Racers Extend Historic Winning Streak to 11 With 71-56 Victory Over Jacksonville State

Saturday, February 14

RSEC

5:15 p.m.

Murray State

Jacksonville State

Racers Extend Historic Winning Streak to 11 With 71-56 Victory Over Jacksonville State

2/14/2009 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

The Murray State women's basketball team saw double-digit performances from four players en route to a 71-56 victory over Jacksonville State in the Regional Special Events Center. The win extended its longest winning streak in school history to 11 games and its home winning count to 15.

Senior Ashley Hayes led the Racers (17-6, 12-1 Ohio Valley Conference) with her second-straight double-double and her fourth-consecutive game with at least 30 points. The Humboldt, Tenn., native tallied 30 points and 10 rebounds while adding two steals. Senior Paige Guffey was next on the scoring list with 16 points, while Amber Guffey added 13 and Angela Mullins put in 10 points.

Right from the start defense was the focus. While the Gamecocks (6-19, 3-12 OVC) got on the scoreboard just 17 seconds into the game, the teams then buckled down and neither scored a field goal for the next three minutes. The Racers earned their first points at the free-throw line at 18:28 and were the first team to break the scoreless streak at 16:36. The score remained close for the next two minutes before Murray State took the first lead larger than three points with a 7-0 run in two minutes.

The Racers then extended their lead to 10 with a 9-0 run from the 12-minute mark until 8:43 remained in the half. Murray State The Racers lead by 12 at the end of the half after Hayes hit a triple with 2:52 left in the game to give Murray State a 32-20 lead. The basket was the last scored by either team in the half. kept the advantage for the rest of the half, with its smallest lead being seven points.

The second half was another back-and-forth battle for the first four minutes, but then the Racers pushed the lead out to 16 points with 15:30 left in the game. Murray State controlled a double-digit lead for the next 10 minutes before Jacksonville State made a final push. The Gamecocks went on a 9-0 run from 7:11-4:15 that cut the advantage to five points. The Racers responded with a 12-2 run in the final four minutes of the game to earn the 71-56 win.

After holding on to an edge in the rebounding column for most of the game, Murray State was out-rebounded by one (45-44). Ball control was a key to the victory for the Racers, as they committed 11 turnovers to the Gamecocks 20. Murray State forced 14 of Jacksonville State's turnovers, while five of the Racers were forced.

Murray State will now leave the confines of the RSEC for the final two road games of the regular season. The Racers will travel to face Southeast Missouri State, Thursday, Feb. 19 before moving on to face second-place Eastern Illinois, Saturday, Feb. 21.

Notes: All members of the roster saw action in today's game...junior Kayla Vance recorded her first career steal...junior Mallory Luckett garnered a career-high four steals and four assists...senior Paige Guffey tied a career best with two steals...the previous longest winning streak in school history was eight...the 2007-08 team racked off eight wins in-a-row from Feb. 9, 2008 to March 8, 2008...the 1988-89 team also earned eight-straight wins from Nov. 25, 1988-Dec. 17, 1988...they were the first eight games of the season.

Quotes

Head Coach Rob Cross

“I really think we got a little lackadaisical tonight and the most disappointing thing about that is it happened when people came off the bench. Normally they do a good job of going in and giving us some energy.”

“I don't believe in burning timeouts to solve problems. I try to let them play through it to work out what they need to.”

“Our defense tonight was night-and-day from the last time we played Jacksonville State. No body was happy with our defensive effort at Jacksonville State, but tonight we held them to 36 percent shooting and played without fouling.”