<p>FRISCO, Texas — Courtney Whitson tied her career highs of 22 points and six 3-pointers and Middle Tennessee held on to beat Rice 68-65 on Saturday night in the championship game on the Conference USA Tournament. </p>
<p>The Blue Raiders earned their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2016. </p>
<p>Anastasia Hayes had 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds for Middle Tennessee (17-7). </p>
<p>Deja Cage — who had made just one of her last 17 from behind the arc — hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 1:12 to play to end a 7-0 run by Rice’s Nancy Mulkey and make it 66-60. Lauren Schwartz answered with a 3 just 11 seconds later and Jasmine Smith made a layup with 13 seconds to play to make it a one-point game. Rellah Boothe made 1-of-2 free throws for Middle Tennessee to make it 67-65 with nine seconds remaining and then stole a pass before Alexis Whittington made a foul shot to cap the scoring. </p>
<p>Mulkey had 21 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks for Rice (19-3). Smith added 13 points and 10 boards. </p>
<p>Mulkey — one of three players (Tulane’s Janell Burse and TCU’s Sandora Irvin) to win C-USA defensive player of the year in back-to-back-to-back years — scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to give the Owls a 51-49 lead, their first since 6-5. Middle Tennessee scored 14 of the next 16 points to take a 10-point lead when Whitson made a layup with 4:31 to go. </p>
<p>Middle Tennessee, which went into the game averaging 9.1 made 3-pointers (No. 13 nationally), made 12 3s. The Owls shot 26% (5 of 19) from behind the arc. </p>
<p>It was a rematch of the league’s last title game when Rice topped Middle Tennessee 69-54 in 2019. The 2020 Conference USA Tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
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<p>More AP women’s basketball: <a href="https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball">https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25">https://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a></p>
