Racers Earn Key OVC Victory at Tennessee State

Thursday, February 23

Nashville, Tenn.

4:00 PM

Murray State

Tennessee State

Photo by: Tab Brockman

2/23/2012 10:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score I Box Score (pdf)

The Murray State women's basketball team kept their chances of earning the No. 4 seed at the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference Championship by claiming an 87-83 win over Tennessee State at the Gentry Center in Nashville, Tenn.

The Racers (12-16, 8-7 OVC) were led by red-shirt sophomore Erica Burgess, who tallied a team-best 27 points and added seven rebounds. Juniors Mariah Robinson and Tessa Elkins also had strong performances for MSU, with 17 points each. Robinson added nine rebounds and Elkins seven. Senior Mallory Schwab tallied nine points and fellow senior Kayla Lowe added eight points and rebounds.

The first half was a back-and-forth battle for control of the scoreboard, with MSU claiming a one-point advantage at the half. The Lady Tigers (9-19, 5-11 OVC) were the first team to take a lead, going on a 4-1 run over a two-minute span to go ahead 9-5, with 15:46 left to play. The Racers countered with an 11-2 run over the next two minutes to take a 16-11 lead. The teams traded runs again and after a 20-all tie, MSU went on a 7-2 run to push out to a 27-22 advantage. The Lady Tigers then used an 8-1 run to take a brief 34-33 lead before the Racers closed out the half with a 6-3 run to take a 41-40 lead into the locker room.

The Races opened the second half with an 11-2 run to push their advantage out to 10 (52-42). TSU cut the lead to one (55-54) with a 12-3 run of its own over the next three minutes. The teams then battled back and forth over the next five minutes until the Lady Tigers had taken a 72-70 advantage, with 5:25 left to play. The Racers then went on a 7-0 run to regain the lead and go up 77-72. In the final 1:30, TSU fought back with an 8-5 run, but it was not enough to overcome the deficit, giving the Racers the 87-83 win.

Free throws in the final minutes were a major reason for the MSU victory. The Racers final five points came at the charity stripe, with Schwab hitting two in the final four seconds to secure the win for MSU. Overall, the Racers hit18 of their 27 attempts from the free-throw line, to TSU's 8-of-17 mark. MSU also had a slight advantage beyond the arc, going 7-of-20 to the Lady Tigers 5-of-17 mark.

The Racers will play their final regular-season game of the 2011-12 season, Saturday, Feb. 25 when they travel to face Tennessee Tech at the Eblen Center. The game is set for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.