Last Second Tip-In by Hayes Give Racers Victory Over Skyhawks

Monday, January 5

Martin, Tenn.

5:30 p.m.

Murray State

UT Martin

Last Second Tip-In by Hayes Give Racers Victory Over Skyhawks

1/5/2009 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Senior Ashley Hayes is a key player on the Murray State women's basketball team this season and she showed why in the last seconds of the Racers (7-6, 2-1 Ohio Valley Conference) game at UT Martin.

The Humboldt, Tenn., native hit a three-pointer with 16 second left on the clock to give Murray State a two-point advantage over the Skyhawks (2-11, 0-3 OVC) and then with the game tied at 62 she sank a tip-in from the top of the key to give the Racers the victory.

“We are excited to get a big win especially at the Elam Center,” said head coach Rob Cross. “This is a hard arena to play in, but any road win is a good win and any conference road win in phenomenal.”

With 5.3 left on the clock senior Amber Guffey ran the length of the court and sent up a long three that missed long. Hayes then grabbed the shot in mid-air and sent the rebound up and made the basket. The officials originally called the shot no good but after a video replay they then called it good and put 0.1 seconds left on the clock.

The Skyhawks opened the scoring with a jumper from Alishia Glover just 18 seconds into the game. The Racers countered with a three from senior Ashley Hayes 14 seconds later. UTM then stepped up on the defensive and offensive sides, holding Murray scoreless until 15:45 left in the half while extending its lead to seven with an 8-0 run.

The Racers then rebounded and took their second lead of the game with just over nine minutes ticked off the clock. The advantage was achieved with a 12-2 run. Murray State held onto the lead for the next 4:30 before the Skyhawks earned a one-point advantage (22-21) with 5:37 left in the half. The teams then battled for control of the scoreboard for the next two minutes until freshman Jana Roney sank a three-pointer to give the Racers control for the rest of the half.

Murray State finished the opening 20 minutes of play with a 10-2 run, with UTM garnering its lone points with five seconds left on the clock.

The Skyhawks used the intermission to refocus and tied the game at 35 with a 7-0 run in the first two minutes of the half. The Racer responded with an 8-0 run of their own to regain the lead. Murray State held on to close to a 10-point advantage for most of the second stanza before UTM turned up the defense and used a 10-0 run from 9:33 to 6:19 to cut the lead from 11 points to just one.

Phyllisha Mitchell then tied the game at 54 with 4:25 left in the game. Senior Paige Guffey then started a personal 5-0 run with a three-pointer with 3:40 left to give the Racers the lead again. The Skyhawks would not be denied and used strong defense to take a 60-59 lead with 1:40 left on the clock on a jumper in the lane by Glover.

Some of the key differences on the stat sheet were in the free throw and three-point columns. The Racers made five shots from beyond the arc, while the Skyhawks converted on only one. Murray State also capitalized on 13-of-15 shots from the charity stripe, while only allowing UTM to get eight chances on the night. The Skyhawks did own an advantage in the rebounding column, as they tallied 39 to the Racers 31.

Murray State will now return home for a two-game home stand in the Regional Special Events Center. The Racers will first face Tennessee State, Thursday, Jan. 8 at 5:15 p.m. before battling with Austin Peay, Saturday, Jan. 10 at 4:30 p.m.

Notes: Hayes was in double-digits in the scoring column with seven minutes left in the first half and ended the stanza with 15...junior Mallory Luckett tallied a career-high three blocks and tied a career best with four assists.

Quotes

Head Coach Rob Cross

“We battled through some adversity today. UT Martin made some great plays and a great player made a great play down the stretch.”