Murray State University Athletics
Lady Racers host Media Day
10/25/2005 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Head coach Joi Felton spoke about her team for the upcoming season, which consists of six returnees and eight first-year players, including four true freshmen.
The six returnees consist of two seniors (Jill Fulkerson, Jessie Hirsch), two juniors (Ashley Brooke Hayes, Gerraca Matthews) and two sophomores (Alaina Lee, Shaleea Petty).
Of the eight first-year players, two are Division-I transfers (Paige Adlich, Joi Scott), two are junior-college transfers (Erica Gordian, Derrica Jones) and four are freshmen (Amber Guffey, Paige Guffey, Ashley Nichole Hayes, Jessica Jackson).
Murray State's roster is among the toughest in the Ohio Valley Conference, featuring Missouri, Western Kentucky, UNC Charlotte, Northern Iowa and Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Alcorn State.
"Our fans will notice how we have a lot more depth than we had last year," Felton said, "and our inside play will be noticeably different. We've added some kids who we hope will be successful inside and with rebounding."
The Lady Racers will open their pre-season with a Blue-Gold scrimmage on Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. at the RSEC.
"We've been working a lot defensively," Felton said, "putting pressure on the ball and working with transition defense and not allowing transition baskets.
"Offensively, we've been pushing the ball and working to get easy baskets. We've been working on a lot of things and trying to emphasize them in practice.
"This scrimmage will be fun for us to play in front of our fans," she said. "It will give them a taste of what Lady Racer basketball will be like in 2005-06."
The Lady Racers will also host two exhibitions this season, hosting Blue Chip All-Stars on Friday, Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m., and St. Louis Goldstar on Thursday, Nov. 10, at 5:15 p.m. Murray State opens its regular-season schedule on Nov. 19 against Ball State.
