Murray State University Athletics
Racers Headed To Battle with Jacksonville State
2/12/2010 9:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State women's basketball team heads to Jacksonville, Ala., to battle with Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks are a 1/2 game behind the Racers in the OVC standings, with just two weeks left in the season.
Scouting Jacksonville State
The Gamecocks are 8-16 overall and 5-9 in the OVC standings after winning their last two games. JSU earned an overtime win at Eastern Kentucky (Feb. 6) and defeated UT Martin (Feb. 11) at home.
The Gamecocks have spread out their scoring and rebounding this season, with no member of the team averaging less than 1.5 points and 0.8 rebounds per game. Brittany Wiley is the team's leader in both categories, with 9.7 points and 5.5 boards per game.
JSU has struggled with injuries lately, with three to four players out of the lineup in the past few games, including Wiley and Jolie Efezokhae.
The Gamecocks have not had the best shooting success on the season, as their opponents are averaging a 41.4 percentage to JSU's 35.7 mark. The difference is even larger from three-point range, at 29.5 percent for the Gamecocks and 35.8 percent for their opponents.
Against the Gamecocks
In the last meeting between the Racers and JSU, MSU earned a 78-49 victory. Senior Mallory Luckett tallied the schools second triple-double (14P-10R-11A), while sophomore Rachael Isom led the team with 22 points. Senior Kayla Vance added 17 points, while freshman Mariah Robinson garnered nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
No member of the Gamecocks squad garnered double-digits in the points column, with Jolie Efezokhae leading the team with nine points and Zenobia Pitts adding eight.
The difference in the game was shooting percentage, as the Racers hit 45.3 percent of their shots and improved that percentage to 56.3 from beyond the three-point line. JSU hit 30.6 percent of its shots, after shooting 19.4 percent in the second half of action. The Gamecocks also hit just 17.6 percent of their three-point shots and went 8-of-26 from the charity stripe.
The Series
The series with JSU is the shortest among OVC teams, with Saturday's meeting be only the 13th all-time. The Racers are 10-2 in the all-time series, including a 4-0 mark on the road. MSU has been the victory in the last seven games, with the last three of those being played at the Regional Special Events Center.
Kayla Konnecting
Senior Kayla Vance had an outstanding game for the Racers against Tennessee Tech. The West Paducah, Ky., native tallied a career-high 27 points against the Golden Eagles, including a career-best 10 field goals. The 27 points also represents the most points scored by a Racer in a single game this season. The previous high was 26, tallied twice by sophomore Rachael Isom.
Isom Earns Academic All-District Honors
Sophomore Rachael Isom was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 4 Second Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of American (CoSIDA). A native of Cleveland, Tenn., Isom has a 4.00 GPA while majoring in English.
Isom is the third women's basketball player in the last three seasons to earn a spot on the All-District 4 teams. Amber Guffey and Paige Guffey earned Academic All-District 4 second and third team honors in 2007-08 and then moved up to first team selections in 2008-09. The duo was also named to the 2008-09 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team, with Amber Guffey earning Academic All-America of the Year honors.
Career Night
The Racers win over Tennessee State saw several players earn career highs and firsts. Freshman Tessa Elkins had a banner night, setting career bests in points (10), rebounds (7), assists (3), blocks (1), and field goals made (4). Senior Mallory Luckett added career highs for steals (4), blocks (3), and free throws (8). Candace Nevels set a career high for her five rebounds and also recorded her first career assist. Fellow rookie Jessica Holder netted her first career three-pointer, while senior Kayla Vance garnered her first career block.
Lowe's Highs
Sophomore Kayla Lowe may had missed 14 games due to injury this season, but since her return she has been stepping up and filling in a key role for MSU; scoring. The Pikeville, Ky., native recently more than doubled her career high in the points column. Lowe tallied 21 points against UT Martin and also set career bests for field goals (7), three-point field goals (4), and free throws (3).
Scoring Go-Round
After having three players from the 2008-09 season dominate the scoring all season, the 2009-10 edition of the Racers has been harder to determine who will fill in that role. MSU has had seven different members of the roster lead the team in scoring this season. Senior Kayla Vance is leading the way with 10 games in the top-scoring position, with and sophomore Rachael Isom having done so eight times. Senior Mallory Luckett has topped the scoring charts four times. Sophomore Mallory Schwab and freshman Mariah Robinson have been the leading scorers twice, with sophomores Kayla Lowe and Kristen Kluempers each leading the team once.
TRIPLE-DOUBLE!!!!
