Women’s Basketball Ends Drought Against SIU, Pushes Win-Streak To Five

Saturday, December 1

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

5-3

Southern Illinois

0-6

Southern Illinois

Murray State

Photo by: Tab Brockman

Women’s Basketball Ends Drought Against SIU, Pushes Win-Streak To Five

12/1/2012 5:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

| Box Score (PDF) | Season Stats (PDF)

The Murray State women's basketball team won its fifth consecutive game on Saturday night and in the processed snapped a 19-game losing streak to Southern Illinois, by topping the Salukis, 67-55, at the CFSB Center.

The Salukis (0-5) led just twice in the game, both coming in the first half, with the remainder of the contest belonging solely to the Racers. Southern Illinois led by one with 8:47 to play in the first, but after MSU (5-3) retook the lead nine seconds later, they never relinquished it. Murray State led by nine at the break and went on to lead by as many as 21 in the second half.

The Racers out-shot SIU, 37.9 to 36.1 percent in the contest, and finished the game 3.6 percent better than their season average heading into the contest. While Murray State's turned in an uncharacteristic 53.3 performance from the free throw line in the game, they more than made up from behind-the-arc, where they shot a season-high 52.9 percent. MSU finished the night 9-for-17 from 3-point range, with six of the nine coming from senior Mariah Robinson.

Robinson scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Racers for the fifth time this season. Through eight games so far this year, Robinson leads Murray State with 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds a game. Freshman Kelsey Dirks scored a career-high 11 points and tied a career-high with 10 rebounds to notch the first double-double of collegiate career. Senior Kyra Watson also a big night for MSU as ended the game with 11 points, two rebounds and three steals.

The win marks the first time since 1988 that Murray State has beaten the Salukis and the first time since 1980 that they have topped them in Murray. The win put to bed a 19-game win streak by SIU overall in the series and a 13-game streak in Murray. The win against Southern Illinois, coupled with an earlier win against Evansville, also marks the first time that Murray State has swept all of the Missouri Valley opponents on its non-conference schedule since the 1988-89 season.

After three games in six days, the Racers will have four days off before returning to the CFSB Center on Thursday night to take on Mid-Content at 7 p.m.