After struggling on the offensive end in a 72-49 loss to Marshall (8-10, 7-9) Thursday night, the Lady Raiders (14-7, 12-4) buckled on their hard hats and went to work Friday in a 61-54 win.
They had already clinched the Conference USA East Division thanks to Florida Atlantic beating Charlotte earlier in the day, but the redemptive victory meant a lot with the Conference USA Tournament coming up next week.
"We had a little different mindset tonight," MT head coach Rick Insell said. "We spaced the floor much better and moved the basketball much better than we did the night before.
"This was a heck of a championship for our ladies. They should be very proud of the way they've played this season and fought for this championship."
It was another tough night on the offensive end for the Lady Raiders, though they were marginally better than their 22.8 percent shooting from the floor on Thursday.
They only hit 19-of-58 shots from the field (32.8 percent) and 9-of-38 3-pointers (23.7 percent), but the big shots fell when they needed to. The blue and white hit four of their final six shots and five of their last six free throws, leading to a 13-5 run to end the game.
Maybe the biggest hit of the night came off the left hand of Rellah Boothe.
In her last game at the Murphy Center with her team trailing by one late, she set a screen for Anastasia Hayes and coolly popped to the 3-point line, where Hayes fed her the perfect pass for a smooth catch-and-shoot jumper.
The 3-pointer dropped, igniting the game-clinching run.
"I knew it was going in before I even shot it," Boothe said. "I had the confidence in myself … and my team was rowdy for me. They wanted me to make it, and I didn't want to let them down."
Boothe played most of the final stretch, finishing with seven points and four rebounds in 15 minutes.
"This was a huge win," she said. "This is what we needed. It was a great way for us to end the regular season and for me to end my career here. We're ready for the tournament."
Aislynn Hayes helped finish off the Thundering Herd, pouring in eight of her 15 points in the final 2:13 of the game, including five from the charity stripe.
Anastasia Hayes led the way for MT with a near-triple effort, scoring 17 points, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out eight assists. She also had a pair of steals.
Courtney Whitson was also in double-figure scoring with 14, including making 4-of-9 3-pointers. She and the Hayes sisters played all 40 minutes, and Alexis Whittington was on her way to doing the same before fouling out with almost seven minutes remaining.
They're all looking forward to some rest before the C-USA Tournament, which begins with the preliminary round on Tuesday. Thanks to being the top seed in the East, the Lady Raiders will get a bye until Thursday.
"We'll look at film and work on things we can get better at and get some rest," Anastasia Hayes said. "Maybe this will be some momentum to get us ready for the tournament."
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