Red Wolves Women’s Basketball Falls at Middle Tennessee

Courtesy Arkansas State University Athletics Department

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (2/6/13) – The Arkansas State women’s basketball suffered a 93-49 loss against Middle Tennessee in a Sun Belt Conference matchup at the Murphy Center on Wednesday night.

Freshman guard Sandy Jackson led ASU with a career-high nine points, but it wasn’t enough as the Blue Raiders jumped out to early first half lead that the Red Wolves could not recover from.

ASU fell to 12-11 overall on the year and 9-5 in the Sun Belt Conference, while Middle Tennessee improved to 18-5 on the year and 13-1 in the SBC.

“Middle Tennessee scored on seven straight possessions to start the game and we just couldn’t stop them tonight,” ASU head coach Brian Boyer said. “We got behind early and just could not find a way to get something going on offensively on a consistent basis.”

Arkansas State trailed 41-19 at the half after shooting just 36.8 percent in the opening 20 minutes. ASU trailed 14-8 with 15:10 remaining in the half, but the Jaguars closed out the half by outscoring ASU 32-13 over the final 15 minutes to build a 22-point cushion into the locker room at the break.

A-State committed 24 turnovers on the night and the Blue Raiders made ASU pay by converting the turnovers into 31 points. Middle Tennessee also held an edge in points in the paint but outscoring the Red Wolves 42-24.

The Blue Raiders built their lead to 33 with less than 12 minutes to go in the second half and the Red Wolves were unable to recover.

Kortni Jones led Middle Tennessee with a career-high 32 points, while Icelyn Elie added 21 points. Ebony Rowe also finished in double figures with 19 points.

ASU will return to action Saturday, Feb. 9 for a Sun Belt Conference road game against Western Kentucky. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. and the game will be shown on ESPN3.com