MURFREESBORO, Tenn. ? The South Alabama women’s basketball team will head Middle Tennessee to take on the Blue Raiders in a key Sun Belt Conference East Division match up on Thursday. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Murphy Center.
“For us right now, the game in and of itself is important as we head down the stretch,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. “Clearly we are playing a team with a lot of tradition, winning four straight Sun Belt Championships. We know they will be ready to go after having a bad week last week.”
Live stats can be accessed at www.usajaguars.com or www.goblueraiders.com. Fans can also access the web streaming broadcast of the contest between the Jaguar women and the Blue Raiders at https://www.b2livetv.com/liveevents/WomensBasketball/NCAA/SunBelt/MTSU/billnow.asp. The cost for the web streaming of the game is $6.
The Lady Jags (16-8, 7-6 SBC) come into the contest versus Middle Tennessee after picking up a huge 69-66 road victory over in-state rival Troy on Sunday. Against the Trojans, sophomore guard Shakira Nettles’ jumper with under a minute to play and senior guard Amanda Leonard’s two free throws in the final seconds proved to be the difference for the Jags against the Trojans. Nettles led all scorers with a career-high 20 points in the win for the Jags.
Nettles and Monique Jones continue to lead the team offensively with 10.6 and 10.5 points per game, respectively. Patriece Brunner continues to be one of the top rebounders in the conference, pulling down 7.4 per game, fifth-best in the Sun Belt. In conference games this season, Brunner has been even better ranking fourth in the league with 8.4 rebounds per game. She also sixth in the SBC in blocked shots with 1.13 per game and ranks in the Top 10 in both offensive and defensive rebounds. Leonard continues to be the top marksman for the Lady Jags in Sun Belt play, as she is connecting on 40.6 percent of her attempts from behind the arc. As a team, USA is knocking down 33.7 percent of its three-point attempts in SBC action, while holding its opponents to 28.3 percent shooting, tops in the league.
Entering SBC action this week, the Lady Jags continue to be ranked in the Top six in 12 of the 19 team categories in the league, including first in three-point field goal defense, and second in scoring defense, field goal defense, assists and defensive rebounds.
Middle Tennessee enters the match up versus the Lady Jags on Thursday night with a 14-10 overall mark and a 9-4 record in Sun Belt Conference play. The Blue Raiders still remain in second place in the East Division, despite having dropped its last two league games.
UALR ended the Blue Raiders’ 35-game Sun Belt Conference home winning streak with a 66-53 victory in Murfreesboro and then Florida International captured a 74-62 win in Miami over Middle Tennessee. FIU used a 26-5 run over the final nine and a half minutes of the first half to take control of the game. MTSU also suffered a nearly 13 minute period where it didn’t record a field goal against the Golden Panthers.
The Blue Raiders continue to be led by All-American and SBC Player of the Year candidate Amber Holt. Holt enters play this week leading the nation in scoring with 26.5 points per game. The senior also ranks 49th in assist-turnover ratio, 56th in steals per game and 63rd in field goal percentage.
As a team, Middle Tennessee ranks among the national leaders in several categories entering play this week. The Blue Raiders are fourth in three-point field goals per game, 13th in steals per game, 15th in turnovers per game, 26th in scoring offense, 32nd in assist-turnover ratio and 35th in free throw percentage.
Middle Tennessee holds a 9-4 advantage in the all-time series, including taking the previous seven meetings. Middle Tennessee also holds a 4-1 advantage against USA in Murfreesboro. Pietri is 2-8 in the series versus the Blue Raiders and is 1-3 in Murfreesboro. Middle Tennessee took the first meeting of the season with an 80-46 victory in Mobile.
