How MTSU women's basketball beat Toledo to reach the WNIT Final Four

Cecil Joyce, Murfreesboro Daily News Journal

March 29, 2022 at 6:25 AM·3 min read

Middle Tennessee State women's basketball advanced to the Final Four of the Women's NIT, knocking off host Toledo 73-71 in overtime at Savage Arena in front of 4,063 on Monday night.

"Great, great game between two quality teams," Lady Raiders coach Rick Insell said. "This was a great atmosphere and that's what you expect when you reach this point of a postseason tournament. We knew it would take a great effort to come in here and win against a very good and well-coached Toledo team. I'm excited for our team, our fans, but I'm proud of how this team responded tonight."

The Lady Raiders (27-7) will play host to Seton Hall (23-12) on Thursday at 6:30 in the semifinals. Seton Hall defeated Columbia 78-75 on Monday.

The championship game is Saturday.

Here are some observations from the Lady Raiders' victory:

Back in the Glass House

After spending one game on the road during the tournament, the Lady Raiders will be back at Murphy Center, attempting to win their 18th in a row at home. MTSU is 16-0 in the Glass House this season.

The Pirates have three players averaging more than 15 points a game, led by junior guard Lauren Park-Lane (18.4). Senior forward Sidney Cooks averages 15.5 and graduate senior guard Andra Espinoza-Hunter averages 15.1.

Cooks leads the team with eight rebounds a contest.

Anastasiia Boldyreva's big game

MTSU 6-foot-6 freshman center Anastasiia Boldyreva had a huge second half, scoring 26 of her 28 points.

Boldyreva, who came in averaging 7.7 points, was limited to just two points in the first half in limited action.

She came through in the final 20 minutes while Lady Raider forward Keseniya Malashka was in foul trouble. She hit 13-of-20 from the field, including a 3-pointer, and added three rebounds and three blocked shots.

She scored four points in the final minute of overtime to help the Lady Raiders advance.

Courtney Whitson's big quarter

MTSU senior forward Courtney Whitson had quite the first quarter, knocking down four 3-pointers to help bring the Lady Raiders back from a 10-2 deficit early to leading 20-13 by the end of the first period.

Whitson finished the period with 14 points.

She was held scoreless in the second quarter and was limited to four points in the second half and overtime, but her early production kept MTSU in the game.

Whitson finished with 18 points and seven rebounds before fouling out in the extra period.

MTSU senior forward Courtney Whitson fires a shot during a recent WNIT game. Whitson scored 18 points as the Lady Raiders moved on to the tourney's final four with a 73-71 win over Toledo Monday.

Lady Raiders force 23 turnovers

MTSU's defense was on point, forcing eight Toledo turnovers in the first quarter, 12 by halftime and 23 for the game.

The early pressure helped the Lady Raiders come back from a big hole early and take a seven-point lead at the end of one.

The Lady Raiders got off nine more shots than the Rockets during the quarter and finished with 10 more shot attempts (65-55) for the game, despite being outrebounded 40-31.

Game of runs

Both the Lady Raiders and Rockets used spurts to stay in the game. Toledo raced out to a 10-2 lead before MTSU went on a 13-0 run, ending the first quarter on an 18-3 spurt.

The Rockets bounced back with a 7-0 run to begin the second and led by two at intermission.

Toledo went on a 7-0 run early in the third to take its biggest lead since early in the game (43-37).

The two teams battled back and forth from that point.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU women's basketball reaches WNIT Final Four with win over Toledo

