Racers Move One Step Closer to OVC Title with 82-68 Victory Over UT Martin

Monday, February 23

RSEC

5:15 p.m.

Murray State

UT Martin

Racers Move One Step Closer to OVC Title with 82-68 Victory Over UT Martin

2/23/2009 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

On a night that saw senior Amber Guffey named the ESPN The Magazine Women's Basketball Academic All-America of the Year and both her and her twin sister Paige Guffey earn the Murray State women's basketball team's first ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team honors, the Racers (19-7, 14-2 Ohio Valley Conference) earned an 82-68 win over UT Martin at the Regional Special Events Center.

Amber Guffey led the team in scoring with 24 points and was one assist away from a double-double. Senior Ashley Hayes added 22 points and Paige Guffey tallied 17 in the victory that extended Murray State's home-game winning streak to 16 games. One more victory means at least a share of the OVC regular-season title for the Racers, which would be the team's first.

Murray State led from tip-off through the final buzzer after opening the first half with a 9-0 run. The team didn't allow the Skyhawks (2-25, 0-16 OVC) to garner a basket until there was 17:53 left. The Racers pushed the advantage out to double digits by the 13 minute mark and did not allow UT Martin to get closer than eight points the rest of the half. Murray State went into the locker room with a 39-30 advantage.

The Racers came out strong in the second half and pushed the lead out to 14 with just over 17 minute to play. The Skyhawks would not go quietly and started a 12-2 run over the next four minutes to cut the advantage to four points (48-44). But that would be as close as Murray State let the Skyhawks get, as the Racers responded with a 10-5 run of their own in a four-minute span to push the lead back to 10. The Racers kept the lead between 6-15 points for the remainder of the half on way to an 82-68 win.

Murray State earned the victory despite being out-rebounded, 46-35, including a 22-11 mark on the offensive boards. The Racers had a strong shooting night for the second game in a row, hitting 45.6 percent (26-of-57) of their shots. Murray State also stepped up the defense and held UT Martin to just 33.8 percent (23-of-68) from the field. The Racers also helped force nine of the Skyhawks 18 turnovers in the game, while only committing 11 of their own.

“I am happy with every win,” said head coach Rob Cross. “I am thrilled that we were good enough to win the ball game tonight, but I am concerned that we didn't out-rebound them.”

Murray State's next opponent on its way to earn an OVC regular-season title will be Morehead State. The Racers lost a close game to the Eagles earlier in the season in Morehead, Ky., in the second game of the OVC season in overtime. Since that game Murray State has one 12 of the last 13 conference tilts. Tip-off is schedule for 5:15 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26 at the RSEC.

“We focus game-by-game and possession-by-possession,” said Cross. “We have goals that we set at the beginning of the year and we are on track to reach those as long as we control what we can, which is the next game. We do talk about winning championships, but we take it one game at a time.”

Notes: Senior Jessica Jackson tallied a season-high six rebounds...junior Jasmyne Thornton added a season-best three rebounds...this was a make-up date for the original game with the Skyhawks that was schedule for Jan. 31. the game was rescheduled due to the ice storm that cut off power and water to Western Kentucky for a week or more...Ashley Hayes added to her season resume by being named the OVC Co-Player of the Week for Feb. 23 after her double-double performance last weekend...it was her sixth-straight honor.

Quotes

Head Coach Rob Cross

“I think that there was a little bit of a let down from Saturday afternoon. It wasn't in our focus, but in the energy level. We need to move forward from this game and not let anything carry over.”