Murray State University Athletics
Racers Set to Honor Seniors In Final Regular Season Home Game
2/19/2010 7:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State women's basketball team will host league-leading Eastern Illinois, Saturday, Feb. 20 at 1:30 p.m. in the Regional Special Events Center. Prior to the start of the game the Racers will honor their three seniors; Mallory Luckett, Jasmyne Thornton and Kayla Vance.
Scouting Eastern Illinois
The Panthers will head into Murray after falling to UT Martin Thursday night in Martin, Tenn. The loss broke a 13-game winning streak for EIU that started with the first game of the 2010 portion of the season. The loss brings the Panthers record to 18-9 overall and 13-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. EIU still has a game lead over Morehead State for first place in the conference standings with three games left to play.
The Panthers have three main threats out of six players that play most of the minutes for EIU this season and 12 total rostered players. Freshman Ta'Kenya Nixon leads the team with 13.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, while shooting 48.8 percent from the field (122-of-250). Maggie Kloak and Dominique Sims are the other two leading scorers for EIU, with Kloak adding 12.4 points and Sims 10.8 points per game. The duo are also shooting above 40 percent from the field. Kloak hits 45.6 percent (108-of-237) of her shots, while Sims adds a 41.1 percentage (103-of-253). Sims is also second on the team in three-point shooting, having taken 80 triples and making 23 (28.8%).
The main three-point shooter for the Panthers is Ashley Thomas. Thomas has made 33.0 percent of her 112 attempts (37).
EIU is a strong inside shooting team, with a 42.5 team shooting percentage on the season (654-of-1540). However its connection percentage drops a little from beyond the arc - to 30.1 percent (111-of-369). The Panther's opponents also seem to shoot well against them, at 36.6 percent for the season and 30.8 percent from three-point range. As a team only one of the 12 players had a shooting percentage below 30 percent and two are making over 50 percent of their shots.
EIU is a second half offensive team and first half defensive team. The Panthers have recorded 187 more points (851-1038) in the second half, but have also allowed their opponents to garner 166 more points in the second half (737-903). This trend held at UT Martin, where EIU allowed the Skyhawks to almost double their output from the first half (26-45) and only added six more points to their own first half total (29-35) in the loss.
Against the Panthers
In the first meeting between the Racers and EIU this season, the Panthers earned a close 64-57 victory in Charleston, Ill. The game was tied at the half (24), but EIU opened the second with an 11-2 run. MSU fought hard through the second half and cut the lead to two, but failed to make key free throws down the stretch, going 16-of-26 for the game.
The Racers were led by sophomore Rachael Isom, with 19 points, while fellow sophomore Kristen Kluempers added a career-best nine rebounds.
Dominique Sims led the Panthers with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Chantelle Pressley and Maggie Kloak each added 11 points.
The Series
The Racers currently own a 22-11 advantage in the all-time series, including a 16-10 mark in regular-season OVC games. MSU is 13-3 when playing at home and has been the victor in the last seven meetings in the RSEC. The Racers are 4-1 in the last five meetings and 7-3 in the last 10.
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.
Lowe's Highs
Sophomore Kayla Lowe may have 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).
Three Point Streak
The Racers currently have the No. 10 active three-point scoring streak in NCAA DI women's basketball, at 315 games. The streak dates back to Nov. 27, 1999 against Belmont. Canisus College is leading the list, with an NCAA-record 479-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 (369).
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 12 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.
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.
National Recognition
Murray State might not have the best overall record, but the team is currently ranked in the top-100 of eight national statistical categories and has two players ranked in the top-100 in four individual categories as of Feb. 14.
The Racers top ranking is in three point field goals made per game, at No. 28 (7.2). The Racers are also No. 66 in three-point field goal defense (29.3), No. 55 in scoring offense (70.3), No. 51 in turnovers (16.0), No. 68 in turnover margin (2.32), No. 80 in assist/turnover ratio (0.83), No. 82 in free-throw percentage (71.6) and No. 91 in three-point field-goal percentage (33.7).
Mallory Luckett leads the team with three individual top-100 rankings. The Louisville, Ky., native is in the No. 17 spot for assists (5.6), No. 22 in assist/turnover ratio (2.04) and No. 4 in triple-doubles (1.0). Senior Kayla Vance recently earned a No. 57 ranking for her 82.9 free-throw percentage.
Up Next
The Racers will now hit the road for the final regular-season games of the 2009-10 campaign. MSU first travels to Morehead, Ky., to face Morehead State (Feb. 25) and will then head to Richmond, Ky., to battle with Eastern Kentucky (Feb. 27). The Racers are currently tied with the Colonels for fourth place in the OVC standings (the last team to host a first-round tournament game). MSU can finish the regular season anywhere from third to eighth in the standings depending on the outcome of the final games of the season.