USA TODAY
2 men arrested after 'hazardous drone operation' near Boston's Logan Airport
The arrests occur amid a number drone sightings in the Northeast, including New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
NBC News
Israel plans to double its population in the occupied Golan Heights amid intensive airstrikes in Syria
Israel announced plans to double its population in the occupied Golan Heights, earning international condemnation.
Associated Press
Short ribs braised in wine and aromatics make for an elegant holiday dinner
Brasato al Barolo, or beef braised in Barolo wine, is a classic dish from Piedmont in northern Italy. The cooking liquid, rich with the essence of wine, beef and aromatics, becomes a delicious sauce. The braise is named for Barolo, a deep, complex Piedmontese wine made from Nebbiolo grapes that lend generous tannins and acidity to the braising liquid.
NBC News
7 foreign tourists hospitalized in Fiji after suspected alcohol poisoning
Seven foreign tourists were hospitalized in Fiji in a suspected case of alcohol poisoning at a luxury resort, Fijian and Australian officials said Monday.
Associated Press
EU slaps sanctions on dozens more Russian officials and targets its shadow oil and gas fleet
The European Union on Monday imposed fresh sanctions on dozens of officials linked to Russia’s war on Ukraine, including two top North Korean defense officials, a military unit blamed for an attack on a Kyiv children’s hospital and the heads of companies in the energy sector. Russia’s vast shadow fleet of ships that Moscow is exploiting to skirt restrictions on transporting oil and gas, or carrying stolen Ukrainian grain, was also targeted. “This package of sanctions is part of our response to weaken Russia’s war machine and those who are enabling this war, also including Chinese companies,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
Reuters
Russia disrupting Baltic security in test for NATO, Polish admiral says
Russia is disrupting mobile communications and ship-tracking data across the Baltic Sea, endangering vessels and energy supplies to test how Western powers will respond, a Polish admiral overseeing the area said. Vice Admiral Krzysztof Jaworski said Moscow was systematically using such tactics to hide the movements of its own vessels and disrupt the operations of others in the sea which is bordered by eight NATO countries and Russia. "Hybrid war in the Baltic is the biggest challenge we are facing," Jaworski told Reuters in an interview last week, referring to the practise of launching conventional attacks alongside attempts to disrupt politics, energy supplies and other systems.
AFP
Scientists artificially inseminate leopard sharks to boost diversity
A black-and-cream leopard shark enters a hypnotic-like state of relaxation as scientists at Sydney Aquarium carefully roll her onto her back in a small pool.The shark is still in a natural state called tonic immobility -- a relaxed condition that allows scientists to work without getting injured.
AFP
Libyans hope Syrians fare better than they did
Libyans watched the fall of Syria's Bashar al-Assad with a mixture of apprehension and hope, wishing "their brothers" in the Levant a better outcome than their own."Now we know the outcome of the revolution in Libya," Essid said.
Reuters
Uganda's court orders government to pay LRA war crime victims
A Ugandan court has ordered the government to pay up to 10 million Ugandan shillings ($2,740) to each victim of Lord's Resistance Army commander Thomas Kwoyelo, the first senior member of the rebel group to be convicted by Uganda's judiciary. In October, Kwoyelo, a mid-level commander in the LRA, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for war crimes including murder, rape, enslavement, torture and kidnapping. According to the court ruling, Kwoyelo was found unable to pay any compensation to the victims due to his "indigent" status, leading the court to order the government to bear the cost.
USA TODAY
A weather 'roller-coaster ride' is coming to Northeast as snow closes schools
"Very chilly air" to grip the Northeast as Christmas Day approaches, meteorologists say.
Reuters
Romanian government talks hampered by demand for fiscal clarity
One of the four Romanian parties due to join a coalition government demanded clarity over taxation and spending plans on Monday, hampering the talks as the country races to stem the political chaos after the presidential election was annulled. The four pro-European parties reached a firm commitment to form a governing majority after the Dec. 1 parliamentary election in which three ultranationalist and hard-right groupings, some with overt pro-Russian sympathies, won more than a third of the seats. But on Monday the opposition centrist Save Romania Union (USR) said it needed transparent discussions over the budget plans before the government talks could continue.
CNN
World’s biggest iceberg, A23a, is on the move again
The world’s largest iceberg is on the move again, drifting through the Southern Ocean after months stuck spinning on the same spot, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have said.
AFP
Anglican Church hit by new abuse row
A senior UK bishop, who will soon take over temporarily as leader of the world's Anglicans after a sex abuse scandal, faced calls to quit on Monday over his own handling of another case.Now the Bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley, has called for Cottrell to stand down over claims he too mishandled a sexual abuse case during his time as the Bishop of Chelmsford.
AFP
Syria war monitor says heavy Israeli strikes hit coastal region
Israeli strikes targeted military sites in Syria's coastal Tartus region overnight, a war monitor said Monday, calling them "the heaviest strikes" there in years.It called the raids "the heaviest strikes in Syria's coastal region since the start of strikes in 2012".
AFP
Putin cheers 'landmark' 2024, says troops have upper hand in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday hailed his army's accelerating advance in Ukraine and praised 2024 as a "landmark" year in the course of Moscow's military offensive on its Western-backed neighbour.He said Russia's army had seized 189 Ukrainian settlements this year and called 2024 a "landmark year in the achievement of the goals of the special military operation", using Moscow's official language for its campaign.
Associated Press
Syrian rebel force deploys to a village near Damascus to stop looters
A rebel force deployed to a village in southeastern Damascus to stop looters who swarmed a residential complex and set some apartments on fire. The raid by the rebel force comes a week after the fighters marched on the Syrian capital in their lightening offensive that forced Syrian President Bashar Assad to flee, ending five decades of his family rule. The rebel fighters have prioritized security in Damascus, where there was limited looting of private properties and attacks on security and government buildings.
CBS News
Women speak of shocking sexual violence amid Sudan's raging civil war
Sudanese women tell Human Rights Watch that RSF paramilitaries, one side in a grueling civil war, are subjecting them to horrific sexual violence.
CBS News
"Hazardous drone operation" leads to two arrests in Boston
Two people were arrested Saturday night in Boston for what police describe as a "hazardous drone operation."
Reuters
UN envoy meets Syria's Sharaa, urges inclusive transition
The U.N.'s Syria envoy urged an inclusive Syrian transition based on a nine-year-old Security Council resolution during a meeting with the commander of Syria's new administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, the envoy's office said on Monday. Syria's ruling General Command, in a separate statement about Sunday's meeting with the U.N.'s Geir Pedersen, said they had discussed the need to review Security Council Resolution 2254, saying it needed to be updated to "suit the new reality".
USA TODAY
4 events that dazzled skygazers in 2024, from total solar eclipse to northern lights
In 2024, observers were treated to plenty of celestial displays that were anything but ordinary, from a total solar eclipse to northern lights.