Racers Down Alabama A&M in Return to RSEC

Wednesday, December 17

RSEC

7 p.m.

Murray State

Alabama A&M

12/17/2008 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Senior Paige Guffey had the best night of her career to help the Murray State women's basketball team to a 90-69 victory over Alabama A&M in the Racers (5-5, 1-1 Ohio Valley Conference) first game in the Regional Special Events Center in three weeks.

Paige Guffey tallied a career-best 27 points and added three rebounds, three assists, and one steal. The Albany, Ky., native went 8-of-13 (61.5%) from the field, 4-of-7 (57.4%) from beyond the arc, and 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. Her eight made field goals is a career high, while she tied a season best with her four three pointers.

“ Paige Guffey can flat out score,” said head coach Rob Cross. “She can score with the best players in this league and in a variety of ways.”

Senior Ashley Hayes added 22 points and seven rebounds, while Amber Guffey added 16 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds.

The opening minutes of the game saw a close game, with the score tied or MSU holding a slight advantage on the scoreboard until 6:30 minutes had elapsed off the clock. The Racers then started a 9-0 run over the next 2:30 to push their lead out to double-digits (23-11). The span also included a 7-0 run in the first 30 seconds for MSU.

The lead remained in the double-digit total for the remainder of the half, with the Racers opening the lead to 20 points with 1:45 left on the clock. The advantage was achieved with strong defense, as there were several spans throughout the half where MSU held the Bulldogs (2-5, 0-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) scoreless. The Racers headed into the locker room up 48-28.

After the 15-minute intermission the second half started out much like the first, with both teams trading baskets to keep the lead around 20 points until 16:30 left in the game. AAMU then started a 10-0 run over the next 3:30 to cut the lead to 16, but that would be as close as MSU would allow the Bulldogs to get the rest of the game. The Racers then started an 11-8 run over the next four minutes to push the advantage back out to 20 points. MSU kept the pressure up and built its lead to as many as 25 points on the way to a 90-69 victory.

Unlike the first two meetings between the Racers and the Bulldogs, MSU held a clear advantage in shooting. The Racers shot 51.7 percent (30-of-58) from the field in the game to AAMU's 33.3 percent (21-of-63). MSU also sank four more (8-4) trey's during the 40-minutes.

Free throws were a large part of the scoring for both squads, as they combined to take 57 shots from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs hit 23-of-31 on the night (74.2%). The Racers hit the first 19 of their attempts from the free-throw line, before the streak ended and a shot at the best free-throw percentage in school history (19-of-19) was lost.

MSU will remain in the confines of the RSEC for its next outing, Friday, Dec. 19. The Racers will host NCAA Division I transition team, Houston Baptist at 7 p.m. before returning to the road for the last game of 2008 and the final non-conference game of the season, Sunday, Dec. 21 against Miami (Ohio).

Notes: Senior Amber Guffey earned a season-best nine assists and tied a career best with seven rebounds.

Quotes

Head Coach Rob Cross

“Our team was bound and determined to get off to a good start and that we were aggressive early in the game. Our team had a completely different mind set at the beginning of the game as opposed to the start of the game Sunday afternoon in Evansville.”

“Our leaders, Mallory Luckett, Ashley Hayes, Amber and Paige Guffey, and Angela Mullins, did a great job preparing the team for this game and making sure that the same thing that happened Sunday did not happen again.”

“Our guards have to rebound for us to be a strong rebounding team so I am extremely happy with the seven rebounds by Amber Guffey tonight.”