Senior Mallory Luckett accomplished a feat that only one other Racer player had done in school history when she recorded a triple-double in the Racers, 78-49, victory over Jacksonville State. The Louisville, Ky., native tallied 14 points, a career-high 11 assists and 10 rebounds to join Karen Johnson as the only MSU women's players to garner a triple-double. Johnson earned the Racers' first during the 1987-88 campaign.
Luckett is one of 18 players in NCAA DI women's basketball to record a triple-double this season and is the second from the OVC, as Tacarra Hayes from TTU did so earlier this season. Her 11 assists ranked her No. 7 on the MSU all-time assists in a game list and marks the first time since the 2001-02 season that a Racer has tallied double-digit assists in a single game.
Luckett followed her triple-double with her fourth double-double against Tennessee Tech (10 points, 10 rebounds). She tallied seven assists against the Golden Eagles.
Three Point Streak
The Racers currently have the No. 10 active three-point scoring streak in NCAA DI women's basketball, at 313 games. The streak dates back to Nov. 27, 1999 against Belmont. Canisus College is leading the list, with an NCAA-record 477-straight games scoring at least one shot from beyond the arc. Southeast Missouri State is the only other team from the conference in the top-10, at No. 7 (367).
National Recognition
Murray State might not have the best overall record, but the team is currently ranked in the top-100 of six national statistical categories and has three players ranked in the top-110 in five individual categories as of Feb. 7.
The Racers top ranking is in three point field goals made per game, at No. 28 (7.1). The Racers are also No. 52 in three-point field goal defense (28.8), No. 55 in scoring offense (70.4), No. 64 in turnovers (16.2), No. 69 in turnover margin (2.39) and No. 73 in assist/turnover ratio (0.84).
Mallory Luckett leads the team with three individual top-110 rankings. The Louisville, Ky., native is in the No. 15 spot for assists (5.7) and No. 25 in assist/turnover ratio (2.0) and No. 4 in triple-doubles (1.0). Freshman Jessica Holder is ranked 103rd in blocked shots (1.4) and senior Kayla Vance recently earned a No. 63 ranking for her 82.9 free-throw percentage.
Up Next
MSU will return home for the final two regular-season games in the Regional Special Events Center. The Racers face Southeast Missouri Feb. 18 at 5:15 p.m. and Eastern Illinois, Feb. 20 at 1:30 p.m. The game against the Redhawks is the annual Pink Zone night to help raise awareness for breast cancer. Saturday's game against the Panthers will be the annual Senior Night when the Racers honor this seasons three seniors before tip-off.
Scouting Jacksonville State
The Gamecocks are 8-16 overall and 5-9 in the OVC standings after winning their last two games. JSU earned an overtime win at Eastern Kentucky (Feb. 6) and defeated UT Martin (Feb. 11) at home.
The Gamecocks have spread out their scoring and rebounding this season, with no member of the team averaging less than 1.5 points and 0.8 rebounds per game. Brittany Wiley is the team's leader in both categories, with 9.7 points and 5.5 boards per game.
JSU has struggled with injuries lately, with three to four players out of the lineup in the past few games, including Wiley and Jolie Efezokhae.
The Gamecocks have not had the best shooting success on the season, as their opponents are averaging a 41.4 percentage to JSU's 35.7 mark. The difference is even larger from three-point range, at 29.5 percent for the Gamecocks and 35.8 percent for their opponents.
Against the Gamecocks
In the last meeting between the Racers and JSU, MSU earned a 78-49 victory. Senior Mallory Luckett tallied the schools second triple-double (14P-10R-11A), while sophomore Rachael Isom led the team with 22 points. Senior Kayla Vance added 17 points, while freshman Mariah Robinson garnered nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
No member of the Gamecocks squad garnered double-digits in the points column, with Jolie Efezokhae leading the team with nine points and Zenobia Pitts adding eight.
The difference in the game was shooting percentage, as the Racers hit 45.3 percent of their shots and improved that percentage to 56.3 from beyond the three-point line. JSU hit 30.6 percent of its shots, after shooting 19.4 percent in the second half of action. The Gamecocks also hit just 17.6 percent of their three-point shots and went 8-of-26 from the charity stripe.
The Series
The series with JSU is the shortest among OVC teams, with Saturday's meeting be only the 13th all-time. The Racers are 10-2 in the all-time series, including a 4-0 mark on the road. MSU has been the victory in the last seven games, with the last three of those being played at the Regional Special Events Center.
Kayla Konnecting
Senior Kayla Vance had an outstanding game for the Racers against Tennessee Tech. The West Paducah, Ky., native tallied a career-high 27 points against the Golden Eagles, including a career-best 10 field goals. The 27 points also represents the most points scored by a Racer in a single game this season. The previous high was 26, tallied twice by sophomore Rachael Isom.
