Murray State
Morehead State
Women's Basketball Uses 19-0 Start To Gain OVC Win
2/9/2008 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State women's basketball team scored the first 19 points of the game in the first 5-1/2 minutes, but still had to hold on down the stretch, fending off a late rally by homestanding Morehead State to eke out the 56-52 win. The win was the 10th OVC victory for the Racers this season.
Murray State (16-7, 10-5 OVC) made seven of its first 11 shots from the field -- including the last five in a row -- in the opening 5:29, holding host Morehead State (7-16, 5-9 OVC) to 0-for-8 shooting from the floor over that time. Eagle head coach Mike Bradbury called three timeouts during the stretch, all within a 48-second time period from 16:55 to 16:07 in the first half.
Alaina Lee opened the run with a jumpshot, and neither team scored for the next 2:21 until Ashley Hayes launched a three-pointer, then hit a layup. Amber Guffey landed a three, then Hayes hit a jumper, Petty hit a trey and Hayes made a jumpshot before Angela Brown closed the run with two free throws with 14:31 left in the first half.
The Racers had as much as a 20-point lead in the first half, taking a 28-8 lead with 10:29 left in the period, but the Eagles went on an 8-0 run to pull to within 12, and holding Murray State to a 40-26 halftime lead.
Hayes led all scorers at halftime with 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting, while Brown had 11 points and six rebounds in the first period to go with three blocked shots. Morehead State's Brittany Pittman led the Eagles at the half with 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting from the field.
Morehead State opened the second half on an 8-0 run that expanded into a 13-2 stretch, and the Eagles closed to within three points when Tarah Combs hit a three-pointer to cut the Racer lead to 42-39 with 9:00 remaining. Murray State pushed out to a seven-point lead when Brown hit a layup to give the Racers a 48-41 lead with 3:42, but the Eagles hung in there. A three from Combs abd a kayin by Pittman narrow the gap to 48-46 with 2:29 left. Brown hit a basket, but Morehead's Brandi Rayburn made one of two free-throw attempts to make it 50-47 with 1:42 remaining.
A bucket by Lee and two free throws by Guffey gave Murray State another seven-point lead, 54-47, with 30 seconds left. Anitha Smith-Williams made a layup for Morehead with nine second left, but Guffey was fouled and made both free throws to seal the game. Rayburn landed a three-pointer at the buzzer for the final 56-52 score.
Neither team shot well in the second half, as Murray State was 6-for-26 from the field and Morehead State was 8-for-26, but Morehead landed five three-pointers, while the Racers were held without a three-pointer in the second half for the second straight game. The Eagles out-rebounded Murray State 25-15 in the second half, but committed eight second-half turnovers, allowing the Racers 13 second-half points off of turnovers.
Murray State committed just eight turnovers in the game to Morehead State's 17, and the Racer had 13 points off of turnovers to the Eagles' eight.
"This was a great win for us, a huge win coming off of a tough loss at Eastern Kentucky," said Murray State head coach Jody Adams. "We didn't rebound the ball at all in the second half. They took a lot of second shots that hurt us. They hit some big shots, a couple of good threes that helped them get back into the game. Down the stretch, when we were up three late, we weren't thinking, 'Don't foul;' we were thinking 'Get in the passing lane. Get a steal; get a deflection.' We're not saving games; we're going after it.
"I think this was Angela Brown's best game so far, because she was going up against a 6-3 player (Pittman). She wanted the ball late in the game, when nobody else would score for us, and she held a very, very good post player down. She just had presence."
Murray State was led by Brown, who had 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field and a team-high eight rebounds, and Hayes, who also had 15 points to go with six rebounds. Lee had 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Petty had a team-high five assists with no turnovers and a game-high five steals. Guffey finished with nine points and three assists. The Racers were a perfect 7-for-7 from the line in the game.
Morehead State was led by two players with double-doubles. Pittman had 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Chynna Bozeman had 11 points and 11 rebounds to go with six assists. Combs finished with 16 points, going 4-for-11 from three-point range, while Smith-Williams had a game-high seven assists and Rayburn had seven rebounds.
Murray State concludes this three-game road trip on Thursday at Tennessee State. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
RACER RECORDS LISTS
Amber Guffey moved into 11th place on the MSU career scoring list, now at 1,073 career points, passing Shawna Smith (1982-86), who had 1,069 career points. Guffey took sole possession of second place on the Racers' career trhee-pointer list, now at 135, just eight behind record-holder Ashley Brooke Hayes (2003-07), who had 143. Shaleea Petty moved into fourth place on the MSU career steals list, now at 194, just six behind third-place Sheila Smith (1985-89), who had 200.
On the MSU single-season records lists, Guffey moved into a tie for fourth place on the Racers' single-season free-throws list, now at 137, tied with Michelle Wenning's total in the 1989-90 season. She is 12 behind record-holder Wenning, who had 146 free throws in the 1990-91 season. Petty landed on the single-season steals top-10 list, now in ninth place with 59 steals thus far this season.
THIS WEEK'S LEADERS
Ashley Hayes led the Racers in their two games this week, averaging 20.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Amber Guffey didn't fare well from the field, but went 10-for-10 from the line over both games, averaging 12.5 points and 3.5 assists per game this week. Shaleea Petty averaged 11.5 points and 4.5 steals per game.
SATURDAY'S OVC SCORES
MURRAY STATE 56, at Morehead State 52
Southeast Missouri 72, at Eastern Kentucky 67
Eastern Illinois 63, at UT Martin 57
Samford 65, at Austin Peay 56 (ot)
Tennessee Tech 60, at Tennessee State 51
Jacksonville State was idle.
UPDATED OVC STANDINGS (OVC / All)
Southeast Missouri (12-2 / 17-6)
Eastern Illinois (13-3 / 14-10)
Samford (11-3 / 18-6)
MURRAY STATE (10-5 / 16-7)
Jacksonville State (7-8 / 10-14)
Tennessee State (7-8 / 10-14)
Eastern Kentucky (6-7 / 11-9)
Morehead State (5-9 / 7-15)
Tennessee Tech (5-10 / 6-19)
Austin Peay (2-12 / 5-18)
UT Martin (2-13 / 5-20)
UPCOMING OVC GAMES (all times are Central Time)
Monday, Feb. 11
Austin Peay at Tennessee State, 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 14
MURRAY STATE at Tennessee State, 5:30 p.m.
Eastern Illinois at Southeast Missouri, 5:00 p.m.
Eastern Kentucky at Jacksonville State, 5:30 p.m.
Morehead State at Samford, 5:30 p.m.
UT Martin at Tennessee Tech, 5:30 p.m.
Austin Peay is idle.
Saturday, Feb. 16
Eastern Illinois at MURRAY STATE, 5:30 p.m.
Morehead State at Jacksonville State, 2:00 p.m.
Eastern Kentucky at Samford, 4:00 p.m.
Southeast Missouri at UT Martin, 4:00 p.m.
Tennessee Tech at Austin Peay, 5:15 p.m.
Tennessee State is idle.
