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LADY RAIDER BB Middle Tennessee (20-4, 13-2) @ FAU (12-12, 5-10) 6 pm, Thursday 02-16-2023, CUSA-TV

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MT comes in with a 2 game winning streak, FAU on a 3 game losing streak. FAU losing streak began with a home loss to Charlotte followed by 2 road losses. Last time MT played Charlotte was a 63-48 victory at home 01/26. This game showed the Raiders with some offensive difficulties that we as fans were getting concerned about, 3 of 4 quarters had low outputs of 2 quarters with only 7 points & 1 with 11. Despite FAU's recent losing streak they are very athletic & proved to be very competitive in Murfreesboro. The Raiders need to come out strong on both sides of the ball & maintain consistency throughout the whole game to start this road trip.
As pointed out in an earlier discussion, the ladies have developed a bad habit of passing the ball around the perimeter without effectively pushing the ball to the post. This is turning into one of our major flaws to become an elite team. Coaching staff must address this issue. As the season winds down Thursday will be a great opportunity to start getting our posts more involved before heading into tournament play.
 
Always celebrate a win especially a road win, but there's something about victories like this that still give rise for concern. By the end of the 3rd we had just scored an excellent 30 point quarter, & had a comfortable 24 point lead over a team with a 5-10 conference record. However, a former #21 team in the country team shouldn't be giving up 30 point 4th quarters at the end of the year while only scoring 14 themselves.
The drive & motivation for a full 40 minutes & for 4 solid quarters seems to be more the rarity than the norm. Like fellow Lady Raider supporters we're always happy for the victory, but it does get a bit monotonous hearing similar post game comments about how we lost our focus for a stretch somewhat.
It's almost the end of the regular season. If this team wants to be the squad that historically takes the next step in MT Women's basketball it's time for complete game efforts. A program that's looking to make history can't have focus issues on a regular basis.
 
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