Racers Advance to OVC Semifinals with 90-73 Win Over Austin Peay

Thursday, March 1

Nashville, Tenn.

Noon

Murray State

No. 8 Austin Peay

Photo by: Tab Brockman

Racers Advance to OVC Semifinals with 90-73 Win Over Austin Peay

3/1/2012 4:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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The No. 4 Murray State women's basketball team came back from 14-down in the first half to earn a 90-73 win over No. 8 Austin Peay in the quarter finals of the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference Championship at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.

The Racers (13-17) were led by senior Mallory Schwab, who garnered her first career double-double. The Martinsville, Ind., native garnered a career-best 11 rebounds and added 18 points, four assists and two blocks. Junior Kyra Watson was also a key contributor for MSU, with a career-high 23 points and added eight rebounds and three steals. Junior Mariah Robinson added 21 points for the Racers, with red-shirt sophomore Erica Burgess tallying 13.

The first half started with the momentum in favor of the Lady Govs (9-22), who used a 6-0 run to take an 18-11 advantage with just under 12 minutes to play. APSU pushed its lead out to as many as 14 with 4:46 left in the first stanza. The Racers then got back into the game, going on an 18-5 run over the final four minutes of play to cut the deficit to just one, 43-42, head into the intermission.

The second half became a battle for control with seven ties and three lead changes during the 20 minutes of action. The final tie came at 5:37 when APSU hit a triple to knot the score at 69. The momentum then switched to the Racers when Watson made a lay-up and the ensuing free throw to give MSU the lead for good. The Racers went on a 21-4 run in the final 5:30 of the game, with the majority of the points for both teams coming at the free-throw line.

After struggling early in the first half, MSU shot 52.5 percent (32-of-61) from the field and 35.7 (5-of-14) from beyond the arc. The Lady Govs shooting trailed off in the second half to finish the game hitting 38.8 percent (26-of-67) from the field and 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from beyond the arc. The key differences in the game were at the free-throw line and in rebounds. The Racers earned a clear advantage of 21-of-32 to 14-of-18 at the charity stripe. MSU also out-rebounded APSU 44-35.

The Racers now advance to the semifinals for the first time since the 2009 OVC tournament when MSU fell to Austin Peay. The Racers are slated to face No. 1 UT Martin at noon at Municipal Auditorium. The meeting with the Skyhawks is just the second in OVC tournament action, with MSU defeating UTM in the semifinals in 2007.

Notes: Senior Mallory Schwab tied her career-best of seven rebounds at the end of the first half…junior Kyra Watson tied a career-best of 14 points in the opening half.