Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee Holds Off Late Marshall Flurry
2/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The visiting Middle Tennessee women's basketball team saw a 14-point lead nearly whittled away in the game's last minute, but ultimately held off a hard-charging Marshall squad 79-73 Saturday afternoon at the Cam Henderson Center.
The win moved the Blue Raiders to 19-8 overall and 13-3 in Conference USA, while the Thundering Herd dropped to 17-10 and 7-9 in the league.
Middle's Brea Edwards shook off a 5-for-14 day from the field (2-for-9 on 3-pointers) to record a double-double of 16 points and 14 rebounds. Ty Petty, who like Edwards, never came off the floor, had 15 points and eight rebounds. TiAnna Porter added 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting and Alex Johnson chipped in 12 (6-for-7 FGs) before fouling out with 3:33 left in the contest.
On a day it honored seniors Leah Scott and Norrisha Victrum, the Thundering Herd got a combined 29 points from the pair (Victrum 15, Scott 14). Taylor Porter showed good energy, scoring 12 (8-for-9 at the free throw line) while grabbing a career-high eight rebounds. Shayna Gore added 13 points.
Edwards nearly had a double-double by halftime (10 points, nine rebounds) and Middle built a 13-2 edge in assists, while shooting 18-for-35 (51.2 percent) from the field in the first 20 minutes.
The Blue Raiders grabbed a 16-point lead (43-27) on a Johnson jumper 52 seconds into the third quarter but Marshall came back with a 15-4 run over the next 6:48 to cut the margin to five (47-42) on a Victrum layup with 2:57 left in the period.
The bulge got back to 14 (74-60) after Edwards nailed a 3-pointer with 57 seconds left in the game before a wild Thundering Herd flurry.
Marshall got three consecutive 3-pointers (two by Victrum, one by Gore) in 16 seconds to slice the Middle lead to five (74-69) but the Blue Raiders made its final three free throws to secure the win.
"I thought we played competitively, especially in the second half," said Marshall coach Matt Daniel. "We were a little slow to start the game but we played better as the game went on. We did a solid job rebounding today. We held them to eight offensive rebounds and 10 second-chance points."
The final quarter saw both teams combine for 58 points after netting 94 in the first three.
Victrum, who is looking to become Marshall's 20th 1,000-point scorer, currently has 963 career points.
Marshall will hit the road for its final two games of the regular season when it travels to Louisiana Tech Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET and Southern Miss Saturday at 5 p.m.
