Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Louisiana Tech is riding a five-game winning streak heading into tonight’s showdown at the Thomas Assembly Center with reigning Conference USA champions Middle Tennessee.
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. and the game can be heard on 97.7 FM with Kyle Roberts providing a call of the action.
Louisiana Tech celebrated the 50th season of Lady Techster basketball by picking up a 66-62 win over Sam Houston on Saturday afternoon in the TAC. Tech became the fifth NCAA women’s basketball program with 1,200 wins.
Paris Guillory was named Conference USA Freshman of the Week, giving LA Tech a second straight winner after Jianna Morris won the award the previous week. Guillory finished 4-9 from the field and gave Tech a spark off the bench in a 17-3 run to close out the third quarter, including an 8-0 run by herself to give the Lady Techsters the lead for good.
Middle Tennessee (10-4, 0-0) started the season with four straight wins before losing back-to-back games to Princeton (65-60) and Michigan (63-49). They have won eight of their last 10, including their first win over instate rival Tennessee 73-62.
The Blue Raiders are the defending CUSA champions and garnered all nine first-place votes in the preseason poll. Rick Insell is in his 19th season in Murfreesboro and has a .741 winning percentage and 443 wins at Middle Tennessee.
The Blue Raiders have four players averaging double figures, led by preseason CUSA Player of the Year Savannah Wheeler at 16.1 points per game. She is coming off three straight performances of 20 or more points, including a season-high 34 points against Northern Kentucky. Wheeler contributes 5.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.1 steals per game.
Middle Tennessee holds a 10-8 record in the series. Last season, Tech fell to Middle 61-59 when Kseniya Malashka hit a turn-around jumper with three seconds remaining. The Lady Techsters last beat the Blue Raiders in the 2021-22 CUSA Tournament, and the last win in Ruston was during the 2019-20 season.
