Women’s Basketball Travels To SEMO

Monday, January 7

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

6:30 p.m.

Murray State

Southeast Missouri

Photo by: Tab Brockman

1/6/2013 4:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Game Notes | Live Audio | Live Video | Live Stats

TV: None
Radio: 1340 WNBS
Web Streaming: OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
Series: SEMO 34-33
At Murray: MSU 13-11
At SEMO: SEMO 10-18
Neutral: Tied 1-1

Fresh off a big win at UT Martin, the Murray State women's basketball team will continue a three-game road trip on Monday when it travels to Cape Girardeau to face Southeast Missouri.

On Saturday, the Racers topped the Skyhawks for the first time in three years with a 82-72 win at the Elam Center.

The game was tight was from the get go, as neither team led by more than seven in the first half. Each team led for large chunks of the opening frame, but it was the Racers (8-5, 1-1) who took a 39-38 lead into the locker room thanks to layup with under a minute remaining from Keiona Kirby.

The Racers were led in the opening frame by freshman Bianca Babic. Babic provided much needed momentum by notching a career-high 10 points in the first half.

In the second half, the Skyhawks (6-10, 1-1) came out and immediately re-took the lead with a jumper from Heather Butler, who finished with 19 points. Robinson and Butler traded the next two scores, leaving UT Martin with a one-point advantage. With 18:15 left in the game, freshman Erika Sisk hit a 3-pointer to give the Racers a two-point lead, one which they never relinquished.

With 7:13 left in the game, a basket from UT Martin's Shelby Crawford cut the lead to just two. From there, the Racers went on a 12-1 run that put them up 13 and virtually sealed the win; as they went on to win by 10.

The Racers outshot the Skyhawks from the floor in the game, 41.4 percent to 39.7, and out rebounded them, 44-41. While MSU did commit one more turnover than UT Martin, 15-14, the Racers took better advantage of their opponent's miscues, outscoring the Skyhawks, 20-12, on turnovers.

Robinson led Murray State on the night with a game-high 26 points, to go along with six rebounds, six assists and five steals. Sisk followed behind with 16, while Kirby notched her second-consecutive double-digit performance with 12. Tessa Elkins has 11 and Babic had 10, to round out a season-high five Racers with 10-plus points.

Freshman Kelsey Dirks pulled down a game-high nine boards to go along with seven points, while Jessica Winfrey had eight rebounds of her own.

Having set the school's career 3-point attempts record earlier this season, Robinson broke the school's 3-pointers made record of 210 set by Amber Guffey from 2005 to 2009 on Saturday. With the four made 3-pointers at Martin, she now has 212 for her career. In an interesting side note, Isaiah Canaan of the men's team set the men's record 3-point on the exact same day in a game at Southeast Missouri.

Saturday will be the 56th meeting in the series between the two schools, with the Redhawks leading 33-22. Despite the 11 win advantage for SEMO, Murray State holds a 13-11 lead in Murray and has won each of the past three meetings.

However, in Cape Girardeau, the Racers have not had much luck and trail 10-18. The Racers have actually made significant strides in evening the series in recent years and have won seven of the last 10 meetings, dating back to Jan. 7, 2008.

The Redhawks are currently 6-8 on the season and 1-1 in OVC play. SEMO picked up its first OVC win of the season on Saturday, when they topped Austin Peay, 71-57, at home. Jordan Hunter led all scorers in the game with 21, while Brittany Harriel followed closely behind with 19. Connor King led the Redhawks on the boards in the game with seven.

On the season, SEMO is averaging 58.0 points per game, while giving up 61.6. Leading the way for the Redhawks this year are Hunter and Harriel, who are averaging 10.1 points per game. Patricia Mack is currently the team's leading rebounder with 9.3, while Hunter also leads the team in assists with 3.8

Monday's game at the Show me Center is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m., tip-off and will be broadcast locally and on the web by Kyle Roger on Froggy 103.7 FM. Live stats will be available at GoRacers.com and a free live video stream will be available at OVCDigitalNetwork.com.