Murray State
Tennessee State
Lady Racers stall in second half, open overtime 9-0 in 68-58 win at TSU
1/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State Lady Racers watched a 13-point second-half lead evaporate at Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee State tonight, but a timely jumper by freshman Ashley Hayes forced overtime. Murray State opened the extra period by scoring the first nine points en route to the 68-58 win.
The Lady Racers (7-10, 3-3 OVC) picked up their first road win of the season and escaped ceding the Lady Tigers (1-15, 0-6 OVC) their first conference win of the year.
Tennessee State led 4-1 early on, but Murray State used an 8-2 run to take a 9-6 lead when senior guard Stacy Holmes hit a layup with 13:36 left in the first half.
The Lady Tigers worked the game back to an 11-11 tie, but MSU went on another 8-2 run to take a 19-13 lead when junior guard Rebecca Remington hit a layup with 10:06 left in the period. Murray State took a 32-24 lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Lady Racers shot out to a 39-26 lead when junior forward Kaleena Miller hit a layup with 16:35 left in regulation. Murray State had a 46-34 lead with 9:29 left in the second half, and that's when Tennessee State made its move.
The Lady Tigers went on an 11-0 run over the next 5:20 to pull to within a point, 46-45, on a three-pointer by Quanecia Fletcher, a three-point play by Kendra Bailey, a layup by Bailey and a trey by Kisha Stewart.
Senior guard Megan Fuqua responded to Stewart's three by launching one of her own to push MSU out to a 49-45 lead with 3:57 left, but Fletcher scored a three-point play to pull the Lady Tigers back to within one, 49-48, with 3:40 left in regulation.
Miller popped in a layup with 1:59 left to give Murray State a 51-48 cushion, but Bailey hit one of two free-throw attempts and Odessa Kelly hit a jumper to tie the game at 51-51 with 1:37 left. KaSheena Powe hit two free throws to give TSU its first lead since 17:14 in the first period, 53-51, with 45 seconds left.
Murray State called a 30-second timeout, then ran its offense, which found Hayes open for a jumper with 31 seconds left in the period to knot the game at 53-53. TSU's Lakisha Clay put up a last-second shot that rimmed out, and the game went into overtime.
In the second half, TSU went 5-for-10 from the free-throw line, while Murray State did not attempt a free throw.
In the extra period, sophomore center Lori Trumblee led off the scoring with a layup 14 seconds in, followed by a trey and two free throws from Hayes and a driving layup from senior guard Jenny Bowden to give Murray State a quick 62-53 lead just 1:47 into the extra period.
Stewart hit a three to pull the Lady Tigers to within six points, but Tennessee State would get no closer, as MSU outscored TSU 15-5 in the overtime period.
Trumblee scored six of her 12 points in overtime, and Hayes had five of her 13 points in the extra frame.
"We fought all the way through," siad MSU head coach Joi Williams. "We knew this was going to be a tough game. Jenny (Bowden) and Ashley Hayes combined for 21 boards, and that's what we must be doing. Our guards have to rebound.
"Give credit to Tennessee State. They played hard and hit the big shots. I'm happy we got this win on the road. We've got five straight on the road coming up in February, and winning here shows us that we can go into a hostile environment and get the win."
Holmes led all scorers with 15 points and had a game-high four steals.
Hayes had her first career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, with six of those boards coming in the first half. Fuqua added 11 points for the Lady Racers.
Miller and Bowden had nine rebounds each, with most coming at opposite ends of the court. Seven of Miller's rebounds were offensive boards, while all nine of Bowden's rebounds were defensive.
Bowden handed out a game-high six assists, while Hayes had five.
Tennessee State was paced by 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench from Bailey. Stewart added 11 points, while Powe had 10 points and six rebounds.
Kelly grabbed a co-team-high seven rebounds for TSU, while Clay had a team-high five assists. Fletcher had four assists and a team-high three steals.
Murray State returns home for a brief two-game homestand. The Lady Racers host Eastern Kentucky on Thursday at 5:15 p.m., then entertain Morehead State on Saturday at 5:15 p.m. after the men's game. Both women's games can be heard through the Teamline links at www.GoRacers.com or locally through WNBS (1340 AM).
