Coach Retires Hours Before Tournament Game

Police have charged a roommate in the fatal stabbing of Middle Tennessee State University women's basketball player Tina Stewart.

Stewart, a 21-year-old junior guard from Memphis, Tenn., died at Middle Tennessee Medical Center on Wednesday night after being stabbed multiple times at an off-campus apartment complex, police told the Daily News Journal.

Stewart's roommate, 18-year-old Shanterrica Madden, a freshman, has been charged with first-degree murder. "There was an argument," Murfreesboro Police Spokesman Kyle Evans told the News Journal. "During that argument, Madden stabbed the victim."

The university's athletic director, Chris Massaro, said the school was devastated. "She was a great kid, she was a fighter and she was a competitor," he told the News Journal. "When I think of her right now, I think of her smile and grin. She would light up a room. It's hard to describe, it's hard for me to find words. I wish you all could have got to know her."

Stewart averaged 5.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 28 games this season. Her team, the Blue Raiders, is the No. 1 seed from the East and is scheduled to play in the Sun Belt Conference tournament Friday. So far, there are no plans to pull out of the tournament, but Massaro said that could change. "We're scheduled to leave Friday, but all of that is secondary right now," he said Wednesday night, according to the Commercial Appeal. "Right now, there's no decision, nothing. It's not even been addressed."

Stewart graduated from Memphis Central High in 2008, where was a star guard on the school's basketball team.

Middle Tennessee State University women's basketball coach Rick Insell called the death "a coach's nightmare," according to the newspaper.

Police said they have no other suspects, according to The Tennessean. Murfreesboro police did not immediately return a call for comment from AOL News today.