Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Miami (Ohio)
Women's Basketball Takes Come-From-Behind Win From RedHawks
11/28/2007 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State women's basketball team trailed by 14 points midway through the first half, but used a 20-5 run midway through the second half to take the lead and the game from visiting Miami (Ohio), winning 81-72, notching the Racers' ninth straight home win.
A slow MSU start hampered by a staunch RedHawk defense inside helped Miami jump out to a quick 15-5 lead. The RedHawks pushed that to as much as a 33-19 lead when Amanda Jackson hit a three-pointer with 8:49 left in the first half. Back-to-back threes from junior guard Amber Guffey and senior guard Alaina Lee trimmed that lead to eight, but Miami was able to maintain that lead, taking a 43-34 halftime lead into the locker room.
Murray State (4-2) was frustrated inside throughout the first half, notching no second-chance points to Miami's 11 in the first 20 minutes. The RedHawks outscored MSU in the paint 16-6 in the first half.
Trailing 49-36 early in the second half, Murray State scored the next eight points, using a layup and a three-pointer from Guffey and a three-point play from senior center Angela Brown to pull to within 49-44 with 15:54 remaining in regulation. The RedHawks (3-3) pushed back out to a 59-48 lead with 12:33 left, and the Racers took off. A jumper by junior guard/forward Ashley Nichole Hayes, a free throw from Guffey and two free throws by Brown cut the Miami lead to 59-53 with 10:20 left. Back-to-back steals by Guffey led to two free throws by the Albany junior, and two free throws by Hayes trimmed the deficit to two points, 59-57, with 9:12 remaining.
Miami's Jenna Schone hit a three to try to stop the run, but only slowed it down, as Brown hit a layup, senior guard Shaleea Petty stole the ball on the next possession, and hit a breakaway layup to pull MSU to within 62-61. On the ensuing possession, Lee swiped the ball and fed it up to Hayes, who hit a layup to give the Racers their first lead of the game, 63-62, with 7:53 remaining.
Miami's Stephanie Ford hit a layup to wrest the lead from Murray State, but a jumper by Hayes gave the Racers the lead for good, 65-64, with 7:04 remaining. The RedHawks were able to trim the lead to 74-71 when Jackson hit two free throws for Miami, but MSU scored seven of the last eight points of the game en route to the 81-72 final.
In the second half, Murray State outscored Miami in the paint 18-10 and had 20 points off of turnovers to the RedHawks' two. The Racers had seven second-half steals, forcing 12 Miami turnovers to MSU's five.
"They worked together as a unit," MSU head coach Jody Adams said of her team. "Doing what they did, jumping on the ball in the backcourt, bringing it back so we could win this game and win it solidly takes a lot of effort. I have to give these guys credit for being tough and hanging in there. Our full-court attack in the second half took Miami out of their half-court offense. This was a tough, tough team we played, and I'm proud of our team for staying with it.
"We wanted to take the ball out of Jenna Schone's hands and let someone else handle it. They weren't able to sit in their sets and use the clock like they like to. I challenged our team with their heart, their determination, and they responded.
"Gerraca Matthews helped us out big-time in the first half," Adams said. "She played her role. She got four defensive rebounds for us in the first half and really did a great job. I think Ashley had a great night. We asked her to make some adjustments at halftime, and she came out ready. We were able to get to the free-throw line while we were in the double-bonus, and that's where we want to be at the end of the game. Angela Brown played very well for us. Defensively, she changed shots, and that's what we were hoping she could do for us. On the offensive end, she found her jumpshot; she's been working after practice on that."
Five Murray State players scored in double-figures, led by Hayes' 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting. She also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, just one board shy of her fourth straight double-double, and had two assists and two steals. Brown, Guffey and Lee each had 15 points, while Petty addd 12 points. Brown finished the night going 5-for-8 from the field and 5-for-5 from the line (her first free-throw attempts of the season) to go with five rebounds. Lee and Matthews also had five rebounds apiece. Guffey handed out five assists and had two steals, while Lee had four assists and two steals. Petty swiped a co-game-high three steals for MSU.
Miami was paced by 27 points by Jackson, who went 10-for-17 from the field and had three assists. Ford had 16 points and six rebounds, while Schone also had 16 points to go with seven assists. Ashley Hawkins had a team-high eight rebounds for the RedHawks, while Laura Markwood had seven rebounds and three steals and Courtney Reed had seven rebounds.
Murray State takes a week off before opening Ohio Valley Conference season, hosting Eastern Kentucky on Thursday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m. in the Regional Special Events Center.
