50-Point Half Leads MSU Past Blue Mountain

Monday, December 14

CFSB Center

6 p.m.

Murray State

4-5

Blue Mountain

1-8

Blue Mountain

Murray St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

12/14/2015 8:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

The Murray State women scored 50 points in the second half and went 19-for-32 (59 percent) from the floor in the final two quarters as the Racers pulled away from Blue Mountain College for an 89-64 victory Monday at the CFSB Center.

Ke'Shunan James led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting. James was one of four Racers to score in double figures in the victory. Kyra Gulledge scored a career-high 15 points on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting and also had six rebounds. Bianca Babic and LeAsia Wright added 14 and 10 points respectively. Babic hit four 3-pointers in the contest, a season-high for her.

MSU (4-5) controlled the inside in the game, out-rebounding the Lady Toppers (1-7) 42-31 and had 46 points in the paint to BMC's 24. The Racers also recorded a season-high 11 blocks as a team while Blue Mountain had just one. The Racers also controlled the tempo, out-scoring the Toppers 20-2 in fast break points.

For the game, the Racers shot 34-of-65 from the floor for 52.3 percent while the Lady Toppers went 26-for-62 (42 percent). Although MSU went just 7-of-27 (26 percent) from 3-point range and Blue Mountain was 10-of-19 (52.6 percent), the Toppers went just 3-for-10 in the second half from beyond the arc after going 7-of-9 in the first half and hitting their first six from 3-point range. MSU also went 14-of-18 at the free-throw line while BMC was just 2-of-6.

The Racers scored 30 points off of 21 Blue Mountain turnovers and also had a 26-23 edge in bench points. BMC had an 8-4 edge in second-chance points.

After jumping out to a quick 10-point lead in the first quarter, the Racers faltered a bit down the stretch in the second half and even trailed with 1:38 left in the second quarter, 37-36. A made free throw by Ajee Smith tied the game and Jasmine Borders swiped an errant BMC pass and scored as time expired in the second quarter to give MSU a 39-37 lead at the break.

The Racers controlled the entire second half much like they did the first part of the opening quarter, outscoring the Lady Toppers 30-12 in the third quarter and led by 20 points or more for most of the fourth quarter.

Murray State now goes on its Sunshine State swing as the Racers travel to Florida to play a pair of contests later this week. MSU will face Jacksonville at 10 a.m. central time Thursday and will face ninth-ranked Florida State at 1 p.m. Saturday.