MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Mia Parvianien's 16 points paced five Middle Tennessee players in double figures in the Lady Raiders 85-48 win over Georgia College and State University Tuesday in Murphy Center.
Parvianien, a senior from Helsinki, Finland, was 4-for-5 from the three-point line and 6-for-12 overall, with six rebounds in 25 minutes of play. Sophomore Patrice Holmes had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds, Eboni Kirby dished in 12 and Paula Penttila and Cartia Bailey each had 10.
Middle Tennessee trailed early in the first half, but the Lady Raiders picked up steam behind the youthful squad. After shooting 32.6 percent in the first half, Middle Tennessee improved to 48.8 percent in the second half.
The Lady Raiders will play their final exhibition game of the season when they host Carson Newman College Sunday November 17. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
Notes and Quotes
Bailey's back in Business: After sitting out last season with a knee injury, redshirt freshman Cartia Bailey made the most of her return to the court as she posted 10 points. Her first two buckets were 3-pointers and she finished the game 2-for-5 from the three point line and 4-for-13 overall.
Give me Charity: The Lady Raiders were perfect from the free throw line, as the team hit all nine of their free throws.
Injury Report: Freshman Tia Stovall is still sidelined with a knee injury as well as sophomore Ciara Gray. Both are expected back in the line-up prior to the regular season tip-off with Tennessee Tech.
Head Coach Stephany Smith: "I was really pleased with the people coming off the bench, specifically with Cartia Bailey and Jessica Schlueter. Tiffany Fisher and Eboni Kirby came off the bench, and I expected them to do some productive things. Cartia, especially, was very impressive. Jessica Schlueter, with the minutes she played, was also very impressive. I thought that all in all it was good. I was really glad we played the team that we played tonight. They are a very disciplined team. They run a very structured offense and defense. It helped us get better, way more so than a year ago."
"We are trying to play with tempo. However, I told them at halftime that I wanted to be a tempo team, not a run and gun team. I thought that in the first half that we looked like run and gun. We were really sloppy. There wasn't a lot of form to our transition. I thought that we forced the ball several times instead of pulling back and running our set offense. I don't want to fault them too much for that because that is something that will be a strength of ours."
MT Guard Patrice Holmes: "I think I played okay. I was nervous at the beginning, and I pushed some things that weren't there. As a team, we played pretty good. I think we need to work on our half court defense."
MT Forward Mia Parviainen: "I have to take my chances whenever my defender allows me to shoot the three pointer. As a team, we just have to control our fast break and play better defensively."
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