With just one game left to go before the C-USA tournament tips off in Frisco, Texas, on March 13, the MTSU Lady Raiders hold a 20–8 record on the season.
The team rolled to its 20th win on the season against Florida Atlantic on Senior Night, March 2, in Murfreesboro.
MTSU defeated the Owls 74–48, posting their 24th win in the 25-game series all-time against FAU.
After the contest, six MT seniors were honored: Alex Johnson, Katie Collier, Jess Louro, Jordan Majors, LaSonja Edwards and A’Queen Hayes.
“I’d recruit every one of them again. We’ve had some ups, some downs, some wins and some devastating losses. But, I’d do it all over again,” MT head coach Rick Insell said. “I love all six [of the seniors] and I couldn’t have had a better group.”
Johnson, Collier, Louro and Majors have all spent the past four years at MTSU.
“They’re like my sisters,” Collier said. “The bond we have and the relationship we have off the court is something we’ll have for the rest of our lives. The four of us have lived together for four years . . . I’m really going to miss it.”
The four-year quartet has been a part of 84 wins, including a 50–16 record in C-USA games. They were members of the 2016 NCAA Tournament team that won a C-USA Tournament title.
Hayes came to Middle Tennessee this year as a graduate transfer from Eastern Kentucky. She currently leads the team in points (15.6 per game), rebounds (7.4 per game) and assists (86).
Edwards transferred to MT in 2017 after winning back-to-back NJCAA national titles with Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, Florida.
While March 2 was a night to celebrate the seniors’ accomplishments, two freshmen ignited the Lady Raiders early on. Freshmen Taylor Sutton and Alexis Whittington caught fire from deep. They combined to hit five straight treys, helping MT end the second quarter on a 16–0 run.
“We just really wanted to get this win for our seniors,” Sutton said. “We knew it was a big night for the team going into the tournament.”
Sutton finished the game with a team-high 14 points, and Hayes posted another double-double.
Johnson, a Murfreesboro native, had 13 points in possibly her last game in her hometown.
“I actually kept it together more than I thought I was going to [after the game],” Johnson said. “I enjoyed every single moment with each and every one of the seniors and my other teammates.”
Middle Tennessee has a single game left in the regular season, a match-up at rival WKU on March 7.
The Lady Raiders have already clinched a first-round conference tournament bye.
“We know we still have a championship to go win,” Johnson said. “We have a lot more goals we want to accomplish.”
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The MTSU men’s team opened Conference USA Bonus Play, which will decide conference tournament seeding, with a convincing win against the Charlotte 49ers. The Blue Raiders cruised to an 86–67 win in the Murphy Center.
“I was really pleased with the way we played almost the entire night,” Middle Tennessee head coach Nick McDevitt said. “I thought we were locked in for the majority of the night.”
The Blue Raiders had five players in double-figure scoring. Senior Antonio Green, who was honored pregame for breaking the program’s single-season 3-point record, led the way with 21 points. Sophomore Donovan Sims (20), seniors James Hawthorne (12) and Karl Gamble (10) and junior Reggie Scurry (11) were also in double figures.
“We were doing what we were supposed to do, moving the ball from side to side and getting midline crosses,” Green said. “Once we move the ball side to side a lot, our percentages go up.”
After starting 5-for-10 from the floor, MTSU’s hot shooting started in the middle of the first half.
“When that ball’s moving side to side, you just get open looks,” McDevitt said. “We moved the ball well tonight.”
However, the Blue Raiders followed that victory with a March 3 loss against Rice to bring the season record to 9–20 in Coach McDevitt’s first year at the helm. The team will end the regular season with two games against UTEP, the second of which, set for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 9, in Murfreesboro, will be Senior Day for the men’s team before it heads to the C-USA Tournament on March 13.
Among the Blue Raider seniors who will soon wrap up their college careers is James “Tookie” Hawthorne, who came to MTSU after his time at Southwest Mississippi Community College, a member of Kermit Davis’ final recruiting class at MT.
Davis’ departure for Ole Miss last year called for a new coaching staff at MTSU this season, though Tookie said it has been great playing within McDevitt’s more uptempo style of game.
Tookie says he plans to pursue basketball at the next level after the MTSU season, likely overseas.
Lawrence Mosley, a senior walk-on playing his only season for the blue and white, has been a boost for the team off the bench.
“Whatever the team needs me to do or whatever Coach asks me to do, I’m just trying to help the team win,” the guard said.
He originally chose to attend Arkansas-Pine Bluff on a football scholarship to play safety, and later moved to Dyersburg State Community College to play basketball. But things didn’t start well there. He had to miss the first half of his first season after suffering a concussion.
“The doctors told me they didn’t want me playing basketball or football anymore, but I needed to hoop,” he said.
With two years of junior college under his belt, Mosley said MTSU’s Concrete Industry Management program helped draw him to Murfreesboro.
“My father owns a construction company, so I want to help expand it,” Mosley said. “I want to get a master’s degree in computer engineering before I leave here, too.”
Mosley has seen action in 19 games, exceeding even the expectations he placed on himself before the season started.
“Lawrence has been the perfect addition to this year’s basketball team,” McDevitt said. “His maturity level, effort and energy are all things that have had a positive impact on our program.”
“I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything,” Mosley said.
For more information on MTSU Blue Raider athletics, visit goblueraiders.com.
