The Lady Raiders only loss in conference play this season came Jan. 29 on the road against Florida International.

Middle looked to avenge that loss Saturday and clench the outright conference championship when FIU came to the Murphy Center for the annual WBCA Pink Zone game.

Despite one of the team’s worst second half performances of the season, they were able to hang on to a 66-52 win thanks to a fast start.

Sophomore point guard Kortni Jones helped spark Middle fast start with a stellar shooting performance early in the game.

“I was extremely hyped for this game, especially with it being think pink, it being on our home floor and us getting beat down at FIU,” Jones said. “I felt like as a point guard I had to step it up a little bit so my team could get into and we could get a quick flow.”

Middle Tennessee out-rebounded their opponent 25-13 in the first half. The Raiders had 13 second half points and only five turnovers as they led 45-23 at the break.

“Before the game, one thing that coach said was he wanted everyone to play with some emotion tonight,” freshman Ebony Rowe said. “I think we all showed a lot of pride in Middle Tennessee and that’s why we came out so strong.”

The second half saw Middle drop off tremendously from the kind of performance they gave in the first half.

“What an atrocious second half,” MT head coach Rick Insell said. “We scored 45 points and just quit. We missed 19 shots in the paint in the second half. None of them were outside four feet.”

Middle was outrebounded 26-16 in the second half and were outscored 29-21. The Raiders did not score for the last 3:19 of play.

Despite a poor shooting performance, hitting only nine of 19 from the field, Ebony Rowe grabbed another double-double on the season.

“We’ve got a good basketball team, but a game’s played in two havles,” Insell said. “If we’re planning on taking this thing to the next level we can’t have lapses like that.”

Jones tied her career high for made three pointers with five with 8:23 remaining in the game when she threw up a one-armed toss from behind the arc as the shot clock was winding down.

“All I told myself was at least hit the rim so the shot clock doesn’t go off,” Jones said. “Once I realized I couldn’t even shoot it and had to throw it one-armed I knew it was going out of bounds. Then I got to looking and was like hold on, hold on. Then it went in and I fist-pumped like I knew I was supposed to do that with it. I had no idea it was even going to come close.”

The Lady Raiders will head on the road next week to take on Troy and Arkansas-Little Rock. The team returns home on Feb. 27 to play their final regular season game against Western Kentucky.

Saturday’s win gave MTSU a third consecutive outright Sun Belt Championship. Jerseys worn by the players during the game were auctioned off afterward to raise money for breast cancer research. Last season the Lady Raiders raised $23,597.05.