Isom Earns Academic All-District Honors
Sophomore Rachael Isom was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 4 Second Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of American (CoSIDA). A native of Cleveland, Tenn., Isom has a 4.00 GPA while majoring in English.
Isom is the third women's basketball player in the last three seasons to earn a spot on the All-District 4 teams. Amber Guffey and Paige Guffey earned Academic All-District 4 second and third team honors in 2007-08 and then moved up to first team selections in 2008-09. The duo was also named to the 2008-09 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team, with Amber Guffey earning Academic All-America of the Year honors.
Career Night
The Racers win over Tennessee State saw several players earn career highs and firsts. Freshman Tessa Elkins had a banner night, setting career bests in points (10), rebounds (7), assists (3), blocks (1), and field goals made (4). Senior Mallory Luckett added career highs for steals (4), blocks (3), and free throws (8). Candace Nevels set a career high for her five rebounds and also recorded her first career assist. Fellow rookie Jessica Holder netted her first career three-pointer, while senior Kayla Vance garnered her first career block.
Lowe's Highs
Sophomore Kayla Lowe may had missed 14 games due to injury this season, but since her return she has been stepping up and filling in a key role for MSU; scoring. The Pikeville, Ky., native recently more than doubled her career high in the points column. Lowe tallied 21 points against UT Martin and also set career bests for field goals (7), three-point field goals (4), and free throws (3).
Scoring Go-Round
After having three players from the 2008-09 season dominate the scoring all season, the 2009-10 edition of the Racers has been harder to determine who will fill in that role. MSU has had seven different members of the roster lead the team in scoring this season. Senior Kayla Vance is leading the way with 10 games in the top-scoring position, with and sophomore Rachael Isom having done so eight times. Senior Mallory Luckett has topped the scoring charts four times. Sophomore Mallory Schwab and freshman Mariah Robinson have been the leading scorers twice, with sophomores Kayla Lowe and Kristen Kluempers each leading the team once.
TRIPLE-DOUBLE!!!!
Senior Mallory Luckett accomplished a feat that only one other Racer player had done in school history when she recorded a triple-double in the Racers, 78-49, victory over Jacksonville State. The Louisville, Ky., native tallied 14 points, a career-high 11 assists and 10 rebounds to join Karen Johnson as the only MSU women's players to garner a triple-double. Johnson earned the Racers' first during the 1987-88 campaign.
Luckett is one of 18 players in NCAA DI women's basketball to record a triple-double this season and is the second from the OVC, as Tacarra Hayes from TTU did so earlier this season. Her 11 assists ranked her No. 7 on the MSU all-time assists in a game list and marks the first time since the 2001-02 season that a Racer has tallied double-digit assists in a single game.
Luckett followed her triple-double with her fourth double-double against Tennessee Tech (10 points, 10 rebounds). She tallied seven assists against the Golden Eagles.
Three Point Streak
The Racers currently have the No. 10 active three-point scoring streak in NCAA DI women's basketball, at 313 games. The streak dates back to Nov. 27, 1999 against Belmont. Canisus College is leading the list, with an NCAA-record 477-straight games scoring at least one shot from beyond the arc. Southeast Missouri State is the only other team from the conference in the top-10, at No. 7 (367).
National Recognition
Murray State might not have the best overall record, but the team is currently ranked in the top-100 of six national statistical categories and has three players ranked in the top-110 in five individual categories as of Feb. 7.
The Racers top ranking is in three point field goals made per game, at No. 28 (7.1). The Racers are also No. 52 in three-point field goal defense (28.8), No. 55 in scoring offense (70.4), No. 64 in turnovers (16.2), No. 69 in turnover margin (2.39) and No. 73 in assist/turnover ratio (0.84).
Mallory Luckett leads the team with three individual top-110 rankings. The Louisville, Ky., native is in the No. 15 spot for assists (5.7) and No. 25 in assist/turnover ratio (2.0) and No. 4 in triple-doubles (1.0). Freshman Jessica Holder is ranked 103rd in blocked shots (1.4) and senior Kayla Vance recently earned a No. 63 ranking for her 82.9 free-throw percentage.
Up Next
MSU will return home for the final two regular-season games in the Regional Special Events Center. The Racers face Southeast Missouri Feb. 18 at 5:15 p.m. and Eastern Illinois, Feb. 20 at 1:30 p.m. The game against the Redhawks is the annual Pink Zone night to help raise awareness for breast cancer. Saturday's game against the Panthers will be the annual Senior Night when the Racers honor this seasons three seniors before tip-off.
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