James Eclipses 1,000-Point Mark, Racers Fall at SIU

Thursday, November 17

Carbondale, Ill.

6 p.m.

Murray State

2-1

Southern Illinois

1-1

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Murray State	17	16	19	11	63
Southern Illinois	16	17	21	16	70

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

11/17/2016 8:14:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

The Murray State Racers dropped a 70-63 decision Thursday in the first road game of their 2016-17 season to the Southern Illinois Salukis. The loss at the SIU Arena in Carbondale dropped the Racers to 2-1.

Racer junior Ke'Shunan James became the 19th player in program history to score 1,000 career points. She reached the milestone with 7:35 left in the opening quarter on her first basket of the game. In typical James fashion, she made a steal and finished on the other end.

The Racers took a 31-28 lead on a 3-pointer by Jasmine Borders with 2:20 before half. But the Salukis tied it with a 3-point basket and the score was 33-33 at intermission.

The Racers took the lead on a Kyra Gulledge layup in the first minute of the third quarter and they pushed it to a 46-40 lead at the 5:34 mark on a basket by James. With 2:00 left in the quarter, the Racers saw their five-point lead (52-47) vanish. SIU went on a 7-0 run to take a 54-52 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

MSU last had the lead at the 7:38 mark in the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer by Abria Gulledge. SIU took the lead seconds later and MSU couldn't get it lead back.

James led the Racers with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting to go with a team-high nine rebounds. Borders scored 16 points on four 3-point baskets and LeAsia Wright added 11 points. The Racers went 6-of-23 from beyond the arc for a season-low 26.1 percent and also attempted a season-low nine free throws, making seven of them. SIU shot 35 percent from 3-point range and 36.2 percent for the game while going 13-of-18 at the charity stripe.

The Racers now come home for a pair of games on their home court at the CFSB Center. Sunday at 2 p.m., MSU hosts UNC Greensboro and Tuesday (Nov. 22) they host Lipscomb at 6 p.m.