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
Pharmaceutical giants to pay Baltimore $266M in opioid epidemic lawsuit
A jury found McKesson and Cencora liable for $266 million in damages to the city of Baltimore for fueling the opioid crisis.
Associated Press
All 17 counties in the battleground state of Nevada certify election results
Election certification meetings on Friday in Nevada's two most populous counties were roiled by voting conspiracies while local officials in the state's rural counties quietly approved election results that favored President-elect Donald Trump. Friday was the deadline for counties in the battleground state to finalize election results. All 17 counties met the deadline to forward election results for final approval later this month by Democratic Secretary of State of Cisco Aguilar and the Nevada Supreme Court.
Reuters
Xi tells Ishiba China hopes Japan will 'properly handle' history, Taiwan issues
SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping told Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in their first meeting that China hoped Japan would "properly handle" major issues such as history and Taiwan, according to Chinese state media on Saturday. Xi called for the two Asian neighbours to safeguard the global free trade system, as well as stable and unimpeded production and supply chains, as they met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Lima, Peru. Ishiba told Xi he wanted to build a "constructive and stable" relationship but asked him to reverse an import ban on Japanese seafood and strengthen safety measures for Japanese nationals in China after recent fatal stabbings, and expressed concerns about Chinese maritime activities.
AFP
Tens of thousands flee as Typhoon Man-yi nears Philippines
Philippine authorities ordered all vessels back to shore and people in coastal communities to leave their homes Saturday as Typhoon Man-yi neared the storm-weary archipelago nation, with forecasters expecting it to intensify before making landfall.Man-yi will continue to intensify as it nears the Philippines and could "reach super typhoon category within the next hours prior to its landfall tonight", the forecaster said.
NBC News
Iran said it won't try to kill Trump: U.S. official
Iran sent a written message via Swiss diplomats in mid-October saying that it would not seek to kill Donald Trump, according to a U.S. official.
NBC News
Beaver moon, last supermoon of the year, and Leonid meteors to light up sky on same weekend
The Beaver Moon, the last supermoon of the year, will share the celestial stage with the dazzling Leonid meteor shower.
USA TODAY
DOJ opens civil rights probe of Illinois sheriff's office after death of Sonya Massey
The fatal shooting earlier this year of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, sparked national outcry over police violence.
USA TODAY
Who has Trump picked for his Cabinet so far? Steven Cheung, Karoline Leavitt nominated
Donald Trump nominated longtime aide Steven Cheung to be his director of communications while opting Karoline Leavitt to be his press secretary.
NBC News
Offensive, racist texts now being sent to high-schoolers, Latinos and LGBTQ community, FBI says
The FBI on Friday said reports of racist and offensive text messages sent from anonymous phone numbers are now being sent to members of Latino and LGBTQ communities.
AFP
Is Argentina's Milei on brink of leaving Paris climate accord?
Argentina's abrupt snub of COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan has raised alarm that President Javier Milei -- an ally to US President-elect Donald Trump -- could be looking at pulling out of the Paris accord.Argentina's delegation expected at the COP29, the UN climate talks happening in Azerbaijan this week, suddenly pulled out, an environment ministry source confirmed, without giving details behind the decision.
AFP
Big Bang: Trump and Musk could redefine US space strategy
Should NASA return to the Moon, or go straight to Mars?Most notably, he launched the Artemis program, aiming to land Americans on the Moon later this decade as a stepping stone to Mars.
AFP
With Trump, already small US distance with Israel to vanish
For more than a year, the United States has steadfastly backed Israel in its Gaza war while quietly counseling restraint.They ultimately decided not to take action, despite Israel not meeting metrics on the number of aid trucks and a new UN-backed assessment warning of imminent famine in Gaza.
Associated Press
Oregon school board chair resigns, superintendent and principal on leave over sex abuse arrests
A school district in northwest Oregon has put its superintendent and high school principal on leave, accepted the school board chair's resignation and temporarily canceled classes in response to an uproar over the arrests of a teacher and former teacher on sexual abuse charges. The St. Helens Police Department said in a statement that officers this week arrested one current and one retired St. Helens High School teacher on allegations of sexually abusing students.
AFP
Revolution over but more protests than ever in Bangladesh
The solo protest of Bangladeshi hunger striker Mahbubul Haque Shipon is hard to spot among the six other demonstrations under way on the same busy thoroughfare.Last month, it urged Bangladeshis to stop staging rallies that blocked traffic and instead hold them in parks -- a directive that has been largely ignored.
NBC News
Leaders of the anti-vaccine movement are thrilled RFK Jr. could run HHS: ‘A dream come true’
The anti-vaccine movement hailed Trump’s choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. One activist called it "a dream come true."
AFP
In Pennsylvania as elsewhere, Latino men rallied behind Trump
After he voted for Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Kenny Ramirez said the price of equipment and supplies needed to run his barbershop in Pennsylvania went up. "I thought there was going to be change," said Ramirez, who voted for Trump in the November 5 election.
AFP
Trump pressures US Senate with divisive cabinet picks
Questions -- and, for some, outrage -- intensified over several of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks Friday, as Washington awaits announcements for more major positions, including the FBI and Treasury chiefs.But he has yet to name leaders of several major departments, and Wall Street remains on tenterhooks waiting for his Treasury secretary pick.
Associated Press
Iranian official met with Musk in a possible step to ease tensions with Trump
Iran successfully sought a meeting with Elon Musk, according to a U.S. official, one in a series of steps that appeared aimed at easing tensions with President-elect Donald Trump. Iran's U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani met with Musk — a Trump ally named this week to advise his administration on ways to cut the federal government — on Monday in New York, according to a U.S. official briefed on the meeting by a foreign colleague. The official said he had been informed that the discussion covered a variety of topics, most notably Iran’s nuclear program, its support for anti-Israel groups throughout the Middle East and prospects for improved relations with the United States.
Associated Press
US steps up campaign to transform Kenya-led force in Haiti to a UN peacekeeping force
The United States has stepped up its campaign to transform the Kenya-led multinational force in Haiti into a U.N. peacekeeping force, spurred by escalating gang violence that shut all air traffic to the capital of Port-au-Prince this week. The U.S. proposed a U.N. peacekeeping mission in early September as one way to secure regular funding for the U.N.-backed multinational force that is trying to help Haiti’s national force control the gangs which faces a serious funding crisis.
CNN
Trump’s transition team caught off guard by Hegseth allegation
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team was in the middle of announcing new Cabinet picks this week when they were informed of a sexual assault allegation about one of his previous selections, Pete Hegseth, stunning several members of Trump’s team who have since raised questions about the viability of his nomination, according to two people close to the situation.