Murray State
Arkansas State
Fuqua scores career-high 23 as ASU gets by Lady Racers 84-79
12/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Senior guard Megan Fuqua scored a career-high 23 points and the Murray State Lady Racers played strong, but host Arkansas State held its own, coming away with an 84-79 win tonight in Jonesboro, Ark.
Murray State (2-2) vaulted out to a 22-7 lead in the first 7-1/2 minutes, including a 13-0 run started by a jumper by junior guard Brittany Park, fllowed by back-to-back threes by senior guard Jenny Bowden. Freshman guard Gerraca Matthews hit a jumper, then Fuqua capped the string with a trey, giving MSU a 15-4 lead with 15:30 left in the first half.
The Lady Racers held a 31-20 lead when Arkansas State (5-0) began its comeback, taking a 9-0 run of its own to cut the MSU lead to two. After a three by junior guard Rebecca Remington, the Lady Indians used a 7-0 run to take a 37-34 lead. A Park three-pointer tied the game, and the teams exchanged baskets with ASU taking a 41-39 halftime lead on a layup by Katie Caraway with five seconds left in the period.
A Bowden three-pointer opened the second half, giving Murray State a 42-41 lead, but ASU used a 15-6 run to take a 56-48 lead. With the Lady Indians leading 62-54, a jumper by senior guard Stacy Holmes and a four-point play by Fuqua cut the Arkansas State lead to two.
The teams exchanged baskets, giving ASU a 66-62 lead, when Fuqua hit back-to-back layups to tie the game at 66-66 with 7:49 left in regulation. Arkansas State hit a jumpshot, but Fuqua answered with a three-pointer, giving the Lady Racers a 72-71 lead. After a Lady Indians basket, Park hit a jumper to help MSU retake the lead, then Fuqua hit two free throws to expand the lead to 73-70 with 5:41 remaining.
With Murray State leading 74-72 with 3:47 left in the game, Arkansas State went on a 9-0 run, leading 81-74 with 41 seconds remaining. The Lady Racers played strong on both ends of the floor and used timeouts well down the stretch, but score enough in the 84-79 loss.
"We got off to a great start; I was pleased with how we came out," said MSU head coach Joi Williams. "Then, we hit a couple of dead spots; we made some mistakes. I'm proud of the effort we made in this game; we just came up a little short.
"We are trying to get more penetrating and get the open shooter. We knew coming in that Arkansas State had some good shooters, too. It was just a matter of us getting the open shot. This was our best game percentage-wise (from three-point range). We have some good shooters out there. We look to penetrate and hit the open shot."
Murray State shot 50 percent from the field (30 of 60), making 52.4 percent (11 of 21) from three-point range.
Fuqua had a co-game-high 23 points for Murray State on 7-for-12 shooting from the field (4-for-6 from behind the arc) and 5-for-8 shooting from the line.
Holmes put in 14 to go with a team-high eight rebounds,and Park had a co-season-high 12. Bowden had a career-high six assists to go with a career-high-tying nine points, while Fuqua had a team-high three steals. Sophomore center Lori Trumblee had a game-high three blocked shots, moving her into a tie for ninth place on the MSU career blocked shots list at 39 with Denise McDonald (2000-02).
Arkansas State was paced by 23 points from Rudy Sims. Catriece Webster added 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Amber Abraham had 11 points. Sims had a team-high four assists and a game-high five steals for ASU.
Murray State travels to Jackson State for a Wednesday 7 p.m. game. The Lady Racers return home this Saturday for a 7 p.m. tilt against Arkansas-Little Rock.
