Women's Basketball Set to Open the Season at the CFSB Center

Saturday, November 13

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

St. Catharine College

Junior Rachael Isom led all returners with 16 points and four steals against Mid-Con a year ago.

Women's Basketball Set to Open the Season at the CFSB Center

11/11/2010 12:08:48 PM | Women's Basketball

The Murray State women's basketball team will open the 2010-11 campaign at home for the first time in four years, but the games this year will take place in the newly named CFSB Center. The Racers first opponent of the season is St. Catharine College, Saturday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. MSU will also host Mid-Continent, Monday, Nov. 15 at 5:15 p.m.

Scouting St. Catharine
The Patriots are 2-2 on the season heading into the game against the Racers. Since SCC is a member of the NAIA, the game at MSU will not count on their schedule, but does count for the Racers.

Through the first two games of the season, the Patriots are shooting 35.8 percent from the field and 22.7 percent from three-point range. The team averages 57 points and 39 rebounds per game and has struggled with ball control, with 20 turnovers per game.

Danielle Brown is the leader on the court for SCC, with 16 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Brown has made 40 percent of her shots, including 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. Keller Menke is the team's leading rebounder, at 6.5 boards per game. Whitney Jordan is the next leading scorer for the Patriots, with five points per game.

Scouting Mid-Continent
The Cougars are currently 0-4 on the season, but will play two more games before coming to Murray. Mid-Con is playing in the Georgetown College Elswick Classic over the weekend.

Stephanie Malone and Shanice Martin are the key players so far this year for the Cougars. Malone averaged 13 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, while Martin added 11.8 points per outing. Malone is also a strong shooter, making 47.6 percent of her shots this season.

As a team, Mid-Con is netting 62 points and 40.3 rebounds per game, but is allowing 83.8 pints and 48 rebounds per outing. The Cougars are hitting 33.8 percent of their shots from the field and 27 percent from three-point range and allow their opponents to make 44.2 percent from the field and 34.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Against the Cougars
In 2009-10, the Racers earned a 97-54 victory over Mid-Con. The game saw five 2010-11 returners garner double-digit point totals for MSU. Junior Rachael Isom led the returners with 17 points and four steals, while sophomore Mariah Robinson added 16 points and six steals. Juniors Kristen Kluempers and Mallory Schwab each tallied 12 points, while sophomore Jessica Holder added 11.

The Racers shot 42.7 percent from the field to the Cougars 35.4 percent and made the most of the ball control issues by Mid-Con. The Cougars tallied 39 turnovers, with MSU stealing away 26 of those balls.

The top returner for Mid-Con is Katelyn Perry, who tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The Series
Monday's game will be the third meeting between the two teams, all having been played in Murray. The Racers have a 2-0 advantage in the all-time series.

Mahurin Sign for 2011-12
Beth Mahurin, a post player from Rockville High School in Rockville, Ind., will join the Racers starting in the 2011-12 campaign after signing during the early signing period.

Mahurin is a top scorer, rebounder and defender for the Rox. As a junior she averaged 17 points, 15 rebounds (third in the state), six blocks (first in the state) and a field goal percentage of 63. She is the top returning player in the state of Indiana in rebounds and blocks. Her 63.0 shooting percentage was third among Indiana players in 2009-10 and her 17 points per game rank her 13th among returners for Indiana.

During her junior season Mahurin was named the Indiana Fever Player of the Week following a 34 point, 24 rebound, and eight block performance. The two-time All- Wabash River Conference selection is also a standout in the classroom and is an honor roll student.

Mahurin had a very productive junior season that led her to being named to the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Junior All-State team and was a member of the Indiana Class All-Star 3/4A game participant. She was named a Pre-Season Hoosier Basketball Magazine All-State second team member as a junior and was recently elevated to the Pre-Season Hoosier Basketball Magazine All-State first team for her senior season as well as being a McDonald's All-American nominee.

No Senior Leadership
After fighting through an injury plagued year in 2009-10 the Murray State women's basketball team will be in a select group of NCAA DI teams this season that will allow them to use the drive and determination they discovered last year, as the roster has no seniors listed. The Racers are one of seven programs in the country with no seniors on the 2010-11 roster, a list which includes MSU opponent Purdue.

New Season New Name
Murray State University's Regional Special Events Center (RSEC) will now be known as the CFSB Center, thanks to the largest gift in Murray State athletics history. CFSB (Community Financial Services Bank) donated $3.3 million to MSU's athletic program securing naming rights of the facility.

Regional Rivalries Highlight 2010-11 Schedule
For the first time in four years, the Racers will open the season at home and MSU will continue regional rivalry series with Evansville and Southern Illinois. The Racers will host St. Catharine and Mid Continent Nov. 13 & 15 before hitting the road for the next month.

The Racers first road outing will be at regional-rival Evansville (Nov. 17) and the team will then travel to face Saint Louis (Nov. 21).

The road trip continues into the month of December when the Racers travel to Eastern Kentucky (Dec. 2) and Morehead State (Dec. 4) for the early Ohio Valley Conference games. The final road game of the seven game road swing is scheduled for Dec. 12 in West Lafayette, Ind., where MSU is set to face perennial NCAA power Purdue.

The Racers will then return to the CFSB Center for one game against regional-rival Southern Illinois (Dec. 18) before starting the rest of the OVC season.

OVC Tournament Changes
This year the OVC Tournament will all be contested at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn., from March 2-5. The top two teams in the regular-season standings will earn byes into the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. This is the first season that the conference will bring all eight teams to one venue for the entire tournament, as in the past the first-round games have been played on campus sites.