Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Samford
Hayes' jumper give Lady Racers second win over an OVC co-leader
1/30/2006 6:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Lady Racers (7-12, 6-6 OVC) played the same staunch defense it held against its most recent OVC co-leader, Tennessee Tech, on Thursday.
"We had a great defense," said MSU head coach Joi Felton. "(Samford) is very good at running their offensive sets; they have a lot of discipline. We did a great job of keeping it in front of us and making them take tough shots, for the most part. I'm just really proud of our defensive effort. That;s something we've been struggling with all year.
"We tried to get up and be aggressive. We couldn't sit back. We are successful when we're aggressive, and we were able to capitalize on that tonight, on those turnovers.
"Being two No. 1 teams in five days is a great feat for us," she said. "Hopefully, it will propel us as we go through February."
Both teams rank among the top five in the nation in defense, with Murray State holding the top spot and the Bulldogs ranking fifth.
"The first time we played them, they shot 35 free throws," said Felton. "That's something we talked about yesterday in our preparation, not fouling them. They are a great free-throw shooting team. I'm proud of the fact that we made them earn everything they got, and they didn't go to the free-throw line very often.
"We were trying to get to the paint and attack and be aggressive. (Samford) did a good job with help-side defense, but we did a good job of getting to the paint and attacking the offensive rim, because that's what we've got to do to be successful."
In the first half, the defenses reigned, as Murray State was held to 33.3-percent shooting and Samford (14-6, 9-4 OVC) shot 36 percent.. The Bulldogs pushed out to a five-point lead twice, taking a 19-14 advantage when Taryn Towns hit a three-pointer with 5:46 left in the half. A layup by junior Joi Scott and a three by Hayes tied the game at 19-19. Samford's Alex Munday hit a basket to put Samford ahead by two, but back-to-back buckets by Scott gave MSU a 23-21 halftime lead.
In the second half, both teams showed an aggressive offense, attacking the basket and using accurate passes to get the ball inside.
The Bulldogs got out to as much as a seven-point lead, 45-38, after taking a 6-0 run, but MSU countered with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 45-45. Samford took a 49-45 lead, but another 7-0 run gave the Lady Racers a 52-49 lead on a three by Hayes with 5:41 remaining in regulation.
Samford used a 4-0 run to take a scant 53-52 lead. The Bulldogs had a 57-54 lead with 3:53 remaining, but a three by freshman Paige Guffey knotted the game at 57-57. Cora Beth Smith gave Samford a 59-57 lead with a layup, but Hayes tied it again with a jumper with 2:37 left.
Junior Gerraca Matthews hit a jumpshot with 58 seconds left in regulation to give MSU a 61-59 lead, but Munday's jumper with 41 seconds left tied the game at 61-61 and sent it into overtime.
In the extra period, the battle continued. Towns made one of two free throws to give the Bulldogs a 62-61 lead, and Smith's two free throws extended that lead to 64-61 with 2:34 left in overtime.
Scott hit two free throws to cut the lead to 64-63 with 2:18 remaining. She later hit a jumpshot with 33 seconds left to give the Lady Racers a 65-64 lead. Tish Pilkerton gave Samford a 66-65 lead with a basket with eight seconds left, and MSU called a timeout.
On the following play, Hayes drove the baseline and hit a fadeaway jumper with 5.1 seconds left to put MSU ahead 67-66. Samford ran its final play, with Smith putting up a driving shot along the baseline, but it rolled off the rim as time expired.
Murray State was led by Scott's 22 points and six rebounds to go with a team-high five assists and a game-high two blocked shots. Hayes finished with 20 points.
Samford was paced by Munday's 14 points to go with five rebounds. Smith added 10 points and had a game-high six assists and a team-high two steals. Pilkerton and Chelsee Insell each had a game-high seven rebounds, while Towns had six.
Murray State visits OVC rival Austin Peay on Thursday at 5:15 p.m.
