MURFREESBORO, Tenn. ? Middle Tennessee's Amber Holt had a game-high 24 points and was one of four Blue Raiders in double figures as MT defeated the University of New Orleans women's basketball team 80-61 on Sunday afternoon at the Murphy Center.
Starr Orr had 14 points, Anne Marie Lanning had 13 points and Chelsia Lymon added 12 the Blue Raiders (11-8, 6-2 Sun Belt) won for the eighth time in their last 11 outings.
Brittany Helm had 16 points to pace the Lady Privateers (9-9, 3-4) while Le'Della English and Cookie Johnson had 12 each. UNO dropped its third straight.
The Lady Privateers were victimized by 21 turnovers but still managed to stick around in the first half.
Unlike Thursday at North Texas, which saw UNO jump out to a 19-4 lead, the Lady Privateers got off to a slow start. MT raced out to a 20-8 lead, but UNO chipped away and was only down 32-28 after Johnson's basket with 2:48 left in the first half.
The Blue Raiders, though, closed the half with a 10-2 run to take a 42-30 lead at halftime. UNO never got the lead back under double figures and trailed by as many as 27 in the second half.
UNO shot 45 percent for the game and held the Blue Raiders to just 39 percent. But MT scored 26 points off Lady Privateer turnovers and grabbed 22 offensive rebounds in defeating UNO for the ninth time in 10 all-time meetings.
The Lady Privateers will return home at 7 p.m. on Thursday when they host Western Kentucky at the Human Performance Center. The game can be seen live on UNO Vision. Log on to UNOPrivateers.com for subscription information.
