Despite all 12 of its active roster players reaching the scoreboard, it was a tough evening for Erica Woods and her Marshall University Women’s basketball teammates, as they suffered its most lopsided loss this season at Middle Tennessee, 75-36, in front of a raucous crowd of 3,032 at Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Marshall dropped to 9-16, 2-10 in Conference USA, falling to league leader Middle Tennessee, which improved to 22-4, 11-1.
Junior Aja Sorrells gave Marshall a 2-0 advantage by scoring the first bucket of the contest at 19:26, but it would be Marshall’s only lead of the game.
After keeping the score relatively close for the next few minutes, a 7-0 run from 16:08 to 14:30 extended Middle Tennessee’s lead to double digits, a Suporia Dickens 3-pointer made it 19-12 at 14:03, but Middle Tennessee’s Laken Leonard countered with a three of her own to go push Middle Tennessee back up by 10 at 13:31.
Both teams were scoreless for the next three minutes, until two free throws by Middle Tennessee’s China Dow gave them a 12-point advantage at 10:24, up 24-12. Marshall was held without a basket from 14:03 to 9:37, until Chelsey Romero sunk a free throw and then Norrisha Victrum converted an and-one to erase Middle Tennessee’s double-digit lead at 8:41, down 25-16. The next few minutes would be detrimental for Marshall, as Middle Tennessee exploded offensively for a 13-0 run over 4:24, going up 37-16. In that span, Marshall went 0-of-5 from the field and committed three turnovers.
After an Woods layup broke the run, Middle Tennessee countered with five unanswered points to go up, 41-18, with 2:33 before halftime. Two free throws by Ebony Rowe gave the Raiders a largest lead of 25, but a Sorrells field goal settled the halftime score at 43-20. Turnovers were crucial for Marshall in the first half, as Middle Tennessee converted 16 points off the Herd’s 11 errors.
After opening the half outscoring Middle Tennessee, 7-3, they held Marshall scoreless from 16:32 to 10:27, a scoring drought spanning over six minutes, which included a 5-0 run. From that point, Marshall was without a field goal until 1:51, going 0-of-11 from the field, and was scoreless from 5:31 to 1:51. Marshall hit its largest deficit of the season of 38 at 3:53, down 71-33, but it wasn’t Middle Tennessee’s largest lead of the game. Middle Tennessee went up by 40 with 2:06 to go. The final buzzer sounded with Marshall down, 75-36.
Woods went 1 for 5 from the Field for her 2 Points on the night, she grabbed 3 Rebounds, she also had 1 Steal in 22 minutes of action.
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