Murray State
Eastern Kentucky
Racers Earn Key Victory Over Eastern Kentucky in Final Regular-Season Game
2/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State women's basketball team earned an
important victory over Eastern Kentucky, 79-64, in the final regular-season
game of the 2009-10 campaign. The Racers
finished the 2009-10 regular season with a 13-16 overall record and a 8-10 mark
in the Ohio Valley Conference. The win
gives MSU a tie for fourth-place finish in the OVC regular-season standings. The Racers will now travel to Morehead State for the first-round game of the 2010 OVC Championships, Tuesday, March 2.
The Racers were led by sophomores Mallory Schwab and Rachael Isom. Schwab tallied 16 points and Isom added 15 for MSU. All of Schwab's points came during the second period, while nine of Isom's came in the second 20 minutes of action.
The Racers opened the game with a 4-0 run and held the Colonels without field goal for nearly the first three minutes of the game. However, once EKU started scoring the team went on a 7-0 run to take the lead. MSU followed with a 4-0 run in a minute span to take a brief lead, but another Colonel run (6-0) gave them the lead for good in the half.
The teams then battled for most of the remaining time in the half except for two EKU runs and one for the Racers. The Colonels were ahead by eight with 3:37 left when Lowe went on a 5-0 run in a 30-second span to cut the deficit to three (29-26). Lowe hit a triple and EKU's Michaelea Klsist was called for a foul after the shot. Lowe took the inbounds pass and hit a shot from just outside the paint. The Colonels then went on a final 6-0 run in the last three minutes of the half to take a 35-26 advantage heading into the locker room.
EKU opened the second 20 minutes of action by hitting three's on their first two shots and quickly pushed the lead out to double-digits. The deficit remained 10-or-more until Schwab started a 9-1 run over the next three minutes to give the Racers a 45-42 lead. MSU had three-straight three-point plays as Schwab and freshman Tessa Elkins each hit triples and then Schwab converted on all three of her free-throw attempts after being fouled on her next three-point shot attempt. The game was then tied for the next two minutes before the Racers put the game away with a 20-6 run from 9:19 left to 2:09 remaining on the clock, while holding the Colonels without a field goal. The run gave MSU a 69-57 lead and the Racers finished the last two minutes on a 10-7 run, with all 10 points for MSU coming at the free-throw line.
The Racers shot 44.3 percent (27-of-61) from the field and 38.1 percent (8-of-21) from beyond the arc for the game. MSU also held EKU to a 40.4 shooting percentage in the game, after only allowing them to shoot 36 percent in the second half.
Notes: Freshman Kayla Cunningham saw her first action since Feb. 11 at Tennessee Tech...she tallied her first points since Jan. 23 against Southeast Missouri State...the Racers 53 points in the second half are the most scored in the second stanza this season...MSU garnered 50 against Evansville, Nov. 21, 2009.
Quotes
Head Coach Rob Cross
"It is a great feeling to get a win. We have been playing well, taking the top two teams in the league down to the wire and lost on the last possession of both games."
"We have been getting dominated on the boards in the last few games. We got out-rebounded tonight, but we did a much better job in the second half."
"When Mallory Schwab is playing free and easy she is a very good player. We have only seen that a few times this season and tonight she just went out and played."
