Racers Ready to Battle Trojans in First Round WNIT Action

Friday, March 20

Little Rock, Ark.

TBA

Murray State

Arkansas-Little Rock

Racers Ready to Battle Trojans in First Round WNIT Action

3/20/2009 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

The WNIT
The Murray State women's basketball team will be making its third appearance in the Women's National Invitational Tournament this week when they travel to Little Rock, Ark., to face Arkansas-Little Rock, Friday, March 20 at The Jack Stephens Center in the first round of the tournament.

About Arkansas-Little Rock
The Trojans enter the WNIT with a 26-6 overall record and a 16-2 mark in the Sun Belt. UALR claimed the Sun Belt West Division Title before falling just short of a bid to the NCAA Tournament with a loss in the Sun Belt Championship game to Middle Tennessee State.

Like Murray State the Trojans have three players averaging double-digit point totals. Chastity Reed is at the top of the season box score with 18.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Reed is shooting 46.7 percent (245-of-525) from the field and has taken the most shots on the team by over 100 attempts. Anshel Cooper is next on the scoring lists with 13.9 points and a 47.6 shooting percentage (186-of-391). The final member of the team in double-digits is Kim Stizmann (10.1 ppg). She his the top three-point shooter for the Trojans with a 31.0 percentage (57-of-184).

The Racers and UALR have several areas where they mirror each other in the statistical columns. Murray State is ranked No. 6 in the nation for is scoring offense (77.6 ppg), while the Trojans are fourth in scoring defense (52.3 ppg). UALR averages 61.3 points per game, mostly on inside shots. The Trojans have made only 2.8 three-pointers per game this season, while the Racers are netting 7.5 shots per game from beyond the arc.

As a team, UALR has a strong shooting percentage on the season, making 43.8 percent of its shots. The Trojan opponents have also had good shooting performances, with a 40.2 shooting percentage on the year.

Ball control will be a key to success for both teams. UALR is ranked No. 2 in turnover margin (7.09) and third in assist turnover ratio (1.2) in the country. Asriel Rolfe is a large reason for both of those rankings, as she is No. 5 in the nation with a 2.4 assist turnover ratio. The Trojans are recording 12.5 turnovers per game and 15 assists. UALR is also good at swiping the ball from its opponents, with 9.8 steals per game, while allowing only 4.3 and helping to force 19.6 turnovers.

Free throws may be a key to victory as well. Murray State is the top team in the nation in free throw percentage (82.4) and the Trojans have a 67.8 percentage on the year. The number of times that each team has gotten to the line this season has a clear distinction as well. The Racers have attempted 643 shots and make 17.7 per game, while UALR has made 459 tripe and makes 9.7 per game.

Against the Trojans
Senior Angela Mullins is the only player with experience playing against UALR. During her freshman campaign (2003-04) the forward played 22 minutes and tallied six points, nine rebound, and one block.

The Series
The Racers currently own a 4-2 mark in the all-time series with the Trojans, including a 1-1 mark in Little Rock, Ark. The first meeting between the two teams with Dec. 15, 1979, with the last two meeting coming in the 2004-05 campaign. UALR earned the last victory, 56-60, in the RSEC, but the Racers came back from a 12-point deficit to win by one (60-59) in the last meeting in Little Rock.

The Tournament
The WNIT consists of 48 teams, with 16 teams earning a first-round bye. The first round takes place between March 18-20, with the second round March 21-24, the third round March 25-27, the quarterfinals March 28-30, the semifinals April 1--2, and the championship game April 4. All games are played on campus sites. The winner of Friday's contest will move on to play Mississippi, Sunday, March 22 in Oxford, Miss.

In the WNIT
This will be the third appearance for the Racers in the WNIT, with the team owning a 1-3 overall record in the tournament. Murray State's latest appearance was in 2007 when they lost to Arkansas State (52-59) in the first round. The first bid to the tournament came during the 2988-89 campaign. The Racers first defeated Richmond (84-73) before losing to San Diego State and Toledo.

All-Tournament Amber
Senior Amber Guffey became the first Murray State player to be named to the OVC All-Tournament Team for three seasons when she earned a spot on the 2008-09 OVC All-Tournament squad for her 35 point performance against Austin Peay. The Albany, Ky., native was named to the team in 2007 and was named the tournament MVP in 2008. Heading into this year's tournament Guffey and Ashley Hayes were the only two players to have been named to two all-tournament teams.

OVC Champions!
With the 80-60 victory over Eastern Kentucky Saturday, Feb. 28, Murray State claimed the 2008-09 OVC regular-season championship for themselves. The Racers finished 16-2 in the OVC standings to take their first regular-season title in school history. It was the first time since 2004-05 that a team has claimed the title with less than three loses on the year.

Starters Sticking Together
For the first time this season and the first time since Feb. 28, 2008 at Tennessee Tech. The Racers saw double-digits from five players - Amber Guffey (26), Paige Guffey (17), Ashley Hayes (13), Angela Mullins (10), and Mallory Luckett (10) - against JSU.

