Murray State University Athletics
Women's Basketball To Host Tennessee Tech
1/23/2008 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State women's basketball team hopes to extend its current three-game win streak with a home match-up against Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee Tech on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
The Racers (12-5, 6-3 OVC) find themselves tied for third place in the OVC with Samford, just a game behind second-place Southeast Missouri and two games behind OVC leader Eastern Illinois. Perennial contender Tennessee Tech (3-16, 2-7 OVC) finds itself on unfamiliar ground, having lost its last three games and struggling through an 11-game losing skid early in the season. Despite that, MSU head coach Jody Adams does not take Tech lightly.
"Tennessee Tech has good speed," she said. "They have guards who can put the ball on the floor, and they mix their defenses up: You'll see them play zone or man, they'll go the full 94 feet, run and jump. They have a good inside player in Kristina Tyler, who they go to. They like to spread it out and get the ball inside to her, and they make a lot of touches. Their guards can shoot it; they're very athletic.
"They're a solid team. They're scrappy and tough; they play hard, and they want close games. They hang in there, and they fight to the end. I like that about them. I think that (TTU head coach) Amy Brown does a great job with them and their staff. They play hard, they work hard, they're tough. We're going to have to be ready for a battle."
Murray State sports the nation's fourth-best scoring duo in juniors Amber Guffey (20.3 points per game) and Ashley Hayes (17.6 ppg), and is the conference's best-shooting team from the field (.438) and from the line (.819), ranking 43rd and third in the nation, respectively. Hayes ranks third in the conference with 9.4 rebounds per game and leads the league with 7.12 defensive boards per contest. Senior Shaleea Petty is second in the OVC in steals, fifth in assists and NO. 1 in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Guffey is fifth in the nation this week in free-throw percentage (.904) and 12th in scoring, while Petty is 13th in assist-to-turnover ratio. As a team, Murray State is 11th in the nation in fewest turnovers and 30th in scoring.
Tennessee Tech is led by 6-1 senior Kristina Tyler, who averages 15.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. She shoots .475 from the field and .826 from the line and also has 1.4 blocked shots per game. She ranks sixth in the league in scoring and eighth in rebounding.
THE GAME
Murray State Racers (12-5, 6-3 OVC) vs. Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (3-16, 2-7 OVC)
Thursday, Jan. 24, 5:30 p.m.; Regional Special Events Center, Murray, Ky.
Tickets: Phone: (270) 809-4895; Information: Click Here
Radio: WNBS (1340 AM, Murray) / Josh Perigo
Listen Live: www.GoRacers.com
GameWatcher (Live Stats): www.GoRacers.com
Video Streaming: www.OVCsports.tv
Game Notes: Click Here
REMEMBER WHEN..?
The last meeting between these teams was a memorable one for Murray State fans and OVC women's basketball fans alike. The Racers won an 80-79 overtime contest in the RSEC on Feb. 22, 2007, the final regular-season home game for MSU. With 4:56 left in regulation, Joi Scott (2007 OVC Player of the Year) went up for a rebound and injured her knee. It would be the last game of her collegiate career and a turning point for the Racer team, most of whom returned to play this season.
MSU trailed by six points when Scott went out, but hit its last three field-goal attempts, out-scoring Tech 9-2 in the last 46 seconds of regulation to force overtime. In the extra period, the Racers went 6-for-6 from the line and survived a last-second shot by TTU's Blair Bowens to get the win.
A THOUSAND TIMES TWO
Juniors Amber Guffey and Ashley Hayes are on the verge of reaching their 1,000-point milestones. Hayes has 994 career points, while Guffey has 983. Should they both reach that milestone against Tennessee Tech, it would mark just the second time in NCAA women's basketball history that two players from the same team reached that milestone in the same game. (The first time occurred last Thursday, as VCU's Quanitra Hollingsworth and Krystal Vaughn accomplished the feat at Old Dominion.)
I FEEL LIKE I'VE DONE THIS A HUNDRED TIMES
Senior guard Alaina Lee has played in 99 career games at Murray State. Should she play Thursday against Tennessee Tech, she would be the 26th women's basketball player to take part in 100 career games. Teammates Gerraca Matthews and Shaleea Petty are right behind her, each having played in 97 career games.
