Racers Push Winning Streak to Nine Games with 94-76 Win Over Austin Peay

Saturday, February 7

Clarksville, Tenn.

5:15 p.m.

Murray State

Austin Peay

Racers Push Winning Streak to Nine Games with 94-76 Win Over Austin Peay

2/7/2009 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

The Murray State women's basketball team improved to 15-6 overall and 10-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference after earning a 94-76 victory over Austin Peay at the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tenn.

The Racers were led by senior Ashley Hayes, who after breaking the Murray State single game scoring record in her last outing, tallied 36 points and added eight rebounds. Fellow senior Amber Guffey also had a strong performance for the Racers, with 25 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists. Amber Guffey went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and 6-for-6 from the charity stripe to help Murray State to a 16-for-16 mark on the night. The mark was the second best free-throw shooting percentage in school history.

“We are playing well right now and Ashley is playing out of her mind,” said head coach Rob Cross. “I'm just glad she is on our side. The games that Amber has had the last couple of games have been over-shadowed by Ashley's performance, but she has been playing outstanding as well.”

The Lady Govs got on the scoreboard first, but the Racers then started a 5-0 run to take their first lead of the half. The run lasted the next 1:30 minutes before APSU started a 7-0 run of its own and held Murray State scoreless until the 14:29 mark in the first half. Once the Racers broke their scoreless streak they quickly tied the game at nine with four points in less than 30 seconds.

The game remained close for the rest of the half with no team leading by more than two baskets, when the Lady Govs took a four-point advantage with just over 10 minutes to play. The Racers then tied the game at 20 with 8:50 left and the battle continued. Murray State took the final lead of the half with 53 seconds remaining on a jumper by Paige Guffey. APSU had two chances in less than five second to tie the game at 31, with shots from the free-throw line, but only connected on one of their three chances. The Racers then pushed the advantage to four and took a 36-32 lead into the locker room.

The intermission didn't slow down Murray State as it opened the first two minutes of the second half with a 6-2 run to go up 42-34. The Racers continued to roll and took the first double-digit lead of the game on a triple from Hayes with 17:12 left in the game. The Lady Govs kept pushing and cut the lead to five points with 13:30 left in the half with a 6-0 run over a two minute span, but it wasn't enough. Murray State kept the offensive pressure on and propelled the advantage to 20 points with 3:20 left in the game on way to a 94-76 victory.

“We did some things defensively at the end of the game, including getting players in that don't normally get in or score a lot, but they are still keys to our team's performance,” said Cross. “The defense in the second half was the key. It allowed us to take a very close game and make it a much bigger victory.”

The Racers earned the victory with a season-best 62.5 shooting percentage (35-of-56), including a 53.3 percent mark (8-of-15) from beyond the arc. Murray State held APSU to 42 percent (29-of-69) from the field and 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from beyond the arc. The Racers were out-rebounded for the 13^th time this season, 33-31, including a 15-3 mark on the offensive boards. Murray State is now 9-4 when being out-rebounded.

Murray State will now return home for the first of two-straight home games next week. The Racers will host Tennessee Tech, Thursday, Feb. 12 at 5:15 p.m. in the RSEC. The next game will be against Jacksonville State, Saturday, Feb. 14 at 5:15 p.m. The game against the Gamecocks is slated as the annual Pink Zone contest to help promote research to help find a cure for breast cancer.

Notes: Freshman Kristen Kluempers saw her first action since Jan. 22 against Eastern Illinois...junior Jasmyne Thornton saw her first action since Jan. 15 against Jacksonville State...Thornton tallied her first points of the season to give the Racers their first 20-point lead of the game...freshman Rachael Isom tallied her first points since Jan. 8 against Tennessee State...

Quotes

Head Coach Rob Cross

“We had players come off the bench and do things that helped up secure the win - that is what I am most proud of tonight. They did an outstanding job playing the roles that we needed from them to get the victory.”