Murray State
UT Martin
Bench brings Lady Racers back to 70-67 win over Tennessee-Martin
1/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State Lady Racers' starting five averaged just under six minutes each in the second half, as head coach Joi Williams went to her bench in the latter period to pull out the 70-67 come-from-behind win over visiting Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee-Martin tonight.
"I was very disappointed with the start of our game," Williams said. "We did not come out with any energy...We are really looking for five players who bring energy. We have got to have people with energy, and we finally found that tonight.
"I am really proud of our kids for stepping up. Lori Trumblee stepped up her game and got aggressive. Gerraca Matthews and Kelly Shelton stepped up and competed hard."
Murray State (6-10, 2-3 OVC) trailed 35-25 at halftime, as Tennessee-Martin (5-10, 2-3 OVC) hit 53.8 percent (14 of 26) of its first-half shots.
In the second half, freshman guard Ashley Hayes (14 minuntes) and senior guard Stacy Holmes (10 minutes) were the only starters to play more than four minutes, as senior guard Megan Fuqua (20 minutes), Shelton (16), Trumblee (16) and Matthews (12) filled the void well.
Trailing 42-31 with 16:26 left in the game, the Lady Racers went on a 10-0 run over the next 3:19 to pull to within a point on the strength of a jumper by Shelton, two free throws by Trumblee, a Hayes jumper, a Matthews jumper and a layup by Fuqua.
The Skyhawks pushed their lead back out to five, 46-41, with 11:41 left, but MSU scored nine of the next 11 points, started by a trey from Fuqua and a jumper by Trumblee to tie the game at 46-46 with 11:02 left.
A layup by Andreika Jackson gave UTM a temporary 48-46 lead, but Murray State responded with a three-pointer by Hayes and a free throw from Matthews to put MSU up 50-48.
Another Jackson layup knotted the game at 50-50, but layups from Trumblee and Holmes and a jumper from Trumblee put the Lady Racers ahead for good, 56-50, with 7:53 remaining.
Tennessee-Martin battled back, cutting the MSU lead to one when a layup from Jackson cut the Lady Racer lead to 65-64 with 2:16 left, but a jumpshot by Holmes and a free throw by Trumblee pushed the Murray State lead back to 68-64 with 11 seconds left.
A three from UTM's Tiffany Brundige made it 68-67 with six ticks left, but free throws by junior guard Rebecca Remington with three seconds left sealed the win, 70-67.
Fuqua had a team-high 15 points and four assists for Murray State. Holmes put in 14 points and had a team-high six rebounds, while Trumblee had 13 points and a co-game-high three steals. Hayes added seven points and five rebounds for MSU.
Tennessee-Martin was paced by 23 points, six assists and three steals from Brundige. Jackson added 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds for the Skyhawks. Danielle Page had a game-high seven assists for UTM.
Murray State visits OVC rival Tennessee State on Saturday at 5 p.m. That game can be heard through the Teamline links at www.GoRacers.com or locally on WNBS (1340 AM).
