Murray State
Southeast Missouri State
Lady Racers upend SEMO 64-59
2/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State Lady Racers outscored visiting Southeast Missouri 19-10 over the last eight minutes and scored seven unanswered points down the stretch to secure the 64-59 Ohio Valley Conference win tonight.
The win was the third straight for the Lady Racers and pushed MSU (12-14, 8-7 OVC) into sixth place by itself, one game ahead of Morehead State and a game behind fifth-place Eastern Kentucky. The loss snapped a seven-game win streak by the Otahkians and put SEMO (15-11, 10-5 OVC) into a tie for third place with Jacksonville State.
Against Southeast Missouri, the Lady Racers kept it close. Trailing 8-5 with 16:18 left in the first half, MSU went on an 11-2 run when junior guard Rebecca Remington hit a layup, then popped in a jumper to give Murray State a 9-8 lead with 14:44 left in the half. Senior guard Stacy Holmes put in a three-pointer before SEMO countered with a bucket from Yashika Sidbury to narrow the gap to 12-10.
Senior guard Megan Fuqua put in a layup, then Holmes put in a basket to cap the run, giving the Lady Racers a 16-10 lead with 9:34 left in the period.
The Otahkians scored the next six points to tie the game at 16-16, then took the lead when Miah Shelford hit one of two free-throw attempts to give SEMO a 17-16 lead with 6:47 remaining in the half. A Holmes jumper gave MSU a two-point lead, but a three from SEMO's Sami Jo Cotton and a layup from Kenja White gave SEMO a 22-19 lead with 4:18 left in the half.
Fuqua popped in a three to tie the game at 22-22, but a layup from Chandra Brown and a three from Kenja White gave SEMO a 27-22 halftime lead.
After a Fuqua basket opened the second half, Sidbury put in a jumper and Cotton hit a three to put SEMO up 32-25. The Lady Racers were able to trim that lead to two before SEMO jumped out by eight, 40-32, with 15:16 left in the game.
The teams exchanged scores over the next seven minutes, with SEMO taking a 51-45 lead with 7:27 left.
Murray State then scored 13 unanswered points when Fuqua hit a free throw, Remington scored a three-point play and hit a layup, Fuqua scored two free throws and Bowden sank two free shots to cap the 13-0 run and put MSU ahead 57-51 with 4:25 left.
SEMO scored the next six points to tie the game at 57-57 with 2:26 left, but the Lady Racers scored seven straight on a Remington jumper, four free throws from Holmes and one from Remington to take a 64-57 lead with 20 seconds left. White hit a layup with five seconds left for the final score.
"I can't say enough about our three seniors (Fuqua, Holmes and Bowden)," said MSU head coach Joi Williams. "We challenged them before the game. I'm so proud of how they came out and kept their poise when SEMO went on their run.
"Jenny Bowden did a good job of leading the team; that's senior leadership. It was a great team effort. We're trying to get better every time out.
"This was a big win. SEMO was ranked No. 1 pre-season, and they are a very talented team. We did a good job against them; this show that we can play with any team in this conference."
Murray State was led by Fuqua's game-high 24 points and two steals. Holmes added 19 points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Remington put in 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the floor and had a co-team-high two steals.
Bowden handed out a team-high four assists, while junior forward Kaleena Miller had eight rebounds.
SEMO was paced by 14 points from White. Brown added a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Sidbury had 12 points.
Sarah Costello handed out a game-high six assists and swiped a game-high four steals.
Murray State closes out its regular-season schedule on Saturday at 5:15 p.m. against Eastern Illinois. Senor Day festivities will precede the game. That game can be heard through the Teamline links at www.GoRacers.com or locally on WNBS (1340 AM).