Scouting Eastern Illinois
The Panthers will head into Murray after falling to UT Martin Thursday night in Martin, Tenn. The loss broke a 13-game winning streak for EIU that started with the first game of the 2010 portion of the season. The loss brings the Panthers record to 18-9 overall and 13-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. EIU still has a game lead over Morehead State for first place in the conference standings with three games left to play.
The Panthers have three main threats out of six players that play most of the minutes for EIU this season and 12 total rostered players. Freshman Ta'Kenya Nixon leads the team with 13.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, while shooting 48.8 percent from the field (122-of-250). Maggie Kloak and Dominique Sims are the other two leading scorers for EIU, with Kloak adding 12.4 points and Sims 10.8 points per game. The duo are also shooting above 40 percent from the field. Kloak hits 45.6 percent (108-of-237) of her shots, while Sims adds a 41.1 percentage (103-of-253). Sims is also second on the team in three-point shooting, having taken 80 triples and making 23 (28.8%).
The main three-point shooter for the Panthers is Ashley Thomas. Thomas has made 33.0 percent of her 112 attempts (37).
EIU is a strong inside shooting team, with a 42.5 team shooting percentage on the season (654-of-1540). However its connection percentage drops a little from beyond the arc - to 30.1 percent (111-of-369). The Panther's opponents also seem to shoot well against them, at 36.6 percent for the season and 30.8 percent from three-point range. As a team only one of the 12 players had a shooting percentage below 30 percent and two are making over 50 percent of their shots.
EIU is a second half offensive team and first half defensive team. The Panthers have recorded 187 more points (851-1038) in the second half, but have also allowed their opponents to garner 166 more points in the second half (737-903). This trend held at UT Martin, where EIU allowed the Skyhawks to almost double their output from the first half (26-45) and only added six more points to their own first half total (29-35) in the loss.
Against the Panthers
In the first meeting between the Racers and EIU this season, the Panthers earned a close 64-57 victory in Charleston, Ill. The game was tied at the half (24), but EIU opened the second with an 11-2 run. MSU fought hard through the second half and cut the lead to two, but failed to make key free throws down the stretch, going 16-of-26 for the game.
The Racers were led by sophomore Rachael Isom, with 19 points, while fellow sophomore Kristen Kluempers added a career-best nine rebounds.
Dominique Sims led the Panthers with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Chantelle Pressley and Maggie Kloak each added 11 points.
The Series
The Racers currently own a 22-11 advantage in the all-time series, including a 16-10 mark in regular-season OVC games. MSU is 13-3 when playing at home and has been the victor in the last seven meetings in the RSEC. The Racers are 4-1 in the last five meetings and 7-3 in the last 10.
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.
Lowe's Highs
Sophomore Kayla Lowe may have 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).
Three Point Streak
The Racers currently have the No. 10 active three-point scoring streak in NCAA DI women's basketball, at 315 games. The streak dates back to Nov. 27, 1999 against Belmont. Canisus College is leading the list, with an NCAA-record 479-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 (369).
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 12 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.
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.
National Recognition
Murray State might not have the best overall record, but the team is currently ranked in the top-100 of eight national statistical categories and has two players ranked in the top-100 in four individual categories as of Feb. 14.
The Racers top ranking is in three point field goals made per game, at No. 28 (7.2). The Racers are also No. 66 in three-point field goal defense (29.3), No. 55 in scoring offense (70.3), No. 51 in turnovers (16.0), No. 68 in turnover margin (2.32), No. 80 in assist/turnover ratio (0.83), No. 82 in free-throw percentage (71.6) and No. 91 in three-point field-goal percentage (33.7).
Mallory Luckett leads the team with three individual top-100 rankings. The Louisville, Ky., native is in the No. 17 spot for assists (5.6), No. 22 in assist/turnover ratio (2.04) and No. 4 in triple-doubles (1.0). Senior Kayla Vance recently earned a No. 57 ranking for her 82.9 free-throw percentage.
Up Next
The Racers will now hit the road for the final regular-season games of the 2009-10 campaign. MSU first travels to Morehead, Ky., to face Morehead State (Feb. 25) and will then head to Richmond, Ky., to battle with Eastern Kentucky (Feb. 27). The Racers are currently tied with the Colonels for fourth place in the OVC standings (the last team to host a first-round tournament game). MSU can finish the regular season anywhere from third to eighth in the standings depending on the outcome of the final games of the season.
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