Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Saint Louis
Racers Fall to Billikens at Chaifetz Arena
11/21/2010 5:17:26 PM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State women's basketball team dropped a non-conference game to Saint Louis, 72-55, at Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Mo.
The Racers (2-2) were led by junior Kayla Lowe, who tallied a season-best 14 points, added seven rebounds and a career-best two blocks. Fellow juniors Rachael Isom and Mallory Schwab also garnered double-digits in the points column, with 11 and 10 respectively.
Both teams started the first half by scoring on their opening possessions. The Billikens then went on a 4-0 run that gave them the lead for the rest of the half. There were long stretches throughout the half without scoring and each team went on runs in the middle of the stanza to push a lead or cut the deficit. SLU led by eight with 10 minutes left to play when the Racers started a 4-0 run over the next two minutes to cut the lead to four (16-12). The Billikens then closed the half with a 15-7 run to take a 33-19 advantage into the locker room.
MSU came out strong in the second half, going on an 8-3 run in the first five minutes before allowing SLU to tally a field goal. The run cut the lead to nine (36-27), but the Billikens followed with a 5-0 run of their own to push the lead back up to double-digits. The teams then each pushed the momentum of the game at different points in the half, but the Racers could not cut the advantage to less than 10 points the rest of the game and fell 72-55.
Rebounding was a key factor in the game, as MSU was out-rebounded 58-46, including a 29-18 mark in the offensive column. SLU took advantage of the differential, scoring 20 second-chance points.
The Racers earned a slight advantage in field-goal percentage, 32.8 (21-of-64) to 28.8 (28-of-80), and out-blocked the Billikens 8-1. SLU also took advantage of the turnover difference (23-12), tallying 23 points off turnovers.
The Racers will continue their longest road trip of the season next week at the Lady Eagle Thanksgiving Classic in Hattiesburg, Miss. MSU will first face No. 9/10 Kentucky, Friday, Nov. 26 at 7:30 p.m. The next day the Racers will play either Southern Miss or Louisiana-Lafayette at 2 or 4:30 p.m. depending on the outcome of the first two games of the tournament.
