Murray State University Athletics
Friday, November 9
CFSB Center
5:15 p.m.
Murray State
vs
Western Kentucky
Photo by: Murray State Sports Information
Women’s Basketball Set To Open Season Friday Against WKU
11/8/2012 12:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Game Notes I Live Audio I Live Video I Live Stats
TV: None
Radio: 1340 AM WNBS FM Kyle Rogers
Web Streaming: Video - OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
Twitter In Game: @MSURacers @PGriffithMSU
Series: WKU 33-9
At Murray: WKU 10-6
At WKU: WKU 21-2
Neutral: WKU 2-1
The Murray State women's basketball team will officially kick-off its 2012-13 campaign on Friday when it hosts Western Kentucky at the CFSB Center at 5:15 p.m.
The Racers are coming off a 2011-12 campaign in which they went 13-18 overall and 8-8 in the OVC. Murray State earned the fourth seed in the OVC tournament before falling in the semi-finals to eventual champ UT Martin.
For this season, the Racers have been picked to finish fourth in the very tough eastern division of the conference. This is the first season in which the OVC has used a divisional format and switched after Belmont joined the league this summer, pushing the membership to 12. The OVC tournament will still feature eight teams, with the two divisional winners earning the top two seeds. The remainder of the bracket will determined according to record.
Helping lead MSU's quest to get back to the OVC tournament in Nashville this season will be junior Erica Burgess and senior Mariah Robinson. Burgess notched 16.8 points and 5.3 rebounds during her first year with the Racers and earned All-OVC second team and OVC All-Newcomer honors for her efforts.
Robinson will enter the season chasing two big MSU records. The senior, who averaged 14.0 points and 4.5 rebounds of her own, needs just three 3-point attempts to become the Racer's all-time leader in that category and just 37 made 3-pointers to lead that list.
MSU's first task, however, will be taking care of Western Kentucky. The 2012-13 campaign looks to be a rebuilding year for the Lady Toppers, as they return just five of 15 players from last year's squad and are under the direction of new head coach Michelle Clark-Heard. Despite only losing two starters from last year's team, WKU will be looking to replace 52 percent of its point production from last year and 51 percent of its rebound production.
The 2012-13 edition of the Lady Toppers will be a young one as WKU will have no seniors this season, just two juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen. The top returner for Western is sophomore forward Chastity Gooch, who averaged 6.1 points and 5.6 rebounds a season ago. The leading returning scorer for WKU is sophomore Alexis Govan who averaged 6.6 points per game last season and finished the year third on the team in that category.
In WKU's 94-64 exhibition win over Division-II Harding last Friday, Govan and Gooch proved they were ready to lead the team this season. Govan led six Lady Toppers in double digits with 25 points, while Gooch led WKU in rebounds with 15. Gooch also had 17 points in the contest to notch the night's only double-double.
The Racers are 9-33 all-time against the Lady Toppers and are 6-10 in games played in Murray. WKU has won the last 11 meetings in the series, including the only two at the CFSB Center, and has not fallen to Murray State since Jan. 19, 1989 at Racer Arena.
While MSU may have had its share of troubles with Western Kentucky, however, since head coach Rob Cross took over the program for the 2008-09 season, it has had little trouble with season or home openers. In four seasons, with the Racers, Cross is 3-1 in season openers and 4-0 in home openers. The only blemish on his record came at the beginning of his first season when Murray State dropped a 95-78 decision to the Lady Toppers in Bowling Green.
Fans not able to make it to The Bank on Friday will have three ways to follow the action live. For fans in the greater Murray area, they can catch the action on the radio with Kyle Rogers on Froggy 103.7. Rogers' play-by-play will also be paired with a live video stream that will be carried on the OVC Digital Network for fans around the globe. The OVC Digital Network is available on most desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile devices and is a free service of the OVC. Live stats will also be available for Friday's contest, with a mobile version available for those, as well.
TV: None
Radio: 1340 AM WNBS FM Kyle Rogers
Web Streaming: Video - OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
Twitter In Game: @MSURacers @PGriffithMSU
Series: WKU 33-9
At Murray: WKU 10-6
At WKU: WKU 21-2
Neutral: WKU 2-1
The Murray State women's basketball team will officially kick-off its 2012-13 campaign on Friday when it hosts Western Kentucky at the CFSB Center at 5:15 p.m.
The Racers are coming off a 2011-12 campaign in which they went 13-18 overall and 8-8 in the OVC. Murray State earned the fourth seed in the OVC tournament before falling in the semi-finals to eventual champ UT Martin.
For this season, the Racers have been picked to finish fourth in the very tough eastern division of the conference. This is the first season in which the OVC has used a divisional format and switched after Belmont joined the league this summer, pushing the membership to 12. The OVC tournament will still feature eight teams, with the two divisional winners earning the top two seeds. The remainder of the bracket will determined according to record.
Helping lead MSU's quest to get back to the OVC tournament in Nashville this season will be junior Erica Burgess and senior Mariah Robinson. Burgess notched 16.8 points and 5.3 rebounds during her first year with the Racers and earned All-OVC second team and OVC All-Newcomer honors for her efforts.
Robinson will enter the season chasing two big MSU records. The senior, who averaged 14.0 points and 4.5 rebounds of her own, needs just three 3-point attempts to become the Racer's all-time leader in that category and just 37 made 3-pointers to lead that list.
MSU's first task, however, will be taking care of Western Kentucky. The 2012-13 campaign looks to be a rebuilding year for the Lady Toppers, as they return just five of 15 players from last year's squad and are under the direction of new head coach Michelle Clark-Heard. Despite only losing two starters from last year's team, WKU will be looking to replace 52 percent of its point production from last year and 51 percent of its rebound production.
The 2012-13 edition of the Lady Toppers will be a young one as WKU will have no seniors this season, just two juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen. The top returner for Western is sophomore forward Chastity Gooch, who averaged 6.1 points and 5.6 rebounds a season ago. The leading returning scorer for WKU is sophomore Alexis Govan who averaged 6.6 points per game last season and finished the year third on the team in that category.
In WKU's 94-64 exhibition win over Division-II Harding last Friday, Govan and Gooch proved they were ready to lead the team this season. Govan led six Lady Toppers in double digits with 25 points, while Gooch led WKU in rebounds with 15. Gooch also had 17 points in the contest to notch the night's only double-double.
The Racers are 9-33 all-time against the Lady Toppers and are 6-10 in games played in Murray. WKU has won the last 11 meetings in the series, including the only two at the CFSB Center, and has not fallen to Murray State since Jan. 19, 1989 at Racer Arena.
While MSU may have had its share of troubles with Western Kentucky, however, since head coach Rob Cross took over the program for the 2008-09 season, it has had little trouble with season or home openers. In four seasons, with the Racers, Cross is 3-1 in season openers and 4-0 in home openers. The only blemish on his record came at the beginning of his first season when Murray State dropped a 95-78 decision to the Lady Toppers in Bowling Green.
Fans not able to make it to The Bank on Friday will have three ways to follow the action live. For fans in the greater Murray area, they can catch the action on the radio with Kyle Rogers on Froggy 103.7. Rogers' play-by-play will also be paired with a live video stream that will be carried on the OVC Digital Network for fans around the globe. The OVC Digital Network is available on most desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile devices and is a free service of the OVC. Live stats will also be available for Friday's contest, with a mobile version available for those, as well.
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