Racers Start OVC Season with an 80-75 win at Southeast Missouri

Saturday, December 31

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

1:00 PM

Murray State

Southeast Missouri

Photo by: Tab Brockman

Racers Start OVC Season with an 80-75 win at Southeast Missouri

12/31/2011 4:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score I Box Score (pdf)

After 11 days off for the holiday's the Murray State women's basketball team came back strong with an 80-75 Ohio Valley Conference-win over Southeast Missouri at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

The Racers (4-8, 1-0 OVC) were led by junior Tessa Elkins and red-shirt sophomore Erica Burgess, who each tallied career-high point totals. Elkins was a consistent scorer for MSU, garnering 17 points and adding seven rebounds. Burgess recorded a team-best 23 points. Senior Kayla Lowe also added a double-digit point total, with 10. Freshman Beth Mahurin led the team defensively with a career-high eight rebounds and added a career-best six points.

The first half opened with low scoring on both sides in the first four minutes. With 16:14 left to play and the score tied at four, the Redhawks (3-12, 0-2 OVC) went on the first run of the game over the next three minutes. The run pushed SEMO's lead to eight (12-4). But the Racers countered with an 11-0 run of their own, over the next four minutes, to take a 15-12 advantage. The teams then traded baskets over the next two minutes before a 4-0 run by MSU gave them the advantage for the rest of the half. The Racers kept the lead between five and eight points through the rest of the stanza and went into the locker room with a 32-25 lead.

The teams traded 4-0 runs in the first two minutes of the second half. The Redhawks then went on a 7-2 run to cut the 11-point advantage that the Racers had built to four (40-36). The teams traded baskets for most of the half and MSU fought off several small runs by SEMO to keep at least a two-point advantage. In the final four minutes of the game the tempo picked up and the teams started to trade points, with the advantage for the Racers ranging between two and six points. Despite the 14 points scored by each team in the final four minutes, MSU took control of the game by making 10-of-12 free throws to SEMO's 5-of-7.

For just the second time this season and the first since Nov. 17 against Mid-Continent, the Racers shot over 40 percent from the field, with a 45.7 (26-of-57) mark, to the Redhawks 41.5 percent (27-of-65). MSU also took a key advantage at the free-throw line making 24-of-31 (77.4%) and allowing SEMO to hit just 15-of-25 (60.0%) attempts.

The Racers will remain on the road to face Eastern Illinois, Monday, Jan. 2 at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Ill. The game will be the fifth-of-six straight road games for MSU since Dec. 10, with the streak ending after the Jan. 7 game at Austin Peay.

Notes: MSU is now 17-17 in the first OVC game of the season…this was the first start for red-shirt freshman Chanyere Hosey…freshman Beth Mahurin tallied a career-high four points in her first two minutes of action…Mahurin also had a career-best six rebounds in the first half…the win is the first road win for the Racers this season.