Murray State University Athletics
Lady Racers visit top seed EKU in first round of OVC Tournament
2/28/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State Lady Racers compiled a 5-11 Ohio Valley Conference record, and earned the eighth seed in this week's O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The Lady Racers will travel to Richmond, Ky., on Tuesday to face the Eastern Kentucky Lady Colonels, the overall top seed in the tournament. Tipoff time is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT.
These two teams have met twice during the regular season, with Eastern Kentucky winning both contests by an average of 11 points.
On Jan. 8 in Murray, the Lady Racers were led by three players in double figures in an 88-78 loss. Rebecca Remington had 19 points, nine rebounds and six assists, while Ashley Hayes added 11 and Shaleea Petty added 10 points and eight assists in a losing effort. Eastern Kentucky's Miranda Eckerle compiled 25 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and four steals, while Ashley Cazee and Tamara Arnold came off the bench to score 16 and 12 points, respectively.
On Jan. 27 in Richmond, the Lady Racers lost an 85-73 contest. The trio of Remington (14 points), Petty (11 points) and Hayes (10 points) once again led the Lady Racers in points, while Remington and Kaleena Miller had a team-high seven rebounds. Petty also had five assists for the Lady Racers. For the Lady Colonels, Cazee had 19 points, Eckerle had 17 points and Laura Shelton added 14 points off the bench. Candis Cook and Pam Garrett had game-highs in rebounds, pulling down eight apiece, while Arnold dished out a game-high six assists.
On the season, the Lady Colonels (20-7, 15-1 OVC) boast a balanced attack with five players averaging double-figures in points. Eckerle leads the way with 14.6 points a game on 49.1-percent shooting from the floor, and Garrett and Cazee, who shoots 50.5 percent from the floor, both average 11.1 points per game. Shelton averages 10.1 points a game, while Cook averages 10.0 points per game. Eckerle averages a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game, while Shelton averages 3.4 assists per game.
Eckerle ranks in the top five in three OVC statistical categories in conference games only, including scoring (5th, 16.3 ppg), rebounding (4th, 7.6 rpg) and three-point field goal percentage (5th, 23-for-54, 42.6 percent). Cazee is 10th in the conference in scoring, with 12.8 points per game, and is third in field-goal percentage (63-for-110, 57.3 percent) and second in three-point field-goal percentage (27-for-52, 51.9 percent). Arnold also ranks first in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio, averaging 2.41 assists per turnover.
For the Lady Racers (9-18, 5-11 OVC), Remington leads the way with team-highs of 14.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Hayes averages 10.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, while Petty averages 9.4 points and a team-high 4.3 assists a game. Remington ranks eighth in the OVC in rebounding in conference games only, with 6.9 rebounds per game, while Petty ranks third in assists (4.12 per game), and second in assist-to-turnover ratio behind Arnold, with 1.61 assists per turnover.
Eastern Kentucky leads the all-time series 46-20, with a 21-9 edge on the Lady Racers in games played in Richmond.
