HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — If you had sat in on the Blue Raiders final practice in Murfreesboro before they bused down I-65 to Huntsville for the CUSA Basketball Championships, head women's basketball Rick Insell said, you would not have thought that Blue Raiders were the two-time defending champs of the tournament, coming of a third-straight season with at least a share of the regular season title in Conference USA.  

With the way his coaches got after his players when going over the scout defensively, Insell said, the message was clear: The Blue Raiders weren't coming to Huntsville to mess around. 

"We're not down here to watch movies, we're not down here to socialize, we're down here to win a tournament," Insell said. "They all know what they've got to do. Even if I wasn't around, they'd know what to do themselves."  

The message was clearly received, after Middle Tennessee rolled in their quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday afternoon, blasting past Kennesaw State 73-46 in a game where the Blue Raiders held the Owls scoreless the entire second quarter. It's just the second time this season a Division I team has held an opponent to zero points in a quarter, after Pitt held SMU to no points in the third quarter of a 72-59 victory on January 12, 2025.  

Like so many dominant stretches for the Blue Raiders, the 24-0 run that made up the entirety of the second quarter, giving MTSU a 41-8 advantage at halftime, wasn't flashy. The defensive strength, forcing Kennesaw to miss all 14 field goals they tried in the quarter, never sending the Owls to the free throw line once in the frame, was the product of good defense, staying in front of your opponent and knowing where your help was. The offensive onslaught, likewise, was methodical, executing plays to set up Anastasiia Boldyreva, who had 10 of her season-high 29 points in that quarter, and open up opportunities for Ta'Mia Scott, who made six of her 13 points in the second quarter.  

"It felt like they were barely scoring," Boldyreva admitted. "But I never looked at the scoreboard, because the scoreboard doesn't matter. We just play what we do, execute over and over... It felt like we had, not just execution, but momentum."  

The momentum perhaps started on Wednesday with Elina Arike, who had eight points in the first quarter from a pair of a three-pointers and a two-pointer that was shot with her foot on the three-point line. Arike said the coaching staff challenged her to find her game in most important time of year.  

"It's something I've been working on the whole year, but especially this week," Arike said of building confidence. "Our coaches have really preached the fact that I'm a good tournament player. Previously, I've been a good tournament player, and I've got find that gear."  

Kennesaw State Head Coach Octavia Blue pointed to Arike as the player that got the Owls out of their gameplan defensively.  

"We played the reigning champs, we found that out pretty early on," Blue said. "(We) had a game plan where, obviously, Boldyreva is an imposing force on the inside. (She) commands a lot of attention, because it's so difficult to defend her one-on-one. Arike, who typically averaged around four points a game, busted that up by hitting a couple of outside shots. We had to make an adjustment."  

But if you ask Insell, the momentum started even earlier. He credits his coaching staff's adjustments in between games against the Owls this season, first in between the road contest MTSU won by 12 and the home contest the Blue Raiders won by 33 and then the tweaks they made to that second gameplan for Wednesday for the defense's success.  

"I was very much concerned about them all last night and this morning," Insell said. "But, when I got on the bus to come to this game, I could tell the attitude and the intensity and the focus that our kids had that we were going to be ok."  

The focus starts on the practice court, Insell notes, where the Blue Raiders spend a lion's share of their time on their defensive scout each week. It's helped the Blue Raiders be a Top-5 scoring defense in the country this season, allowing just 51.6 points per game entering Wednesday's contest. 

"We don't skip a defensive day," Boldyreva said. "We don't layoff on that."  

The Blue Raiders will get a small layoff in the CUSA Tournament, however, only practicing on Thursday while having the day off from playing in a game due to the CUSA Tournament structure. They'll face the winner of Thursday's game between No. 3 seed WKU and No. 6 seed FIU on Friday night around 8 p.m. CT.