Murray State
Morehead State
Lady Racers Cage Eagles 71-54
2/10/2007 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Lady Racers set a school record in getting their 12th Ohio Valley Conference win of the season, cruising to a 71-57 win over visiting Morehead State on Saturday. The win kept Murray State in a tie for first place in the OVC with Southeast Missouri, which won its game against Eastern Kentucky tonight, and knocked Morehead State from a tie for first into third place, one game out of first place.
Murray State (16-7, 12-4 OVC) bettered the previous record of 11 single-season conference wins, set in the 1999-2000 season and tied last season.
Murray State hit two quick baskets in the first minute, pushing out to an 11-0 lead with 15:35 left in the first half. The Lady Racers played an effective defense early on, as the Lady Eagles (12-13, 11-5 OVC) missed on their first nine shots from the field. Murray State maintained its intensity, taking a 38-18 lead into the locker room at intermission, punctuated by a lay-in at the buzzer by senior post Erica Gordian.
Murray State hit 55.6 percent (15-for-27) of its shots from the field in the first half, holding Morehead State to 26.9-percent (7-for-26) shooting. The Lady Racers out-rebounded the Lady Eagles 19-14 in the first period, taking 17 of Morehead State's 21 missed shots.
Sophomore forward Ashley Nichole Hayes led all scorers at halftime with 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field, grabbing six rebounds in the first 20 minutes. Senior forward Joi Scott had a game-high seven boards at halftime, all on the defensive end, while junior guard Shaleea Petty handed out a game-high four assists.
Morehead State was paced by six points from Tarah Combs at the half, while Brittany Bass had a team-high six rebounds and Stacey Strayer had three assists.
Both teams came out shooting well in the second half, but Morehead State could not get within 12 points the rest of the way, as the Lady Racers ran on to the 71-57 final.
"The start was outstanding," said Lady Racers head coach Joi Felton. "In the locker room, we talked about giving a great effort and coming out and playing hard on the defensive end and rebounding, and we did that. We got that big lead because of our defensive rebounding. We've been emphasizing rebounding all year, and especially in the last few games, and we knew that a lot of teams would come at us on the offensive boards, so we really focused on that, and we did a good job tonight.
"I've said all year that we've got people on this team who can score the ball, and tonight, you saw Ashley Nichole Hayes score big, Alaina Lee, who went 6-for-6, and so on. We've got a lot of people who can score, which is good for our team's confidence, because they know that if things aren't going well with Joi (Scott), if the other team has two or three people guarding her, that other people can get the job done.
"I told are team that we are doing things that haven't been done here before," she said of the school record for conference wins, "and I don't want to take anything away from that. We are grateful night in and night out that we're getting that done, but we have a huge goal, and that is to be OVC champions. We would love to win the regular season and the tournament, but we've got to take it one game at a time. We are excited that we are on top, but we know that things can change in a couple of games. We've just got four more games to play in the regular season, and we've got to take them one at a time."
Hayes led all scorers with 22 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field, going 3-for-3 from the line, and pulling down nine rebounds, her 10th game of the season with nine or more boards. Hayes also had a game-high three steals.
Scott had her 10th double-double of the season, with 12 points and 12 rebounds. She went 4-for-4 from the line and had 11 defensive rebounds to go with a game-high three blocked shots.
Lee had 15 points, going 6-for-6 from the field and grabbing four rebounds. Sophomore guard Amber Guffey added 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field to go with four assists and four rebounds. Junior guard Shaleea Petty handed out a team-high seven assists for the Lady Racers.
Morehead State was led by LaKrisha Brown's 14 points to go with five rebounds. Combs added 10 points, shooting 2-for-5 from three-point range, and had three assists. Brittany Bass had a team-high seven rebounds, while Stacey Strayer handed out a game-high eight assists.
Murray State finished with a .509 percentage (28-for-55) from the field to Morehead State's .382 (21-for-55). The Lady Racers out-rebounded the Lady Eagles 37-28, with 30 defensive rebounds. Morehead State committed only 11 turnovers to Murray State's 15.
Murray State concludes this three-game homestand with a game against Tennessee State on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Regional Special Events Center.
