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Lady Govs vs. Middle Tennessee

Tuesday, November 14th, 2010 • Dave Aaron Arena • Clarksville, Tennessee
APSU Women’s Basketball

Austin Peay State University GovernorsClarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University women’s basketball team lifts the curtain on the home portion of its 2010-11 schedule when it hosts Middle Tennessee in a 7:00pm, Tuesday non-conference contest at the Dunn Center.

The game will be the Lady Govs only home showing in November and they will not return home until they host Lipscomb, December 8th. Eight of Austin Peay’s first nine games this season will be played away from the Dunn Center.

Austin Peay and Middle Tennessee are very familiar with one another, having played every season since 1976-77. The two teams were both members of the OVC until the Blue Raiders departed following the 1998-99 season.

The Lady Govs opened their season with a 93-53 loss at Purdue, Friday, in the Preseason Women’s NIT opening round. Sophomore Meghan Bussabarger came off the bench to lead the Lady govs with 10 points in 19 minutes. Junior Whitney Hanley battled a hounding defense to score nine points, but dished out five assists. The Lady Govs lost both the rebounding (42-25) and turnover (19-11) battles, surrendering 27 points off turnovers and 20 points on second-chance opportunities.

Middle Tennessee downed Big East foe South Florida, 71-59, in its season opener, Sunday. Freshman Ebony Rowe led the Blue Raiders with a 25-point, 16-rebound effort that included three assists, three blocks and two steals. Senior Anne Marie Lanning added 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists. MTSU won the rebounding battle, 48-31, but committed an uncharacteristic 30 turnovers.

Next Up for The Lady Govs

Austin Peay begins a seven-game road swing when it returns to Preseason Women’s NIT action with a Friday contest against Valparaiso in the consolation rounds hosted by Lamar in Beaumont, Texas. The Lady Govs will then face either Lamar or Utah Valley in a Saturday contest.

Lady Govs Start Signing Period With Two Additions

The Lady Govs have announced two additions to their 2011-12 roster during the early signing
period which opened November 10th.

  • Kristen Stainback, a 5-9 guard from Georgetown, KY, led Scott County High School to the 2010 Kentucky State Championship game and was named to the state championship’s all-tournament team after scoring a tournament-best 102 points in the competition’s four games. Stainback enters her senior campaign highly regarded, with Rick Bolus’ High Potential Scouting Service ranking her as the No. 2 prospect in Kentucky in its September rankings. She also is a Kentucky’s “Miss Basketball” candidate.
  • Shelby Olszewski, a 5-6 guard from Pickerington, Ohio, is entering her senior season at Pickerington North High School where she has averaged 8.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game during her career. She was a second-team all-conference selection and an honorable mention all-district selection as a junior. The Panthers have accumulated a 66-10 record during her career.

About Austin Peay

  • The Lady Govs have won the last two Ohio Valley Conference women’s basketball tournament crowns, but enters 2010-11 seeking to replace the output from the loss of its leading scorer and leading rebounder from last season.
  • Junior forward Jasmine Rayner, who finished second in both scoring and rebounding last season and was named to the Preseason All-OVC squad.
  • Outside the lane, the Lady Govs will rely on its other two returning starters – junior Whitney Hanley and senior Brooke Faulkner, who were fourth and fifth in scoring last season.
  • The rest of the Lady Govs starting five will have to be filled from last season’s bench that combined made just 34 starts last season. In addition, last season’s bench combined to play just 2172 total minutes, averaging 65 minutes per game, or less than a third of a game.
  • Austin Peay added three newcomers to this season’s roster – early signees Shyra Brown and Nicole Olszewski as well as walk-on Lauren Yarbrough. Olszewski will have her opportunities at point guard this season and played 17 minutes in APSU’s preseason contest. Brown will miss the first part of the season due to injury.
  • APSU’s preseason slate will provide plenty of challenges as they have non-conference tilts against Purdue, Middle Tennessee, Chattanooga, Bowling Green and Duquesne – which all reached the postseason last year – in addition to Big East power Pittsburgh.

About Middle Tennesee

  • Middle Tennessee was picked to finish second in the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division in the league’s preseason coaches poll. Seniors Emily Queen (2nd Team) and Anne Marie Lanning (3rd Team) were each named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference preseason lists.
  • The Blue Raiders 15-woman roster features 11 players who are either sophomores or freshmen. Only Queen, Lanning and junior Molly McFadden have made a start prior to this year.

Series Notes

Austin Peay and Middle Tennessee will meet for the 64th time since 1976-77. The series has been dominated by the Blue Raiders, who won the first 41 meetings in the series. The series has been decidedly a more even affair since the 1995-96 season with MTSU holding a 13-9 edge. Middle Tennessee has won the last four meetings in the series, dating back to Austin Peay’s 71-69 victory in Clarksville, December 28th, 2005.

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