Murray State University Athletics
Lady Racers Meet Morehead State In First-Place Battle
2/9/2007 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Heading into Saturday's meeting between Murray State and Morehead State, both teams find themselves in a tie for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference with Southeast Missouri State. At the end of the day, only one MSU will have at least a share of the top spot in the OVC standings; the other will be a game behind.
Murray State won the previous meeting at Morehead State, 76-54 on Dec. 9, but since that meeting, both teams have gone 10-4. Both teams have grown stronger in the last two months, making Saturday's match-up that much more exciting.
"They are a scary team," said Lady Racer head coach Joi Felton. "They have a lot of talent. They are a team that is good at every position. LaKrisha Brown (11.7 ppg, 8.0 rpg) is very good and played really well against SEMO (20 points, six rebounds) on Thursday night. They also do a great job shooting the three-point shot, so we really have our hands full, because they have a complete inside-outside game. That presents a problem. We've got to defend the three-point line if we want to be successful, and we've got to be able to rebound and keep them off of the offensive boards.
"I'm sure we'll change our defenses a lot. We've just got to be fundamentally sound on defense, and we've got to finish our defensive play by getting the rebound. We'd like to get out in transition, and then, when we run a half-court game, we've got to be disciplined in executing our offense."
Tipoff for the game is set for 5:15 p.m. Saturday from the Regional Special Events Center. Fans can hear the game locally through WNBS (1340 AM, Murray) or worldwide through the audio link at www.GoRacers.com. That Web site will also have Live Stats available, and live video streaming is available through www.OVCsports.TV.
NOTES
Senior forward Joi Scott ranks fifth among Division I scorers with 22.5 points per game, and is 16th nationally with a field-goal percentage of .579. She is currently at 899 career points in almost two seasons at Murray State, with a career average of 21.4 points per game, the best scoring average of any Lady Racer. She is quickly closing in on 1,000 points as a Lady Racer, having played 42 games going into Saturday's game. The Lady Racer to reach 1,000 points in the fewest games is Stephaine Minor (1994-97), who reached her 1,000th point in her 56th game. Only Sheila Smith (1985-89) reached 1,000 points within two seasons, reaching the milestone in the final game of her second season (her 57th career game).
Sophomore guard Amber Guffey is 28th nationally in three-point field-goal percentage (.407), 52nd in free-throw percentage (.839) and 81st in assists per game (4.45 per game).
