Murray State
Arkansas-Little Rock
Lady Racers surge in second half in 76-53 win over UALR in RSEC
12/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
After closing the first half ceding a 21-10 run to visiting Arkansas-Little Rock, the Lady Racers adjusted well in the second half, shooting 61 percent from the field in the latter period en route to the 76-53 rout at the Regional Special Events Center.
Murray State (3-3) opened the game on back-to-back three-pointers by senior guards Jenny Bowden and Megan Fuqua, then leaped out to a 17-6 lead when freshman forward Angela Mullins hit a layup with 10:28 left in the half.
The Trojans (2-3) then picked up the pace after dismal shooting early on, going on a 21-10 run over the next nine minutes to tie the game at 27-27 with a minute left. Fuqua hit a trey with 33 seconds left in the half to give MSU a 30-27 halftime lead.
"(At halftime), we talked about coming in in the second half and playing with energy," said MSU head coach Joi Williams. "We came out flat in the first half. We challenged our players to come out and play hard."
That they did, hitting 13 of their first 17 shots in the half (76.5 percent) and making 19 of their 31 second-half shots (61.3 percent), outscoring UALR 46-26 in the final period.
"We did a better job on our rebounding," Williams said. MSU out-rebounded UALR 20-11 in the second half. "That helped us in transition, since we pushed the ball up quickly and made some easy layups in transition. We also shot the ball well in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
"Our offense moved a lot better and executed better. We got more aggressive on offense."
The Lady Racers were led by junior guard Rebecca Remington, who got 13 of her team-high 15 points in the second half. Fuqua added 13 points, with 11 of those coming in the first half. Senior guard Stacy Holmes added nine points for MSU, while sophomore center Lori Trumblee had eight.
Mullins grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for MSU, while junior forward Kaleena Miller had seven. Bowden and freshman guard Kelly Shelton handed out a game-high four assists apiece, while Holmes swiped a game-high four steals.
Arkansas-Little Rock was paced by 18 points from Alicia Cash, with 12 of those coming in the first half, and a team-high eight rebounds. Tamara Humphrey had a team-high three assists, while Jocelyn Love had a team-high three steals.
Both teams took care of the ball well, as UALR had 11 turnovers and Murray State had 12.
MSU finished the game shooting 47.7 percent (31-for-65) from the field, 45.5 percent (10-for-22) from behind the arc and 80 percent (4-for-5) from the line. UALR shot 39.3 percent (24-for-61) from the field, 22.2 percent (2-for-9) from three-point range and 75 percent (3-for-4) from the line.
Murray State takes Finals Week off, returning to action on Sunday, Dec. 14, at Troy State at 2 p.m.
