Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Mississippi
Historic Season Comes to A Close with an 87-49 Loss at Mississippi in the Second Round of the WNIT
3/22/2009 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State women's basketball team put up a great effort in the Second Round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament, but it was not enough as the team closed its season with an 87-49 loss to Mississippi in Oxford, Miss.
The Racers (23-9) were led by senior Amber Guffey, who tallied 22 points and added six rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Fellow senior Ashley Hayes added 13 points and nine rebounds, while Paige Guffey tallied seven points for Murray State.
The Rebels (18-14) opened the scoring 20 seconds into the game with a three from Bianca Thomas and never let the Racers get even or take a lead for the rest of the game. Ole Miss opened the half with a 5-0 run before Hayes got the goose egg off the scoreboard for Murray State with 18 minutes left to play. Both teams then both stepped up the defense and only allowed each other to score two points each in the next three minutes.
The Rebels kept pushing the tempo through the opening stanza and pushed their lead out to double-digits with just under nine minutes left in the half and kept it their throughout. Ole Miss pushed the lead out to 20 in the final minute of play to take a 40-20 lead into the locker room.
The Racers struggled hitting shots in the opening half, with an uncharacteristic 27.3 shooting percentage and connecting on just one of 13 attempts (7.7%) from three-point range. Ole Miss also capitalized on strong rebounding in the first half, earning 14 second-chance points and earning a 27-15 advantage on the boards.
The Rebels pushed the lead out to 29 in the first minutes of the second half and kept the advantage between 20 and 38 the rest of the game on way to their 87-49 victory.
Senior Ashley Hayes finished her career with the Racers with 2,005 career points, good for the No. 2 spot on the all-time list and the only the second player to score over 2,000 points in her career.
Fellow senior Amber Guffey finished with 1,877 career points, No. 3 all-time at Murray State. With her four assists today Amber Guffey also moved into the No. 1 spot on the all-time assists list with 511 and a tie with Julie Pinson.
Both Hayes and Amber Guffey, along with Paige Guffey will have their names in almost every career leader board for the Racers. The “Big Three” have helped turn Murray State around. The Racers finished the season with a 9-19 record the year before the trio came to Murray and have helped the team to a 79-44 record in their four seasons on the court in a navy and gold uniform.
Head coach Rob Cross ends his first season at the helm of the team with a 23-9 overall record and guided the team to its first Ohio Valley Conference regular season title with a 16-2 mark. His 71.8 winning percentage is already good for the No. 2 spot on the Murray State coaching records by winning percentage and the 23 wins this season are the second most in a single season in school history.
Notes: This was the second time that the Racers have played a Second Round game Racers in the WNIT in school history...the first was during the 1989 campaign against Sand Diego State...no Ohio Valley Conference team has advanced past the Second Round in the WNIT...the only other two teams to play a Second Round Game are UT Martin (1999) and Eastern Kentucky (2001)...Tennessee Tech earned a win in the Opening Round in 2006 and then fell in the First Round...Murray State is now 2-4 in the WNIT in three appearances...this was the final game for five seniors on the Racer's squad ? Amber Guffey, Paige Guffey, Ashley Hayes, Jessica Jackson, and Angela Mullins.
