points per game, in foul trouble early on. Petty had 14 of her game-high 27 in the first half with Johnson sidelined most of the way, then Johnson answered the favor with 17 of her 25 points in the fourth quarter.
Jess Louro added 11 points and seven rebounds for MT, while Gabby Lyon had eight points and Abbey Sissom finished with three. Charity Savage rounded out the scoring with two, and Rebecca Reuter didn’t get on the scoreboard but had seven rebounds.
“Our main focus was that win,” Petty said. “As long as we were up at the end when the buzzer went off, that’s all that mattered.
“One thing that coach mentions in practice is our faces are always in the newspapers and out in the news, but we fail to realize who’s doing the dirty work. We all contribute and everyone knows their role.”
The Blue Raiders took over early, ballooning their lead to 34-22 at halftime, but in the third quarter UTEP made things interesting for a few minutes.
After Middle Tennessee grabbed a 14-point lead early in the second half, the Miners used an 11-2 run to cut the lead to five. An immediate 12-0 run for the Blue Raiders put an end to any upset talk, however, and effectively put the game out of reach.
With Petty and Johnson leading the way offensively, it was Middle Tennessee’s defense that shut down the Miners over the run and sealed the win.
UTEP, Conference USA’s 11th best scoring team at 65 points per game, shot just 35.1 percent and turned the ball over 17 times.
“Defense is our key; that’s what we work on every single day,” Petty said. “Defense was our key, and we needed it to win today.”
The one area going into the game that looked to be in favor of the Miners was their presence down low. Once the game started, though, it was clear that advantage went to the home team.
Despite UTEP’s size inside, the Blue Raiders had their way down low. Against C-USA’s third-best shot blocking team (4.45 per game), they won the points in the paint battle 40-20 and outrebounded the Miners 45-33.
“It was definitely an emphasis before the game to get on the boards,” Lyon said. “They have a way bigger post lineup than we faced on Thursday. We were just trying to stay focused on that, especially in the second half.”
The win keeps Middle Tennessee in a tie atop the C-USA standings with WKU and Charlotte. The Raiders travel next week to Old Dominion on Thursday before a showdown at Charlotte on Saturday. Both games are scheduled for a 6 p.m. tipoff and the latter can be seen on ESPN3.
“I think our leadership is there, now what we have to do is go on two hostile courts against two teams in the top-five of the league,” Insell said. “Then we have to come back home and play WKU … it’s no rest for the weary.”
Read More
