Across the Board Effort Leads Racers to an 88-68 Victory Over IUPUI

Monday, December 21

Indianapolis, Ind.

6 p.m.

Murray State

IUPUI

Across the Board Effort Leads Racers to an 88-68 Victory Over IUPUI

12/22/2009 2:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

The Murray State women's basketball team saw double-digit scoring from five players on its way to an 88-68 victory over IUPUI in the last game before taking a break for the holidays.

The Racers (5-7, 0-2 Ohio Valley Conference) leading scorer was sophomore Mallory Schwab, who tallied a career-high 19 points and added career bests with seven rebounds and three steals. Senior Mallory Luckett also tallied 19 points, while fellow senior Kayla Vance garnered 15, sophomore Rachael Isom added 14, and senior Jasmyne Thornton recorded 10.

“ Mallory Schwab came out and played with a lot of energy and confidence in her abilities on the offensive end,” said head coach Rob Cross. “She always plays with a ton of energy, but sometimes lacks confidence in her offensive abilities.”

The first field goal of the game went to the Jaguars (1-10, 0-2 The Summit League), with just under one minute elapsed in the first half, but both teams had already tallied two points each at the free throw line. The Racers then started their scoring with a three from Luckett 30 seconds later. That triple sparked a 5-2 run over the next two minutes to give MSU a 7-4 lead. IUPUI countered with a 6-1 run over the next two minutes to take a brief lead before a three from Isom ended their streak.

The teams then battled back-and-forth for a minute before the Racers held IUPUI without a field goal for the next 3:30 and went on a 9-2 run to increase their lead to six points. MSU followed that with another 9-4 run, holding the Jaguars without a field goal again until just over six minutes remained in the half.

The Racers held at most an 11-point lead the rest of the half, before IUPUI went on a 4-0 run to cut the advantage to seven (37-30), with 2:45 left in the period. The teams then traded baskets the rest of the half, with the final points in the first 20 minutes being scored by Vance at the free-throw line that gave the Racers a 42-34 lead heading into the locker room.

The Jaguars opened the second half with a 6-0 run before MSU got their first basket of the half. That cut the Racers' lead to two (42-40), but Thornton hit sophomore Kristen Kluempers under the basket with 17:41 remaining to play. The bucket started an 11-0 run for the Racers, which included three-straight treys to build the lead back to 13 points with 15:30 left in the action.

MSU continued to push the momentum of the game and built its lead to as many as 21 points in the second half and never trailed by less than seven after the early push by IUPUI.

The Racers had a strong shooting night from the field, hitting half of their attempts (30-of-60). MSU shot even better from beyond the arc, making 14-of-23 treys for a 60.9 shooting percentage. The 60.9 percent from three-point range is the fourth best shooting percentage from beyond the arc in MSU history. The Racers held IUPUI to a 40.7 shooting percentage on the night, and didn't allow the Jaguars to garner a three-point shot the entire 40 minutes of action.

The Racers will now have a few days off before finishing up their road trip at Marshall, Tuesday, December 28. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, W. Va. The game will be the fifth of five-straight road games for MSU before they return to the Regional Special Events Center to host UT Martin, Jan. 4.

Notes: MSU had five players in double digits for the first time since Nov. 18, 2009 against Mid-Continent when the team had six players with at least 10 points…this was the first game that the Racers tallied more than 80 points as a team since Nov. 21 in the 85-77 win over Evansville at the RSEC and it was the first time they did so on the road…the win tonight broke a seven-game winless streak for MSU…the Racers 14 three's tie a season best and the fourth-most in school history.

Quotes
Head Coach Rob Cross
“Obviously it is great to head home for the holidays with a win under our belts. We just need to come back focused and ready to play Marshall.”

“Tonight we were focused all day long and that was the difference in the ball game.”

“To step up and knock down shots like we did on the road is outstanding.”

“We had phenomenal three-point shooting tonight, but we need to work on our free-throw shooting. That is the difference between winning and losing ball games, especially in conference games.”