Murray State University Athletics
Williams pleased with exhibition; Lady Racers can build on experience
11/10/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
For the most part, Lady Racers head coach Joi Williams was pleased with her first exhibition game of the season. Even the negatives provided a learning experience for her charges.
"I think our transition offense was really good," she said. "We ran the floor like we've been talking about. With our transition game in the first half, we knocked down the open shots. Our shooting was great. They gave us some easy looks, and we were able to knock down some shots.
"We forced 16 turnovers in the first half, and that's something we had talked about, was forcing turnovers and forcing the tempo.
"We did a great job of keeping our composure when the game got close," Williams said. "I'm glad we had the experience of playing in a close game. We could have easily folded, but we did a good job of keeping it together.
"On the other hand, we gave up seven offensive rebounds in the first half. We didn't do a good job of keeping them off the boards. We had our hands on some rebounds, but just didn't get them.
"Defensively, our post defense didn't get in front like we wanted to," she said. "We allowed the ball to get into the paint too easily.
"We also made some bad decisions on a few possessions instead of taking some time off the clock. I take responsibility for that, because we haven't worked on time and score as much as we should have."
Murray State shot 58.1 percent in the first half to take a 42-30 halftime lead, and hit 11 of its 12 second-half free throws, including a string of four with a minute left to put the game away late.
The Lady Racers open their regular-season schedule on Friday, Nov. 21, against High Point at the Fifth Third MU Classic in Huntington, W.Va. MSU will then take on either Morgan State or tournament host Marshall on Nov. 22.
