MURFREESBORO, Tenn. ? The 25^th-ranked Middle Tennessee Lady Raiders proved to be too much for the South Alabama women’s basketball team Wednesday evening as the Lady Jags fell 90-64 at the Murphy Center.

“I think Middle Tennessee is functioning right now at a level that is just above the rest of everyone else in the league right now,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “For them to be beaten, they are going to have to be off or someone else is going to have to be really on.”

USA (18-9, 9-7 SBC) will continue Sun Belt Conference action when the Lady Jags return home to host Louisana-Monroe on Saturday for their final regular season home game.  Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.  Prior to the game, USA will honor its four seniors; Shaniece Brunner, Karina Sproal, Ra’Shawna Sippio and Jessica Starling.

With the win, Middle Tennessee remains perfect in Sun Belt Conference action, improving to 15-0 in the league and 23-4 overall.

Starling led South Alabama offensively in the loss with 20 points, while Shakira Nettles and Ra’Shawna Sippio chipped in with 12 and 10 points respectively. 

Alysha Clark, the reigning Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week, was 11-for-18 from the field and led all scorers with 30 points.  MTSU also placed three other players in double digits ? Chelsia Lymon (20), Annie Marie Lanning (16) and Brandi Brown (12). 

The Lady Raiders forced 24 Jag turnovers and converted them into 38 points.  USA was only able to gain 10 points off 10 MTSU miscues.

Middle Tennessee jumped out to the early lead with six quick points over the first two and a half minutes of the game.  After struggling on the offensive end of the court over nearly the first four minutes of the half, USA found its battled back though and narrowed the deficit to 8-7 with a spurt of its own.  Starling trimmed the deficit to one when the senior drained a long trey at the 15:09 mark, one of her three baskets from beyond the arc.

However with the Lady Raiders holding an 11-9 lead with just under 13 minutes to go in the period, MTSU reeled off nine unanswered points and pushed its lead out to 11 on a Clark bucket at the 9:25 mark.  Sarda Peterson ended the Middle Tennessee run and the Jaguar drought with a layup less than a minute later.  The Peterson basket ended a string of six straight missed shots for USA.

Over the next several minutes though, the Lady Raiders fed the post to their All-American candidate Clark.  Over three and a half minute stretch, Clark recorded nine straight points for MTSU.  South Alabama was able to keep the deficit at around the 10-point range until late in the period.  Middle Tennessee continued to turn up the defensive pressure over the final five minutes of the first stanza and after a Lymon trey from the right wing with three minutes, 18 seconds to go, grabbed its largest lead to that point at 36-20.  The Lady Raiders went on to head into the locker room with a 46-27 advantage after a pair of Lymon free throws. 

Middle Tennessee capitalized on the Jaguar miscues, turning USA’s 13 first half turnovers into 28 points.  The Lady Raiders outscored South Alabama 28-2 in that category.  Clark led all scorers in the first 20 minutes of play with 16 points, while Lymon had 10, eight of which came in the final three-plus minutes.