Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Louisville
Kentuckians Willinger, Smith play well off the bench in loss to UL
12/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
With their guard play virtually shut down by host Louisville, the Murray State Lady Racers got some play out of post players Katie Willinger and Ashley Smith off the bench in MSU's 97-45 loss this afternoon.
Willinger, a 6-1 freshman center from Louisville, had a team-high 14 points to go with seven rebounds and a co-game-high two steals. Senior forward/center Ashley Smith, a 6-1 native of Elizabethtown, Ky., pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for Murray State (3-5).
Louisville (7-3) denied the inside game to the Lady Racers in the first half, allowing only one layup and keeping close tabs on sophomore guard Ashley Hayes, the national leader in three-point shots, now averaging 3.4 per game.
The Cardinals scored the first 10 points of the game. Willinger narrowed the lead to 20-12 with a three-pointer with 10:18 left in the first period, but UL scored the next 23 points over the next nine minutes and took a 46-14 lead at the break.
Murray State came out with renewed intensity in the second half, playing more aggressive inside, but could not overcome the lead taken by Louisville.
Hayes scored 11 points for the Lady Racers, while freshman guard Shaleea Petty had a co-game-high six assists.
Louisville was paced by 23 points and 14 rebounds from Missy Taylor, while Katie Olson added 14 points and Jazz Covington put in 13 and had nine rebounds.
Smith and Willinger accounted for 15 of MSU's 28 rebounds and had all nine individual offensive rebounds.
"We are very disappointed in the way we came out," said MSU head coach Joi Felton. "You have to give Louisville a lot of credit. They came and played hard. We just did not match that intensity level. We knew coming in that we were undersized in the post and we had to do an extremely good job of blocking out and rebounding. We just did not get that done early in the game.
"We just need to go back to the drawing board, basically. We need to harp on rebounding and our play underneath."
Murray State will take its Christmas break, then returns to action at the Cyclone Classic in Ames, Iowa. The Lady Racers open the tournament against Mercer on Dec. 29 at 5:30 p.m., then will face either host Iowa State or Ohio Valley Conference rival Eastern Illinois on Dec. 30. Those games can be heard locally on WNBS (1340 AM, Murray) or through the Teamline link at www.GoRacers.com.
