Murray State University Athletics
This Week's Road Swing Matches Lady Racers Against OVC Leaders
2/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
In the midst of a five-game road swing through the Ohio Valley Conference, the Murray State women's basketball team turns its focus this week to Tennessee Tech and Austin Peay for a pair of tough tests away from home.
The Lady Racers (9-12, 5-5 OVC) will take on Tennessee Tech (12-9, 7-3 OVC) on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Eblen Center in Cookeville, Tenn., and MSU will follow that up with a showdown against OVC leading Austin Peay (15-6, 9-1 OVC) on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tenn.
MSU enters the weekend road trip through middle Tennessee tied for seventh in the OVC standings with Tennessee-Martin following a split last week at Eastern Illinois (W, 70-62) and Southeast Missouri (L, 74-60). And though some would expect the Lady Racers to be happy with just finishing in the top-8 in the conference standings and making the OVC tourney, first-year MSU head coach Joi Williams is looking for her team to strive for even higher goals.
"We've been talking a lot about finishing in the top-4 in the league and playing our first round game at home at the RSEC," Williams said. "We've been talking to the seniors about that and trying to urge them to talk about that in the lockerroom and what it's going to take for us to achieve that. Talking about it is certainly not enough, but I really believe you can speak stuff into existence if you make the right steps and the right choices to make that happen.
"That starts by coming to practice everyday ready to go and ready to achieve those goals. I think our seniors really believe in that, and that'll trickle down to the rest of our team."
The next step in that goal begins with Tech on Thursday night. The Golden Eaglettes feature the league's second leading scorer and eighth leading rebounder in forward Emily Christian, and Williams knows the key for the Lady Racers against Tech is the same as it's been all season long.
"They've got one of the conference's best players in Emily Christian, and she's a post player, which is a position we've struggled with defending so far," said Williams. "I think it's definitely a very winnable game for us. It's certainly not going to be easy though. Again, the key things for us are defense and rebounding. Against SEMO, we got away from that, but hopefully we're starting to understand that those are the areas that will win games for us, especially on the road."
The second half of this week's road swing looks to be just as challenging as the Lady Govs enter the week holding a two-game lead in the OVC standings ahead of Tech and Jacksonville State.
"As for Austin Peay...they're alone in first place and that says enough," Williams said. "They have several good players and a lot of weapons. We've got two tough ones ahead of us, and all we can do is take them one at a time."
The MSU Sports Network's live broadcast of the games against Tennessee Tech and Austin Peay can be heard by Clicking Here.
SERIES INFORMATION
-- Murray State vs. Tennessee Tech
This is the 57th meeting between Murray State and Tennessee Tech with the Golden Eaglettes holding a 50-6 advantage. Tech holds a 25-1 lead in games played in Cookeville. MSU won 85-76 at the Eblen Center on Feb. 27, 1993.
-- Murray State vs. Austin Peay
This is the 64th meeting between MSU and APSU with the Lady Racers owning a 33-30 edge in the series. The Lady Govs hold a 21-11 lead in games played in Clarksville.
OVC LEADERS: Entering Thursday's action, MSU senior guard Jenny Bowden ranks No. 1 in the OVC in Assist-to-Turnover Ratio at 2.15.
