MANHATTAN, Kan. - Middle Tennessee women's basketball fell 79-61 to No. 7 Kansas State Friday in Bramlage Coliseum in first round action of the Wildcat Classic.

Trailing by only seven at the half, 32-39, the Lady Raiders fell behind quickly in the second half thanks to a 21-8 run by Kansas State in the first 12 minutes of the game. The Lady Raiders were burned from the three-point line in the second half, as guard Laurie Koehn drained two of the Lady Wildcats four big three-point shots to expand the lead. Overall Koehn was 7-of-13 from long range, and had a total of 25 points, and the Lady Wildcats hit 14 total in contrast to the Lady Raiders five.

Middle Tennessee shot 50 percent in the first half, but cooled off in the second half to 35.7. Overall the Lady Raiders shot 42.6 in the game in contrast to Kansas State's 52.6. Each team had had 23 turnovers in the game, and the Lady Raiders had a season-high 12 steals.

"This is a great atmosphere and it was really great to play here at Kansas State," said Head Coach Stephany Smith. "I am really proud of this basketball team, to make the No. 7^th ranked team turn the ball over 23 times means you are doing something right."

The Lady Raiders were led by Patrice Holmes and Eboni Kirby who each had 15 ponts in the contest, and also got double figure points from sophomore Tiffany Fisher with 12. After only recording two points, off free throws, in the first half junior Keisha McClinic had 10 points in the second half to end the game with 12.

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