Middle Tennessee State women’s basketball and coach Rick Insell are coming off one of the program’s best seasons in 2022-23.
How will the Lady Raiders follow a season in which they went 28-5, won the Conference USA title and reached the NCAA Tournament before losing to Colorado 82-60?
Following are things to know about MTSU heading into its season opener with Memphis at 5 p.m. Monday at Murphy Center.
MTSU women’s basketball has strong non-conference schedule
MTSU will have some big tests in the non-conference schedule this season, including four teams that reached the NCAA Tournament last season.
The biggest game on the slate is the much-anticipated matchup in Huntsville on Dec. 6 vs. Tennessee. The in-state rivals haven’t played in the regular season since November 2013. They did play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2021, won by the Lady Vols 87-62. The Lady Vols are 22-0 against MTSU.
Memphis, the Lady Raiders’ season-opening opponent, went 22-11 last season and is coached by former Lady Vol Alex Simmons, who was a previous MTSU assistant and played for Insell at Shelbyville.
MTSU plays host to Princeton, a team that won 24 games and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, on Nov. 12 (10:30 a.m. on Education Day).
MTSU also plays Michigan in the Bahamas at the Battle for Atlantis on Nov. 18. The Lady Wolverines won 22 games and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season. Other potential foes for the Lady Raiders in that tournament are Arizona, Ole Miss and Memphis.
Also on the slate are a 23-win Belmont team that reached the WNIT (Dec. 3 in Nashville) and a renewed rivalry with Tennessee Tech on Dec. 10 in Cookeville. The Golden Eagles won 23 games and reached the NCAA Tournament last season. A Stephen F. Austin team that won 27 games last season comes to Murphy Center on Dec. 17.
MTSU women’s basketball rack up CUSA preseason accolades
MTSU senior guard Savannah Wheeler was voted the Conference USA preseason player of the year by both the conference and by ESPN. It’s her fourth consecutive CUSA preseason honor.
The fifth-year guard and Kentucky native averaged 15.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and three assists per game while shooting 37 of 123 from 3-point range in her first year with MTSU after transferring from Marshall. She has scored 1,747 career points with 398 rebounds and 288 assists in 107 career games.
Graduate student Courtney Whitson and junior Jalynn Gregory were also named to the preseason all-conference team. Whitson averaged 10.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and two assists while Gregory averaged 13.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and was 85-of-253 from 3-point range.
The Lady Raiders were a unanimous selection as the preseason conference favorites for the eight time in 11 seasons in CUSA.
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MTSU returns four starters
Wheeler, Whitson and Gregory headline a experienced group returning from last year’s squad.
The team lost two key players, including the program record-holder in games played in guard Alexis Whittington and the team’s co-leading scorer in Kseniya Malashka, who is now playing professionally overseas. They also lost guard Courtney Blakely (who started 10 games) to the transfer portal.
But MTSU returns four starters, including 6-foot-6 junior center Anastasiia Boldyreva, who averaged 7.4 points and 3.7 rebounds and netted 24 points in an exhibition game last week.
MTSU added experience with Florida International transfer Sifa Ineza, a 5-11 guard who averaged 8.1 points and three rebounds last season.
The Lady Raiders also continued to bring in international players, signing 6-1 freshman forward Stanislava Kabernick and 6-5 sophomore forward Iullia Grabovskia, both from Russia, as well as 5-8 freshman guard Zahira Arizmendi Rubio from Spain and 6-foot freshman forward Dora Van Rijs from Hungary.
Boldyreva is also from Russia, junior forward Jada Grannum is from Canada and Ineza is from Rwanda.