A big second quarter pushed Middle Tennessee past Western Kentucky on Friday in the first meeting of the series between the two teams.

The Lady Raiders outscored the Lady Toppers 21-4 in the frame, and WKU was unable to complete a comeback attempt in MTSU’s 75-65 victory at E.A. Diddle Arena.

“I’m proud of how the kids kept fighting,” WKU coach Greg Collins said. “We had a horrible second quarter, they came back in the second half and kept fighting in the third quarter and even when we got down in the fourth quarter they kept grinding away. We needed a couple of stops down there that we didn’t get, we needed a couple of baskets to fall in and we needed to get to the free-throw line — we didn’t get to the free-throw line enough in the fourth quarter.”

WKU (3-8 overall, 2-3 Conference USA) led 16-13 at the end of the first quarter — powered by nine points and five rebounds from Raneem Elgedawy — but struggled offensively in the second quarter, putting up just four points on the Lady Raiders (8-4, 6-1). WKU went without a field goal in the frame, getting all four points at the free-throw line — two from Meral Abdelgawad, one from Elgedawy and one from Ally Collett. The Lady Toppers turned the ball over six times in the quarter and 10 times total in the half, and shot just 25% (6 of 24) from the field and 10% (1 of 10) from the 3-point line through 20 minutes.

“We stood. We didn’t keep moving to get the ball,” Collins said. “We had some really good backdoor opportunities, but we didn’t move. We’ll watch that on film. In the second half, we kind of changed what we were doing a little bit and opened the floor and they just started being more aggressive.

“We have some players that are holding on to the ball too long. They need to make a decision faster. We talk about 0.5. You’ve got 0.5 seconds to make a decision — you’re either going to shoot it, drive it or pass it — and it’s got to be gone. We’ve got some players that are taking too long with the ball and it kills our offense.”

Meanwhile, MTSU got its offense going, starting the second quarter on a 7-0 run and adding a 12-1 run later in the frame to take a 34-20 lead into the break. C-USA Preseason Co-Player of the Year Anastasia Hayes had 13 points, six assists and two steals by the half to lead the Lady Raiders.

Hayes finished with 25 points, eight assists and three steals for MTSU. Deja Cage added 12 points. The Lady Raiders outrebounded WKU 39-28, including grabbing 15 offensive rebounds, but managed just four second-chance points.

Elgedawy led WKU with 26 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Collett finished with 13 points, 12 of which came in the fourth quarter, and Myriah Haywood had nine. Sivori finished with eight. She left the game midway through the fourth quarter with an injury but was expected to be available for Saturday’s rematch.

After turning the ball over in its first possession out of halftime, WKU’s offense got hot and got within four points of MTSU on two occasions. The Lady Toppers opened the second half on a 13-3 run, highlighted by two 3-pointers from Sivori. Middle Tennessee pulled back ahead by as many as nine after a 3-pointer from Hayes, before WKU again got within four on a layup from Sivori with 3:24 left in the quarter. The Lady Toppers scored 10 of their points off five MTSU turnovers.

“In the second quarter we really couldn’t score and I think we were playing a little bit timid,” Collett said. “It was really our defense — our defense in the rest of the game got us going. We were getting steals, pressuring them and making them uncomfortable, and that was really the game plan. In the second quarter, we stopped pressuring and we made an adjustment after halftime when (Collins) told us, ‘We’re not pressuring. What are you guys doing?’ We got back out there and it kind of went our way in the third quarter, but we have to stop that sooner.”

The Lady Raiders used a 7-1 run to retake a double-digit lead, and entered the fourth up 55-47, where they started on a 10-3 run and built the lead to as many as 19 on two occasions — once with 3:15 to play on two free throws from Aislynn Hayes, and again at the 2:36 mark on a layup from Kseniia “Ksyusha” Kozlova — before eventually closing out the 10-point victory.

The two teams are scheduled to tip off the second game of the series at 6 p.m. Saturday at E.A. Diddle Arena.