Murray State
UT Martin
Women Tie For Second, Take Third Seed With 83-48 Win
3/1/2008 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State women's basketball team honored its seniors before tipoff, then took care of business, ousting UT Martin 83-48 in the final regular-season game.
The Racers (21-7, 15-5 OVC) ended in a three-way tie for second in the Ohio Valley Conference standings with Samford and Eastern Illinois, and got the No. 3 seed into the tournament by virtue of the tie-breaker. Murray State will host No. 6 seed Morehead State in the first round of the OVC Championship Tournament on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
UT Martin (5-25, 2-18 OVC) took a 12-11 lead when Crystal Fuller hit a jumpshot, but the Racers took it from there, scoring the next eight points when Amber Guffey hit a three, Ashley Hayes hit back-to-back jumpers and Jessica Jackson made a free throw to bring Murray State a 23-16 lead with 7:26 left in the first half. The Skyhawks were able to trim that lead to three, 23-20, with 5:02 left in the period, but MSU closed out the half on a 13-5 run to take a 36-24 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Guffey had 15 points at halftime to lead all scorers, shooting 5-for-8 from the field and 4-for-5 from three-point range. Ashley Hayes had 10 points at the break on 5-for-10 shooting, and Jackson had a co-game-high five first-half rebounds, while Shaleea Petty had six first-half assists. Fuller had nine first-half points for UTM on 4-for-10 shooting to go with a team-high five rebounds.
A 22-3 run by the Racers pushed MSU out to a 35-point lead, 71-36, with 7:51 left, and Murray State cruised to the 83-48 win.
Prior to the game, MSU honored its outgoing seniors: Racer players Angela Brown, Alaina Lee, Gerraca Matthews and Shaleea Petty and senior manager Danielle Metzger.
"I'm really excited for the seniors, that they were able to go out in this fashion," said MSU head coach Jody Adams. "Day in and day out, they're a hard-working group, a great group of young women who will be true ambassadors for Murray State.
"We shot the ball well tonight. Defensively, we took them out of the game. It was the little things that we talk about in practices that we were able to execute well on. Pam Bell has put together two great back-to-back games for us. She has been a presence in the paint, and she's doing the little things. She's playing very hard. Our coaches talked about our bench play having to do better, and they have done better over the last two games."
Hayes finished with a game-high 18 points on 8-for-14 shooting, and had six rebounds, all on the defensive end. Guffey had 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting, knocking down four of her six three-point attempts, and handed out three assists. Alaina Lee put in 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the floor to go with three assists and a game-high four steals, while Petty had 14 points on 6-fopr-9 shooting to go with a game-high seven assists.
For the second straight game, Pam Bell led Murray State in rebounding, grabbing eight boards. Jackson finished with six rebounds, while Paige Guffey had four assists and Angela Brown had a game-high three blocked shots.
UT Martin was paced by Fuller's 14 points on 6-for-18 shooting to go with seven rebounds. Marie Goyette had 13 points off the bench on 5-for-10 shooting from the field (2-for-2 from behind the arc), and Whitney Malone had 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting from three-point range. Phyllisha Mitchell had a game-high nine rebounds, while Jennifer Angler had a team-high four assists.
TOURNAMENT TALK
For the second straight season, the Racers will host the quarterfinal round of the OVC Championship Tournament. The Racers tied for second, but got the No. 3 seed through the tie-breaker with Samford and Eastern Illinois, who also finished at 15-5 in league play.
Murray State will host No. 6 seed Morehead State (11-17, 9-11 OVC) on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Regional Special Events Center.
No. 1 Southeast Missouri (22-7, 17-3 OVC) will host No. 8 Jacksonville State (11-18, 8-12 OVC), while No. 2 Samford (22-8, 15-5 OVC) will host No. 7 Eastern Kentucky (14-13, 9-11 OVC) and No. 4 Easter Illinois (17-12, 15-5 OVC) will host No. 5 Tennessee State (13-16, 10-10 OVC).
TODAY IN OVC PLAY
at MURRAY STATE 83, UT Martin 48
Tennessee State 68, at Eastern Kentucky 66
at Morehead State 43, Austin Peay 40
at Southeast Missouri 85, Jacksonville State 43
at Eastern Illinois 68, Samford 61
FINAL OVC STANDINGS (OVC / All)
Southeast Missouri (17-3 / 22-7)
Samford (15-5 / 22-8)
MURRAY STATE (15-5 / 21-7)
Eastern Illinois (15-5 / 17-12)
Tennessee State (10-10 / 13-16)
Morehead State (9-11 / 11-17)
Eastern Kentucky (9-11 / 14-13)
Jacksonville State (8-12 / 11-18)
Tennessee Tech (7-13 / 8-22)
Austin Peay (3-17 / 6-23)
UT Martin (2-18 / 5-25)
