Racers Headed for Battle with Big Ten Opponent Purdue

Game 9
Murray State (2-6, 0-2 OVC) at Purdue (4-3, 0-0 Big Ten)
Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Arena: Mackey Arena
Time: 1 p.m. (CST)

The Game
After having a week off for final exams, the Murray State women's basketball team will return to the court to face Purdue, Sunday, Dec. 12 at Mackey Arena, in West Lafayette, Ind. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. (CST).

Game Notes
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Scouting Purdue
The Boilermakers are 4-3 overall after dropping their last three games. Purdue has had a strong schedule to start the season, with its last four opponents either being ranked or receiving votes in the polls. One similarity in the three loss that the Boilermakers have suffered is that they have been playing without their top player, Drey Mingo. Mingo was averaging 17.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and shooting .611 from the floor and 50 percent from three-point range before becoming ill. Purdue cancelled a trip to the Carribbean Challenge because of the illness.

Brittany Rayburn and Courtney Moses have taken over the leadership role on the court with Mingo's absence. Rayburn is netting 14.7 points and 3.0 boards per game and shooting 41.5 percent from the field, .304 from beyond the arc and .913 from the charity stripe. Moses is averaging 13.3 points and 2.3 boards per game and shooting .471, .579 and .857. The duo account for 36 percent of the overall shots and 55 percent of the teams triples taken.

Antionette Howard is the Boilermakers current leading rebounder, with 3.7 boards per game. Howard and Alex Guyton both currently have more offensive rebounds than defensive on the season.

Purdue is a strong shooting team, averaging .432 on the season from the floor and .364 from beyond the arc. However, the Boilermakers are not shutting down their opponents, as they are shooting .410 overall and .333 from three-point range. Purdue has similar numbers in the rest of the categories on the box score, including a large number of blocks for both sides (4.9/4.7).

The Boilermakers do better on offense in the second half, having outscored their opponents by 37 in the second 20 minutes of action and are being outscored by nine in the first stanza.

The Series
This will be the first meeting between the Racers and the Boilermakers. MSU has played only one team from the Big Ten Conference and has a 1-0 record against the league. The Racers earned a 71-56 win over Indiana, 30 years to the day that they will play Purdue (Dec. 12, 1980).

Jessica Jumping Right In
Red-shirt freshman Jessica Winfrey has been a stable force for the Racers in her first season on the court. The Marion, Ark., native is first on the team in rebounding, averaging 8.0 boards per game, and third in scoring (9.8 ppg). In her last outing she added to her career-best list by recording two assists and her first double-double. Against Morehead State, Winfrey tallied 11 points and a career-best 10 rebounds for the second double-double of the season by a MSU player. Her talents on the court have led to her scoring at least one point and adding at least one rebound in every Racers' game this season, while also recording seven steals and four blocks.

On the Road Again
MSU will conclude a seven game road trip that accounts for the third-longest road trip in school history this weekend at Purdue. The Racers have been on the road for seven-straight games in six previous season, with the most recent being the 1990-00 campaign. The longest road trip in school history is 11 games during the 1996-97 season. MSU has also been on the road for nine-straight games (1988-89).

No Senior Leadership
After fighting through an injury plagued year in 2009-10 the Murray State women's basketball team will be in a select group of NCAA DI teams this season that will allow them to use the drive and determination they discovered last year, as the roster has no seniors listed. The Racers are one of seven programs in the country with no seniors on the 2010-11 roster, a list which includes this week's opponent - Purdue.

The youthful roster has just nine years of NCAA collegiate experience on it, which ranks third among OVC teams for the least amount of NCAA collegiate experience. The only teams with fewer years of experience than the Racers are UT Martin (3) and Eastern Illinois (8).

Robinson Highlight Night
The opening night of OVC action saw sophomore Mariah Robinson making a personal highlight reel. The Beaver Dam, Ky., native tallied a season-best 21 points, including 17 in the first half of action. She also added five rebounds, two assists, and a season-high three steals.

Lowe Down Against the Eagles
Junior Kayla Lowe, a native of Pikeville, Ky., seems to love being back home in the eastern portion of the state. Lowe has tallied 15-or-more points in three of the last four games played in that area of the state. The trend started with a 15-point performance against Morehead State (Feb. 25) and was followed by a 28-point performance less than a week later in the same gym (March 2). Lowe then tallied 15 points against Eastern Kentucky (Dec. 2) last week in the opening game of the OVC schedule and earned 23 points against the Eagles (Dec. 4). That makes two-straight 20+ point performances against Morehead State.

Getting Some Air Time
With a recent announcement from the OVC, the Racers will now have at least one game on television this season. The OVC added nine games to its OVC Basketball Television Package. The Racers game at UT Martin (Dec. 22) will now be shown on the Wazoo network, ESPN3.com, and ESPN Full Court. Local cable subscribers can see the games on channel 81 for Murray Electric subscribers and channel 214 for those with NewWave.

Continuing Streaks
Four members of the MSU team that returned from the 2009-10 season have continued streaks that they started a year ago. Junior Rachael Isom has been a key force for the Racers since last season, scoring at least one point in 43 straight games, recording a rebound in 22 and has started the last 38 games. Fellow junior Kayla Lowe has started the last 17 games and junior Mallory Schwab has a rebound in the last 16. Sophomore Mariah Robinson in the final returner with a streak, tallying a rebound in the last 22 games.

New Season New Name
Murray State University's Regional Special Events Center (RSEC) will now be known as the CFSB Center, thanks to the largest gift in Murray State athletics history. CFSB (Community Financial Services Bank) donated $3.3 million to MSU's athletic program securing naming rights of the facility.

OVC Tournament Changes
This year the OVC Tournament will all be contested at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn., from March 2-5. The top two teams in the regular-season standings will earn byes into the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. This is the first season that the conference will bring all eight teams to one venue for the entire tournament, as in the past the first-round games have been played on campus sites.

Up Next
The Racers will finally get a chance to return to the CFSB Center, after a month away from home. MSU will host Southern Illinois, Saturday, Dec. 18 at 5 p.m. The tip-off has been pushed back 15 minutes to accommodate the men's game against Western Kentucky that follows being on Fox College Sports Network. The Racers will then have one league road game (UT Martin - Dec. 22) before taking a break for the holidays. When MSU returns to action it will begin a four-game home stand, which starts with SIU Edwardsville, Dec. 30, and will end against Austin Peay (Jan. 8).

Murray State University Athletics

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