Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Jacksonville State
Lady Racers Set Arena Records In 100-59 Win
12/19/2006 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
For the first time in school history, the Murray State Lady Racers opened its Ohio Valley Conference season at 4-0 after beating visiting Jacksonville State 100-59. MSU set a Lady Racer arena record with 100 points (tied for 12th on the all-time records list), while senior forward Joi Scott set a Lady Racer RSEC record with 15 baskets.
The win was the fifth straight for the Lady Racers, the longest streak since a pair of five-game win streaks in the 1999-2000 season.
The game marked the first time for the Lady Racers to score 100 points at home since beating Tennessee-Martin 102-89 on Dec. 2, 1991. In fact, it was only the ninth time that MSU scored 100 points at home and the fourth against an OVC opponent. The last time the Lady Racers scored 100 points at home against an OVC opponent was against Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 25, 1989.
Scott's 15 baskets is tied for fourth all-time. Scott holds the record, 19, set last year at Tennessee State.
"We took good care of the ball," said MSU head coach Joi Felton. We try to keep it under 12 turnovers, and we finished with 11. We work on having an attack mentality on offense. We have lots of weapons inside with Joi Scott and several on the perimeter."
The perimeter worked well for MSU, as the Lady Racers sank 15 three-point baskets, the second-most ever for Murray State, just two short of the school record. The 30 three-point attempts is tied for sixth on the MSU record book.
Murray State (7-3, 4-0 OVC) left little doubt in this game from the start, opening with the first seven points to jump start a 22-2 run in the first 7:15 of the game, holding Jacksonville State (4-9, 1-3 OVC) to 1-for-10 shooting in that time.
The Gamecocks responded with a 6-0 run, but the Lady Racers pushed back out to as much as a 22-point lead twice, settling in to a 44-28 halftime lead.
At the half, sophomore Ashley Nichole Hayes almost had a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Scott had 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting in the first 20 minutes.
In the second half, JSU was able to get within 15 points twice, but Murray State used a 22-6 run midway through the second half to push out to an 81-46 lead. The Lady Racers reached the century mark when freshman Mallory Luckett pitched the ball out to sophomore Paige Guffey on the left wing behind the arc. Her shot went up and hit home, bringing the fans to their feet.
"Our guards complement each other well," Felton said. "Alaina Lee is a good rebounder, especially being 5-3. The chemistry works very well. It helps us with our rebounding, and it makes us a quicker team."
Scott led all scorers with 35 points, just one point shy of the arena record set by Monika Gadson on Dec. 10, 2000. She was the last Lady Racer to score 30 points when she set the school record with 43 points at Tennessee State last season. Scott was 15-for-18 from the field, pushing her OVC shooting percentage to .820, going 41-for-50 against league teams this season.
Sophomore Amber Guffey had 21 points, going 6-for-10 from three-point range, to go with five assists. Hayes got that double-double, finishing with 12 points and 13 rebounds, equaling the team season-high for single-game boards. Paige Guffey had 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting from behind the arc.
Junior Shaleea Petty had a game-high eight assists to go with nine rebounds, both tying career-highs. Scott swiped a game-high three steals for MSU.
Jacksonville State was paced by 13 points from Courtney Slaughter. Ashley Clay had a team-high seven rebounds to go with a game-high three blocked shots, all coming in the first half.
"Everything is coming together for us," Felton said. "We were fortunate to stay fairly healthy, and we hope to keep this going."
Asked about the timing of the Christmas break, Felton said, "We hope to keep up this momentum. Christmas is supposed to be a fun time, but we told our players to stay active over the holiday and keep up the conditioning."
Murray State is off for two weeks and returns to action on Jan. 2 with a home OVC contest against Eastern Illinois.
