Racers Wrap-Up Home Stand Against Jacksonville State

Murray State (5-11, 2-3 OVC) vs. Jacksonville State (4-15, 1-5 OVC)
Monday - 7 p.m.
CFSB Center
Murray, Ky.

Game Notes I Listen Live I Watch Live I Live Stats

The Game
The Murray State women's basketball team will wrap-up a three-game home stand, Monday, Jan. 16 with a 7 p.m. tip-off against Jacksonville State at the CFSB Center.

Scouting Jacksonville State
The Gamecocks are coming off a 74-73 win on the road at Austin Peay (Jan.14), that accounted for their first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season. JSU is now 4-15 overall and 1-5 in the league and broke a nine-game losing streak with the win.

The Gamecocks have three key players to watch in Brittany Morrow, Destiny Lane and Danielle Vaughn. All three are averaging double-digit point totals and over five rebounds per game. Morrow is netting 11.4 points and 7.8 boards per game and is shooting .438 from the field. Lane is collecting 10.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per outing and adds 36 assists and 28 steals. Vaughn is averaging 10.5 points and 8.5 rebounds and is hitting 64.9 percent of her shots.

JSU's starting five account for most of the team's offensive production this season. The group has taken 79 percent of the teams shots and made 74 percent, while taking 65 percent of the triples and making 64 percent. The Racers will have a clear advantage from beyond the arc, as the Gamecocks have made just 55 three's on the season to MSU's 123.

As a team, JSU is averaging just 57.3 points per game, while allowing 73.8 (-16.5 ppg), but they are out-rebounding their opponents 40.9 to 39.1 board per game (+1.8). The Gamecocks trail their opponents in all other categories, with the biggest disadvantage in turnovers (-6.8 pg), three's made (2.9 to 6.2 pg) and shooting percentage (.373 to .435).

The Series
The series with the Gamecocks is one of the shortest in league play, with the Racers holding a 13-2 advantage. MSU has won the last 10 games and is 5-2 when playing JSU in Murray, Ky.

Nifty-Fifty
Head Coach Rob Cross reached his first coaching win milestone with the Racers, 76-72, win over Tennessee Tech at the CFSB Center, Jan. 14, 2012. The win gave the fourth-year head coach his 50th career win in just his 108th game coached.

Shaking Up the Line-Up
The Racers have now used eight different starting line-ups this season, the third most for a Division I team this season. MSU has also started nine of their 12 players on the team, with only Erica Burgess earning a starting role in all 15 games this season.

Five-Time OVC Player of the Week
For the third-straight week and the fifth time this season, red-shirt sophomore Erica Burgess was named the adidas Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week, for Jan. 4.

The Memphis, Tenn., native recorded career-highs of 23 points and eight made free throws in the win over Southeast Missouri (Dec. 31). She finished the week going a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity strip. She averaged 15.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists over the two games.

Record OVC Opening Night
Several members of the Racers had record setting nights in the 2011-12 OVC opener against Southeast Missouri. Junior Tessa Elkins and red-shirt sophomore Erica Burgess both recorded career highs in the point's column, with 17 and 23 respectively. Burgess also went 8-of-8 from the charity stripe for a career night. Senior Kayla Lowe got in the action with a career-best four assists. However, the career night was key for freshman Beth Mahurin. The Rockville, Ind., native hit career bests of six points, eight rebounds and three field goals. She recorded all of her career highs before the end of the first half and added to them during the second.

Making Move Up or On Top-10 Lists
Three members of the team are currently on or close to making their mark on three top-10 lists at MSU. Junior Mariah Robinson is currently ranked No. 3 on the three's made chart, with 141. She is just two from No. 2 (143-Ashley B. Hayes). Senior Kayla Lowe also joined Robinson on the list, with her 106 career triples, for the No. 10 spot. She is five from No. 9 (111-Jennifer Parker).

Fellow senior Mallory Schwab is also making an effort to get on a top-10 list, blocks. The Martinsville, Ind., native has 44 blocks to her name and the chart start at 46 (four players).

1,000 Point Club Membership
Junior Mariah Robinson is cruising along to a membership in the 1,000 Point Club at Murray State. The Beaver Dam, Ky., native is looking to become the 18th member of the club and would be the ninth Racer to do so during her junior campaign. Robinson currently has 907 points, just 93 away from the milestone and is averaging 15.2 points per game this season.

Three Point Season
The Racers have made 123 triples this season, 53.0 percent of the school record for the most three's in a season (232). MSU has a season-high of 15 made in a single game (vs. Mid-Con) and has recorded the same or more triples than its opponents in every game this season. Of the 12 active players on the team, only two have not attempted a shot from beyond the arc and 7-of-10 have made at least one.

Taking Charge of Monday Night
After spending most of the first half of the season on the road the Racers are finally returning home and Monday nights are a big part of the action. Each Monday night for six weeks (Jan. 9-Feb. 13) MSU's women's basketball team will be hosting a game at the CFSB Center.

When the OVC schedule changed to have Saturday-Monday games for the women's teams in the conference the league implemented “Taking Charge of Monday Night” where each team is featured on OVCSports.com and the game they are playing will be featured free on OVCSports.TV. The Feb. 16 game against UTM is the Racers featured night.

Going for No. 500
The Racers are currently 494-640-2 in their 47th season of basketball. With six more wins the team will record its 500 victory. The 500th win for MSU would make the Racers the sixth team in the conference to record over 500 wins. MSU would join Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Southeast Missouri, SIU Edwardsville and Tennessee Tech in the club.

High Pressure Defense
The new high-pressure defense that the Racers are playing this season has forced three of their opponents into 30+ turnovers and six more into 20+ turnovers. This is the first time since at least 1996-97, when individual game stats are available, that the team has forced more than one opponent into 30+ turnovers. The most forced during that span was 39 (Nov. 18, 2009) by Mid-Continent. So far this season MSU has forced Mid-Con into 33, Ball State into 32 and Evansville into 31. Overall the Racers have forced 339 turnovers and have committed just 265.

Jessica's Missing for the Season
Both of the Racers players named Jessica, Jessica Winfrey and Jessica Holder, will miss the 2011-12 campaign due to injury. Winfrey was a key starter for the Racers last year, while Holder was sidelined for most of the 2010-11 campaign due to injury as well.

Up Next
The Racers will hit the road for one game next week at SIU Edwardsville, Saturday, Jan. 21 at 1 p.m. MSU will then played its final two non-conference games of the regular-season against Longwood (Jan. 23) and on the road at Southern Illinois (Jan. 26).

Murray State University Athletics

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