Racers Lose Close Game to Eastern Illinois on the Road

Thursday, January 21

Charleston, Ill.

5:30 p.m.

Murray State

Eastern Illinois

Racers Lose Close Game to Eastern Illinois on the Road

1/22/2010 2:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

The Murray State women's basketball team fell, 64-57, to Eastern Illinois at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Ill. The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Racers (8-11, 3-5 Ohio Valley Conference) that began Jan. 14 against Jacksonville State.

The Racers were led by sophomore Rachael Isom for the fourth straight game, as she tallied 19 points and added three rebounds and a steal.

The opening half was a back-and-forth battle that ended with a tie score heading into the locker room. The Panthers (11-8, 7-1 OVC) opened the game with an 8-1 run before allowing the Racers to sink a field goal. The run lasted the first six minutes of the half. After breaking its scoreless streak MSU, went on a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the game (9-8).

EIU regained the lead at 11:15, with a three-point play, but the Racers again followed with a 10-3 run, holding the Panthers without a field goal until 5:44 remained on the clock. EIU then tied the game at 19, with a 5-0 run over the next two minutes, with most of the Panthers points came from the charity stripe. The team's then traded runs over the final four minutes of the half and went into the locker room knotted at 24.

Much like the first half, the Panthers opened the second 20-minutes of action on a scoring run, but this time they used an 11-2 run to take the lead for good. The Racers fought hard through the half, cutting the deficit to as little as two points with nine minutes left to play. EIU had a chance to increase its lead late in the half, but missed several free-throw attempts to allow MSU an opportunity to keep the advantage between 4-to-7 points in the final five minutes.

The Racers were out-rebounded 51-42, with the Panthers greatest advantage coming on the offensive side (22-10). Both teams struggled shooting, with percentages near 33 percent. MSU did better from beyond the arc, hitting 38.9 percent (7-of-18), while EIU made just 18.8 percent (3-of-16) of its attempts from three-point range.

The Racers will remain on the road and wrap up the first half of OVC play Saturday when they face Southeast Missouri State at the Show Me Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Notes: Sophomore Kayla Lowe tallied her first points since Nov. 15, 2009 at Memphis after sitting out 14 games and seeing playing time in just her second game since Memphis…the loss broke a four-game winning streak over the Panthers for MSU.

Quotes
Head Coach Rob Cross
“After the game we talked about the fact that we missed 10 free throws and the fact that EIU had 22 offensive rebounds. We talked to the team about both of those areas at half time and that if both of those things continued to happen we would lose the game”

“I thought we did an outstanding job defensively tonight, except on rebounds.”

“EIU did go on a run to start the second half, but we regained our composure and made a run back at them to get back in the ball game. However, we just couldn't finish it out because of the rebounding margin and the results at the free-throw line.”