Murray State
UT Martin
Lady Racers Advance To OVC Championship With OT Win
3/2/2007 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
You have to wonder just how many horseshoes the Lady Racers have.
While Murray State's most recent edition of "The Cardiac Kids" has had its share of close games, consider MSU's contests in the O'Reilly OVC Championship Tournament:
* The quarterfinal game against Eastern Kentucky at the RSEC on Tuesday: With the game tied at 66-66 and time running out in regulation, Eastern Kentucky brings the ball upcourt for the final shot. That shot falls away, and sophomore guard Ashley Nichole Hayes grabs the rebound and cradles it, waiting for time to run out and bring the game to overtime. Hayes is fouled with 0.4 seconds left, makes both shots, and MSU comes away with the 68-66 win.
* Today's semifinal game against Tennessee-Martin in Nashville's Gaylord Entertainment Center: Murray State holds a 66-65 lead with time running out in overtime, but with possession of the ball with 10 seconds left. The Lady Racers turn the ball over, and the Skyhawks bring the ball upcourt for one final shot. UTM's Crystal Fuller is fouled just as time expires, and has two free throws coming. Her first attempt hits the rim, but she has one more shot that could tie the game and force a second overtime. That attempt also bounces off the front of the rim, and the Lady Racers find themselves in their first OVC title game since 1990.
"It was a hard-fought battle; we knew it would be," said MSU head coach Joi Felton. "Our main focus after playing in the last game of the regular season was defense and rebounding. Starting this game, I felt like we gave a lot of energy off the boards and did some good things, and then, we had some let-ups as the game went on. (UT Martin) did a great job of going inside and exploiting us in the paint.
"The main thing was: it came down to a game of defensive stops. We got stops when we needed them, and I credit our kids for hanging in there and not giving up, and shooting the ball with confidence."
With a 9-6 lead early in the first half, Murray State (21-8) went on a 9-0 run, utilizing a jumper by Hayes, a three from sophomore guard Amber Guffey, a layup from Hayes and a put-in by junior guard Alaina Lee to take an 18-6 lead with 10:59 left in the half.
With the Lady Racers holding a 24-12 lead, Skyhawk Nicole Holman popped in consecutive threes to pull Tennessee-Martin to within 24-21. MSU went into the locker room with a 26-24 lead.
In the second half, Murray State pushed out to a five-point lead three times, including a 38-33 lead with 15:48 remaining in regulation. At that point, Tennessee-Martin (17-14) went on an 8-0 run, taking its first lead since the first score of the game. With UTM leading 43-40, Murray State kicked back into action, as atrey from Guffey and a jumper by Hayes gave the Lady Racers a 45-43 lead with 9:24 left in regulation. The Skyhawks pushed back ahead, taking as much as a four-point lead with 6:19 left, but a layup from Lee and two free throws and a jumper by junior guard Shaleea Petty put MSU ahead again, 53-51, with 3:10 left.
The lead seesawed from there, until the Skyhawks came down the floor with the game tied at 57-57 and time running down in regulation. Fuller put up a shot that was blocked by senior post Erica Gordian with two seconds left, and the game went into overtime.
In the overtime period, UTM's Kimberly Cox hit two free throws to five the Skyhawks a brief lead, but Hayes hit a layup to even the score. Phyllisha Mitchell hit a basket to give Tennessee-Martin the lead again, and Cox put in a bucket to extend the UT Martin lead to 63-59 with 2:25 remaining.
Guffey hit a three to pull Murray State to within 63-62 with 2:03 left, then made an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Lady Racers a 65-63 lead with 1:15 remaining. Fuller made another jumper to knot the game at 65-65 with 51 seconds left. Ten seconds later, Hayes was fouled. She made one of her two free-throw attempts, giving MSU a 66-65 lead with 41 seconds remaining.
Fuller grabbed the rebound, and the Skyhawks worked the ball around until Rivers put up a three-point attempt that missed with 18 seconds left. Lee got the rebound, but a bad pass pinballed around the feet of the players until Holman came up with the ball with eight seconds left. As UT Martin set up a shot, the ball got loose again, and a scramble for the ball ensued. Fuller was fouled just as the buzzer sounded, and was given two free throw attempts, as the foul was Murray State's 10th of the half. Both attempts bounced off the front of the rim, and the Lady Racers won yet another nail-biting game in post-season play.
Murray State was led by Guffey, who had a game-high 26 points on 10-for-16 shooting from the field, 3-for 5 from three-point range and 3-for-3 from the line. Hayes put in 19 points to go with seven rebounds, while Petty had 13 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field.
Gordian had a team-high eight rebounds, while Guffey and Petty had a co-game-high three assists each, while Guffey had a co-game-high three steals.
Tennessee-Martin was paced by Fuller's 20 points to go with a game-high 12 rebounds and three assists. Mitchell added 14 points and seven rebounds, while Holman had 11 points to go with three assists and three steals. Cox also had three assists for UTM, while Alishia Glover had six rebounds.
"This has been a goal of ours all year, not just to get to Nashville, but to win it," Felton said. "This is a great spot for us, and we fought all year to get here. I don't think I'm going to have a hard time getting our kids to focus for 40 more minutes -- or even 45, in our case!
"Amber really came out tonight intense and focused. In Joi Scott's absence, we need to find people to step up, and Amber is certainly one of the players we need to step up if we are going to be successful."
The win gave Murray State its 21st win of the season, one short of the school single-season record. The Lady Racers took part in the championship games of the 1989 and 1990 conference tournaments, losing in 1989 to Tennessee Tech 80-79 and in 1990 to TTU 79-72.
