Racers Fall in Final Minutes at Big Ten Opponent Indiana

Monday, November 14

Bloomington, Ind.

6:00 PM

Murray State

Indiana

Photo by: Tab Brockman

Racers Fall in Final Minutes at Big Ten Opponent Indiana

11/14/2011 10:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score I Box Score (pdf)

The Murray State women's basketball team lost a close game to Big Ten opponent Indiana at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind., 70-67.

The Racers (1-1) were led by red-shirt sophomore Erica Burgess, who tallied a career-best 20 points and added five rebounds, six assists and four steals. Burgess was one of three players in double digits for MSU, with junior Mariah Robinson adding 13 and senior Mallory Schwab contributing 10.

Schwab was playing in front of a friendly crowd, as her hometown of Martinsville, Ind., is only 30 minutes from Bloomington.

The Racers came out firing in the first half. After Indiana scored the first basket, 11 seconds in, MSU hit its first shot with 19:37 left to play. Burgess' jumper started a 17-2 run over the next five minutes, holding the Hoosiers without a field goal during the span. The Racers added to the lead and pushed it to 21-6 before IU went on its first run of the half.

The Hoosiers cut the deficit to 10, with a 5-0 run, and then again to six, with a second 4-0 run (25-19), with just under six minutes to play. MSU countered with a 6-0 run over the next minute to push the lead back to 11 (31-19), with 1:54 left to play. The teams traded baskets over the last two minutes of play and the Racers took a 35-25 lead into the locker room.

IU opened the second half with a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 35-26. The Racers kept pushing the tempo and used a 6-0 run over a two-minute span to increased the lead back to 11 (46-35). However the Hoosiers then used a 10-3 run to cut the advantage to three (49-46). IU kept its deficit between three and five points until a 7-2 run from 6:44 to 4:20 tied the game at 60. MSU followed with a 5-0 run over the next two minutes before the Hoosiers made their final push. In the last 1:06 of the game IU went on a 7-2 run to earn a 70-67 victory.

The key difference in the game came at the free-throw line, where the Hoosiers were 15-of-27 to the Racers 3-of-9. IU took advantage of 19 free-throw attempts in the second half to secure the win, while MSU attempted just three in the second stanza.

The Racers shot 37.0 (27-of-73) from the field for the game, with the Hoosiers hitting 39.7 percent (27-of-68) of their shots. MSU did have an advantage beyond the arc, making 10-of-40 attempts and holding IU to just 1-of-8.

The Racers will now return home for a Thursday, Nov. 17 game against Mid-Continent at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky. The home contest will be the last until Dec. 3 when Saint Louis comes to town. During the span between home games MSU will face four opponents, including No. 9 Louisville (Nov. 29).