Sisk’s 26 Fuels Women’s Basketball Win Over Ball State

Thursday, November 29

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

4-3

Ball St.

2-5

Ball St.

Murray St.

Photo by: Tab Brockman

Sisk’s 26 Fuels Women’s Basketball Win Over Ball State

11/29/2012 10:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

| Box Score (PDF) | Season Stats (PDF) | Post-Game Press Conference

Freshman Erika Sisk scored a career-high 26 points to help lead the Murray State women's basketball to a fourth straight win on Thursday night by taking down Ball State, 63-53, at the CFSB Center.

The first half was back and forth. While the Racers (4-3) led for a little over 18 minutes of the first half, Ball State (2-5) kept it close and trailed by just one at the third media timeout. However from that point on, the Racers exploded offensively and outscored the Cardinals 14-4 over the last 6:56 of the half.

Sisk led MSU at the half with nine points, while the team as a whole shot 38.2 percent in the opening frame. The Racers were able to take an 11 point lead into the locker room at the break, marking just the third time this season they have led at the half.

In the second half, Murray State was able to hold off a pesky Ball State squad that outscored them 31-30 in the stanza, largely due to the play of Sisk. Sisk went 6-for-6 from the floor in the half and 5-for-6 from the free throw line to finish with 17 points in the bottom frame. For the game, the reigning OVC Freshman of the Week went 10-for-14 overall and 6-for-8 from the line for 26 total points.

Junior Erica Burgess followed Sisk with 10 points, while senior Mariah turned in a well-rounded performance with eight points, a team-high eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. Freshman Bianca Babic also notched a career-high with six points by way of two timely first-half 3-pointers, while classmate Kelsey Dirks scored just two points but had five rebounds and a career-high five blocks.

Dirks' five blocks on the night marked just the 14th time in school history that a Racer notched five or more in a game and she became the first person to accomplish the feat since teammate Jessica Holder had five at Morehead State on Feb. 25, 2010. The victory marked the second in four meetings with Ball State, but the first in Murray, and moved MSU's record to 12-7 against teams from the Mid-America Conference.

On Saturday, the Racers will look to keep their winning ways alive when they host Southern Illinois at the CFSB Center for their third game in six days. The game will be the fourth of a six-game home stand for Murray State and is set to tip-off at 7 p.m.