Murray State University Athletics
MSU Hosts SEMO, EIU Looking For Momentum Heading Into OVC Tourney
2/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State Lady Racers have clinched a spot in next week's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. Now, they're looking for even more momentum as they host Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois this week to close out the regular-season.
MSU (11-14, 7-7 OVC) hosts SEMO (15-10, 10-4 OVC) on Thursday at 5:15 p.m. at the Regional Special Events Center followed by the game with EIU (8-17, 5-9 OVC) on Saturday at 5:15 p.m.
The Lady Racers, currently sitting in a tie for sixth place in the OVC standings, enter the week following a pair of important wins last week over Tennessee-Martin (71-70) and Tennessee State (71-43). With at least one win over their final two games, the Lady Racers would clinch their first .500 record in conference play since 2000. For first-year MSU head coach Joi Williams, she'd like more than just the even 8-8 mark.
"I think .500 would be great, but I'm shooting for 9-7," Williams said. "If 8-8 is the best we can do, then I'll take that. Either way, it's a huge improvement to double the number of wins from last year, and if we can continue to build on that, that's always a positive. I think our kids will feel pretty good about that too."
According to Williams, a big key for her team is confidence, and closing the regular-season with a pair of good performances could really help the Lady Racers heading into the OVC Tournament, which starts on Tuesday night at campus sites.
"I think (the final two regular-season games) mean a whole lot, especially in terms of momentum heading into next week," Williams said. "We just want to try to improve on what we've done and finish up as strong as we can so we can head into the OVC Tournament with a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence."
MSU opens its final homestand of the season with a SEMO squad that knocked off the Lady Racers 74-60 in their first meeting of the season on Feb. 7 in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Williams knows MSU didn't put its best foot forward in that contest, and she's expecting a better showing on Thursday night at the RSEC.
"We didn't come out ready to play. We played scared to be honest with you, and our team knows that," Williams said. "We just didn't come out and even give ourselves a chance in that first game. I'm really hoping that this time around our kids know what to expect, so we'll hopefully come out a lot more confident."
Saturday's game with EIU will be "Senior Night" at the RSEC, and the Lady Racers will honor their three seniors, Jenny Bowden, Megan Fuqua and Stacy Holmes, prior to tipoff with the Panthers.
The MSU Sports Network's live broadcast of the games against Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois can be heard by Clicking Here.
SERIES INFORMATION
-- Murray State vs. Southeast Missouri
This is the 35th meeting between Murray State and Southeast Missouri with the Otahkians leading the all-time series 18-16...MSU leads the series 10-6 in games played in Murray...SEMO won this season's previous meeting 74-60 on Feb. 7 in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
-- Murray State vs. Eastern Illinois
This is the 21st meeting between the Lady Racers and Panthers with MSU owning a 13-7 edge in the series...MSU leads the series 7-3 in games played in Murray...The Lady Racers won this season's previous meeting 70-62 on Feb. 5 in Charleston, Ill.
OVC LEADERS: Entering Thursday's action, MSU is second in the OVC in three-point shooting percentage at 35.7 percent (161-of-451) and second in turnover margin at +2.04.
Senior guard Jenny Bowden leads the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at +2.17, while senior guard Megan Fuqua ranks second in three-point percentage at 40.8 percent (62-of-152) and second in three-pointers made at 2.48 per game.
