Women’s Basketball Ready For 15th Straight OVC Tournament

Wednesday, March 6

Nashville, TN

12 p.m.

Murray State

Eastern Kentucky

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Photo by: Tab Brockman

Women’s Basketball Ready For 15th Straight OVC Tournament

3/4/2013 4:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Game Notes | Live Audio | Live Video | Live Stats

TV: None
Radio: 1340 AM WNBS
Web Streaming: OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
MSU: 16-12 (8-8 OVC)
EKU: 17-10 (11-5 OVC)
Series: EKU 53-29
At Murray: EKU 27-15
At EKU: EKU 24-13
Neutral: EKU 2-1

The Murray State women's basketball will travel to Music City, U.S.A., on Wednesday for its first-round game with Eastern Kentucky as part of the 2013 OVC Championship Tournament. The Racers and Lady Colonels will kick-off the entire tournament at Noon at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville.

Wednesday will mark Murray State's 21st all-time OVC tournament appearance and its 15th in a row. The Racers are 12-19 all-time in the OVC tournament and 2-4 under head coach Rob Cross, who has taken each of his five teams to the tournament.

Murray State is 6-10 all-time in the first round of the tournament and 0-4 as the No. 8 seed. Nashville's Municipal Auditorium has been kinder than other OVC venues to the Racers, as they are 4-3 all-time in the building.

On Saturday, the Racers were edged in their final regular-season game by Southeast Missouri, 61-58, at the CFSB Center in Murray. In the first half, the Racers fell behind early and trailed by as many as 12 with under 10 minutes to go in the frame. However, the Racers ended the half on a 12-1 run to take a 31-29 lead into the locker room at the break.

In the second half, Murray State once again allowed the Redhawks to surge ahead, this time with a 13-5 run midway through the half. MSU closed the gap to three with 3:09 remaining in the contest, and them again with 1:57, but was unable to convert and fell in their final home game of the season.

Senior Mariah Robinson led all scorers in the game with 23 points to along with six rebounds, while classmate Kyra Watson added 11 and five. Junior Jessica Winfrey led the Racers on the boards with seven rebounds, while freshman Kelsey Dirks added five, in addition to nine points.

Wednesday will mark the 83rd all-time meeting between the two teams, with EKU holding a 53-29 advantage. Eastern Kentucky also leads the series in both Murray and Richmond, as well as at neutral sites. Despite the lopsided number in the overall series, the Racers have actually pulled close in the series in recent years, winning nine of the last 14 overall and five of the last eight at the CFSB Center.

The two teams have met five times previously in the OVC tournament with the Racers leading the series 3-2. The last OVC tournament meeting between the two teams came in 2007 when Murray State picked up a 68-66 win in the first round
Eastern Kentucky ended the regular season at 17-10 overall and 11-5 in the OVC. The Lady Colonels actually tied for third place in the league, but dropped to the fifth seed by virtue a three-way tie-breaker with Belmont (3rd) and UT Martin (4th).

EKU ended the season on a mini-slump, dropping its last two games to Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State. Marie Carpenter went 6-for-8 in the game from 3-point range to lead all scorers with 26 points. Alex Jones also made an impact in the game with a double-double of 12 points and 15 rebounds.

Carpenter currently leads the Lady Colonels with 13.8 points per game on the season, while Jones leads on the board with 10.3. EKU posted the second best scoring defense in the league, giving up just 60.0 points per game, while scoring 62.5 themselves.

Wednesday's game will be carried live on 1340 AM WNBS with Kyle Rogers bringing fans all the action starting at 11:45 a.m. Live stats and a free video stream, courtesy of the OVC Digital Network, will also be available with links available for both at Go Racers.com.