Murray State
Morehead State
Lady Racers battle down the stretch but Morehead State prevails 65-62
1/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State Lady Racers took it to host Morehead State tonight in both teams' Ohio Valley Conference opener, but the Lady Eagles were able to hold on for a 65-62 win.
Murray State (4-8, 0-1 OVC) was able to grab an early 8-4 lead before Morehead State (4-8, 1-0 OVC) scored the next seven points to go ahead 11-8. The Lady Racers came back, pulling to within 13-12 when freshman forward Angela Mullins hit a layup with 12:05 left in the first half, but the Lady Eagles went on a 10-4 run to take a 23-16 lead with 8:31 left in the period.
The teams battled back and forth, with Morehead State taking a 32-28 halftime lead.
The Lady Eagles scored first in the second half, as Shelly Johnson hit a layup to push the Morehead lead to 34-28, but the Lady Racers went on an 8-0 run over the next two minutes, on a three-pointer by junior guard Rebecca Remington, a jumper by Remington and a trey by junior guard Brittany Park on a feed by Remington, to give Murray a 36-34 lead with 17:32 left in regulation.
After a quick Lady Eagle timeout, Morehead went on a tear of its own, outscoring Murray 9-2 over the next 2-1/2 minutes to take a 43-38 lead with 15 minutes left.
The teams battled, with the Lady Eagles taking as much as a seven-point lead. Morehead State led 57-51 with 4:26 left when Murray State made its final surge, a 7-0 run on a three-point play by Park, a jumper by Park and a jumper by sophomore center Lori Trumblee, to give the Lady Racers a 58-57 lead with 1:45 remaining.
Morehead's DeVonda Williams hit a layup to wrest the lead from Murray State, but a layup by senior guard Stacy Holmes took it right back, 60-59, with 1:16 left. Johnson popped in a layup to give the Lady Eagles a 61-60 lead with 53 seconds left, and Megen Gearhart hit one of two free-throw attempts to push that lead to 62-60 with 24 seconds remaining.
Kandi Brown hit two free throws for Morehead with 16 seconds left. Park hit a layup for Murray to close the gap to 64-62 with nine seconds left, and Gearhart hit one of two free throws to push the lead to 65-62. Park launched a three-pointer that hit the rim, and the game ended with the 65-62 Morehead State win.
"Our rebounding hurt us at crucial times," said Murray State head coach Joi Williams. "We've got to learn from this and just move on. We had a lot of opportunities, and we made some turnovers at crucial times. We just had 11, but they came at crucial times for us. We didn't do things funamentally the way we want them to be done."
Murray State was led by Park and Remington, who scored a game-high 15 points apiece. Holmes added 11 points and five rebounds, while Park had a team-high six rebounds and Remington had five.
Park also handed out a team-high five assists, while senior guard Jenny Bowden had four. Trumblee swiped a game-high three steals for the Lady Racers.
Morehead State was paced by 12 points from Brown, while Johnson put in 10. Williams grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, while Shermeca Howard had seven. Brown also handed out nine assists for the Lady Eagles.
Murray State seeks to halt its four-game skid at OVC rival Eastern Kentucky (5-7, 1-0 OVC) on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Central Time. That game can be heard through the Teamline links at www.GoRacers.com and in Murray over WNBS (1340 AM).
