MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee women's basketball completed the weekend sweep on Sunday, dominating North Texas defensively down the stretch in the Murphy Center to win 80-52 for their sixth straight home win to open the season.
Dor Saar led all scorers with 23 points, powered by a 5-for-8 effort beyond the arc.
Courtney Blakely scored 18 of MT's 33 points off the bench, as both Lady Raider points guards dished out four assists.
"I'm really proud of our team," head coach
Rick Insell said. "The last few days, all we've been working on is really investing in our scouting report, and I think you saw that today defensively."
After taking a 42-35 lead into the locker room at halftime, Middle Tennessee held North Texas to just 17 points the rest of the way, as the Mean Green shot just 21.2 percent (7-for-33) from the field in the game's final 20 minutes.
"We're very, very young, we make freshmen mistakes at times, but the one thing we don't make a mistake at is busting (our tails)," Insell added. "We hustle all over the floor. And I can take some of those mistakes when we're hustling."
Four Blue Raiders finished in double digits scoring, including
Alexis Whittington, who played in her 100th game as a Lady Raider after missing Friday's win over Rice due to health and safety protocols. The senior finished the afternoon with 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers, and five rebounds while often drawing North Texas' top offensive threats on defense.
"It was such a relief," Blakely said of Whittington's return. "I had to pick up most of her minutes last game, and boy, was I tired. She came back on fire. She didn't come back just looking to get back into things."
Eight Lady Raiders scored on the afternoon, while six players clocked in with at least 20 minutes on the court, led by Saar and
Courtney Whitson, who only took brief breathers late in the fourth quarter en route to their 39 minutes of playing time. Whitson led the Lady Raiders with 12 rebounds, a big part of why MT outrebounded UNT 43-36 on Sunday
"That's the difference between a great team and a good team," Saar said of her team's depth. "When you have really good depth like that, you can beat anyone."
Middle Tennessee dominated on both ends of the court to start the game, with all seven Lady Raiders who entered the game in the first quarter scoring en route to a 24-13 lead. MT shot 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from the field in the first 10 minutes, while holding the Mean Green to just 5-for-15 (33.3 percent) on their end.
UNT would get back into the game in the second quarter with a hot mid-range game, scoring 10 times from the field to cut Middle's lead to 42-35 at the halftime break.
Courtney Blakely led the Lady Raiders with 12 points heading into the locker room, not missing a single shot out of the six she attempted in the first half while also dishing out three first half assists.
The second half would prove to be too much for the Mean Green, however, as Middle Tennessee rode their defense and a 5-for-8 clip from three in the fourth quarter to pull away for the final margin.
Middle Tennessee is back in action on the road this Thursday, playing at FAU in C-USA play. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. central, 6 p.m. eastern.
"You got to have a totally different mindset when you go on the road," Insell said. "(Former Blue Raider men's basketball coach) Jimmy Earle told me that when I first got the job, if you win a game on the road, you better be happy. One thing that's going to help us in our non-conference schedule. I think it helped us out here today."