Hayes also added a career-best 17 rebounds, while Luckett garnered a career-best five steals.

20-Win Season
Murray State tallied its 20th victory on the season against Morehead State. The mark gave the Racers their fifth 20-win season in school history, and the third in a row (2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09). The previous two 20-win seasons were 1987-88 and 1988-89 under head coach Bud Childers.

More National Exposure
Seniors Amber Guffey and Paige Guffey will be on national TV one more time this season. The duo will be featured on the April NCAA On Campus program that will be aired April 15 on ESPN Classic and later on ESPNU. The broadcast will also be achieved on NCAA.com.

Amber Academic All-America of the Year
Senior Amber Guffey was honored Monday with the biggest academic award for a Division I women's basketball player when she was named the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year. The award is the first for a Murray State student-athlete. Amber joins the ranks of players like Candace Parker, who earned the award for the 2007-08 campaign.

Amber and her twin sister Paige Guffey were also named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team after earning Academic All-District 4 honors. Both the all-district and All-America honors are the first for the women's basketball team.

Including the Guffey sisters, only 10 student-athletes from Murray State have been named to an Academic All-America team, and only four have earned first team accolades. The volleyball team has seen three Academic All-Americans, while the football team has produced two, and men's basketball, baseball, and rifle have all earned one.

Home Sweet Home
The Racers finished the year with a 14-0 mark in the RSEC. The home winning streak dates back to Jan. 31, 2008 and currently stands at 19 games, the longest since Murray State moved to the RSEC. The longest home winning streak ties the longest in team history - 19 games from Feb. 28, 1987 to Jan. 28, 1989 (Racer Arena). The last loss that the Racers suffered at home was Jan. 26, 2008 against Southeast Missouri State.

The 19-game home winning streak puts Murray state 5th in the country for the longest current home winning streak.

Best Scoring Duo in the Nation
Seniors Ashley Hayes and Amber Guffey have been leading the Racers all season in scoring and rebounding, but now they have earned the distinction as the best scoring duo in Division I women's basketball. Both players are in the top-10 in the nation in scoring and Murray State is the only school in the nation with two players in the top-50.

Hayes is currently in the No. 6 position with 23.0 points per game, while Guffey is ranked 9th with 21.0 points per game. Both four-year starters are on the best single-game scoring list this season. Guffey is tied for 17th with her 36 point performance at Colorado State. Hayes is also in the No. 17 spot with her 36 points against Austin Peay and in the No. 2 spot for her school-record 46 points against Tennessee State.

Ashley Atop Record Books
Almost two years after Joi Scott set the Racer's single game record for points scored in a game (43 at Tennessee State - 2/26/06) senior Ashley Hayes went into the same building and rewrote the record with her name and 46 points. The total gives her the record for the most points scored by a Murray State basketball player - both men's and women's.

The Humboldt, Tenn., native accomplished the feat with career highs of 14 field goals, seven three-pointers, and 11 free throws. Her seven treys ranks her second on the single game chart at Murray State. Her 11-for-11 free throw mark also puts her in a tie for the second best free-throw percentage in a game.

20 Point Triple
Murray State's “Big Three” have had strong performances all season, but for the fourth time the trio tallied over 20 points in a game when they did so against Southeast Missouri State.

In a survey of NCAA Division I women's basketball SID's across the country only the University of Georgia has had three players score more than 20 points in a game twice in the same season.

Georgia is also the only school that has had twin sisters score more than 20 points in the same game. Kelly and Coco Miller tallied more than 20 points in the same game 10 times during their four-year career.

Free-Throw Frenzy
For the past four seasons, MSU has been knocking down a high percentage of shots from the charity stripe. Their effort to do so has paid off, as the Racers are currently ranked No. 1 among NCAA Division I teams in free-throw percentage. MSU has made 82.4 percent of its free throws during the 2008-09 campaign in games through March 8.

MSU finished the 2007-08 campaign ranked No. 3 in the same category, while the team was ninth in 2006-07, and 14th in 2005-06.

Individually the Racers have three players ranked in the top-100 in free-throw percentage. Paige Guffey leads the team and the OVC with 88.7 percent. That ranks her 8th in the nation. Amber Guffey is also ranked on the national list as No. 10 with an 88.1 percent mark from the charity stripe. She finished the 2007-08 campaign ranked sixth in the country with a 85.0 free-throw percentage. Ashley Hayes is the third member of the MSU roster ranked in the national free-throw standings at No. 23, with an 85.82percentage.

NCAA Student-Athlete Blog
The NCAA started a new feature on its website for the 2008-09 season. The organization has chosen a student-athlete from each of the sponsored sports at each division to create a blog for the duration of the athlete's season. The NCAA asked the MSU women's basketball team to participate in the blog, and seniors Amber Guffey and Ashley Hayes have been uploading at least one blog entry per week since the beginning of the 2008-09 campaign.

The Guffey/Hayes Blog can be found as a link on www.GoRacers.com on the right-hand side of the women's basketball page.