Murray State
Eastern Kentucky
Lady Racers go toe-to-toe with EKU, but lose second straight OVC nail-biter
1/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
For the second time in as many Ohio Valley Conference road games, the Murray State Lady Racers battled to the very end of the game, only to see the win wrested from them, the latest a 75-74 result at Eastern Kentucky tonight.
Murray State (4-9, 0-2 OVC) took a 72-71 lead when freshman forward Angela Mullins hit a basket with 1:26 left in regulation, but the host Colonels (6-7, 2-0 OVC) continued to fight, as Alicia Binion hit a putback with 59 seconds left to help EKU retake the lead, 73-72.
Senior guard Stacy Holmes hit a putback of her own to put the Lady Racers on top 74-73 with 25 seconds remaining, but Eastern Kentucky answered with a Binion jumper to take a 75-74 lead with eight seconds left.
After a 30-second MSU timeout, junior guard Brittany Park took the inbounds pass and drove the court, going down the lane and laying the ball up in heavy traffic as time expired. The shot missed, and Murray State took a heartbreaking 75-74 loss.
Murray State led 43-35 at halftime, despite the Colonels scoring the first seven points of the game. The Lady Racers followed EKU's run with one of their own, scoring the next 13 points over a five-minute span to take a 13-7 lead. After that run, Park had outscored Eastern Kentucky 8-7 in the first seven minutes of the game. Park scored 16 of her game-high 25 points in the first half.
Eastern Kentucky didn't lead for the remainder of the first half, but tied the game at 21-21 with 9:53 left in the period. MSU then went on a 9-2 run to capture a seven-point lead, retaking the lead on a jumper by junior forward Kaleena Miller, followed by a basket from freshman guard Ashley Hayes, getting her first career start.
After a bucket by EKU's Miranda Eckerle, Holmes popped in a layup and Hayes drained a three-pointer to give MSU a 30-23 lead with 6:44 left in the half.
Sophomore center Lori Trumblee scored the first basket of the second half to give the Lady Racers their largest lead of the game at 45-35 with 19:40 left in regulation. Eastern Kentucky was able to chip away the lead, but didn't retake the lead until Katie Kelly hit two free throws to give the Colonels a 70-69 lead with 2:24 left in the game.
"I give Eastern Kentucky credit; they hung with us," said MSU head coach Joi Williams. "They got some crucial offensive rebounds, and we made some big turnovers that really hurt us. this is hard for me to stomach, but I think that our kids can learn a lot from it.
"Defensively, in the second half, Eastern Kentucky contested our shots better, and we got into a little stretch where we didn't execute well offensively.
"On the positive side, our offensive execution was better," she said, "and our turnovers were better. We only had four turnovers in the first half and 12 overall, but they just came at crucial moments in the second half.
"Brittany Park played really well. She didn't try to force the shots too much. She got aggressive and attacked the basket and really played within herself."
"This was tough for us to take," Park said. "You've got to give Eastern Kentucky credit. They battled back. My teammates did a good job setting screens and working the offense. I've been trying to work and let the offense come to me, but they deserve a lot of the credit (for the game-high 25 points)."
Park was 8-for-17 from the field and 7-for-7 from the line, tying a career-high in scoring. She also had a co-game-high two steals for the Lady Racers.
Hayes and Holmes added 10 points apiece for Murray State. Holmes had a team-high seven rebounds, while Hayes and Park added six. Hayes handed out a career-high four assists, while senior guard Jenny Bowden had three. Trumblee had a team-high two blocked shots for MSU.
Eastern Kentucky was paced by 24 points and nine rebounds from Pam Garrett off the bench. Katie Kelly added 12 points and five assists, while Laura Shelton had 11 points and five assists. Fatai Hala'api'api had eight rebounds and three blocked shots for the Colonels.
Murray State returns home for a three-game homestand, beginning Thursday with its first-ever meeting with league newcomer Samford. Tipoff will be at 5;15 p.m. at MSU's Regional Special Events Center, and the game can be heard online through www.GoRacers.com and locally on WNBS (1340 AM).
