It took some time, but Middle Tennessee came alive in the second half Thursday to cruise past IUPUI into the second round of the WNIT.
Playing on their home floor in the WNIT opening round, the Lady Raiders (23-10) needed all four quarters to beat the Jaguars (20-12) by a 59-47 final, their seventh win all-time in the WNIT.
"I'm very proud of our basketball team tonight," MT Head Coach Rick Insell said. "They battled from the beginning until the end.
"We struggled a little bit early ... but finally we got to getting the ball where we needed to, and we had some people knock down some shots."
With 3:46 left in the third quarter, IUPUI capped a 5-0 run with a free throw, going up 36-33 and looking to have the edge in the momentum department, as well. Middle Tennessee was struggling offensively, shooting at just a 35-percent clip (12-34).
Things changed in a hurry.
The Lady Raiders used their homecourt advantage to their favor, rattling off a 6-0 run to end the third quarter with a 39-36 lead and following with 11 straight points to start the fourth.
After the 17-0 run that lasted over six minutes, MT led 47-36, plenty of a margin to hold for the remainder of the night. The ladies in blue finished by hitting 10 of their last 13 shots, including nine in a row over the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters.
"I think we came out a little dead, but we definitely picked it up," senior A'Queen Hayes said. "Coach talked to us, and we came out and did what we had to do. He said [at halftime] we were playing hard, but we had to maintain our defense."
The catalysts in the run were freshman Taylor Sutton and senior Alex Johnson.
If Sutton had any nerves playing in her first postseason tournament game, she didn't show it. She hit a dagger 3-pointer in the fourth quarter along with a layup, while Johnson, a Murfreesboro native playing in her last game on her home floor, scored eight of her 16 points during the run.
"I just knew I had to hit those shots for my team," Sutton said. "[Johnson] really got us hyped. We were just so excited for her."
Sutton finished with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while Hayes led the way with 17 and 10 rebounds, her ninth double-double of the season.
Defensively, the Lady Raiders held their 12th opponent this season under 50 points, a program record.
The win advances Middle Tennessee to the WNIT Second Round for the second time in three seasons and fourth overall. They'll meet the Ohio Bobcats (28-5) in a road tilt on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
The Lady Raiders and Bobcats last met in a two-year home-and-home series in 2015 and 2016. Ohio won both contests.
"We've been watching them already, so we know they have a good basketball team," Insell said. "They were 27-4 going into their conference championship ... they probably should've been in the NCAA Tournament."
Josh Vardaman is the staff writer for goblueraiders.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Vardaman and also follow @MTAthletics for more on the Blue Raiders.
