Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Evansville
Players Mentioned
Turner Era Tips Sunday at Evansville
11/11/2017 10:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Date/Time: Nov. 12/1 p.m.
Site: Evansville, Ind. – Meeks Fieldhouse
Opponent: Evansville
Watch Live: ESPN3
Listen Live: WNBS 1340 AM (Jeremy Rose PxP)
Live Stats
All-Time vs. Evansville: Murray State leads the all-time series 20-14
Last Meeting: MSU 77, UE 82 – Dec. 4, 2016 (CFSB Center)
Twitter In-Game: @RacersWBB
The Rechelle Turner era begins Sunday in Evansville, Ind., as the Murray State women's basketball team opens the regular season at 1 p.m., against Evansville.
The Racers unofficially opened the 2017-18 season last week in a 108-56 exhibition win over Georgetown (Ky.) Nov. 2. MSU forced 33 Tiger turnovers in the win and scored 45 points off those miscues. Abria Gulledge led four Racers in double figures with 21 points while Ke'Shunan James had 20 and Bria Bethea notched 18. The Racers shot 52.5 percent from the floor in the exhibition and hit 13-of-32 (40.6 percent) from 3-point range.
Last season, MSU lost an 82-77 contest to Evansville at "The Bank." James led the Racers in the loss with 17 points and eight assists. MSU committed 21 turnovers in the loss, leading to 24 points for UE.
The Racers have won their last two contests in Evansville and defeated the Purple Aces 73-53 the last time they made the trip north in 2015.
The Purple Aces return a pair of starters from last season's team in Brooke Dossett and Kerri Gasper. Evansville also has Southeast Missouri graduate transfer Hannah Noe, who started 21 games last season for the Redhawks and averaged 10.7 points per game in 2016-17.
UE lost the 2016-17 Missouri Valley Defensive Player of the Year in Camary Williams due to graduation. Last season, the Purple Aces scored 62 points per game and allowed nearly 66 points. UE is led by Matt Ruffing, who is in his first full season as the head coach of the Purple Aces after having the interim tag last season.
MSU was picked in a tie for eighth place in the Preseason OVC Poll released at OVC Media Day in Evansville, Ind. The Racers were tabbed fifth in the media's preseason poll. Ke'Shunan James was named to the Preseason All-OVC Team at media day. James, a two-time First Team All-OVC selection, led the league and was 17th in the nation in scoring last year at 20.5 points per game. James is currently eighth all-time on the program's career scoring list with 1,553 points. James is 31 points shy of passing Mariah Robinson (2009-13) for seventh on the list. James is one of 19 members of the 1,000-point club at MSU and her 17.9 career scoring average ranks fourth.
MSU has six newcomers to the 2017-18 squad, including five freshmen and one transfer. Paige Barrett (Scottsburg, Ind.), Brianna Crane (Birmingham, Ala.), Janika Griffith-Wallace (Brampton, Ontario), Emma Johnson (Owensboro, Ky.) and Leah Richardson (Albany, Ohio) are the five freshmen while Evelyn Adebayo is a transfer from Gardner Webb and will sit-out the 2017-18 season due to the NCAA Transfer Rule.
 MSU's home opener is set for Nov. 15 against Butler in an 11 a.m., game. One other schedule note, the Racers' December 14 contest against Bethel (Tenn.) has now been moved to Nov. 27 at 6 p.m.
