Racers Survive Last-Second Shot to Defeat MVSU

Monday, December 18

CFSB Center

6 p.m.

Murray State

4-6

Mississippi Valley State

0-9

Mississippi Val.

Murray St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

12/18/2017 9:12:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Sydney Floyd's last-second turnaround jumper in the lane came up short off the front of the rim and the Murray State women survived a 64-63 battle with Mississippi Valley State Monday night at the CFSB Center as the Racers won their second consecutive game.

The fourth quarter featured four ties and three lead changes. A jumper by Jasmine Borders with 5:33 left to play broke a 54-54 tie and gave the Racers (4-6) the lead for good in the contest. MVSU (0-9) did manage to tie the game however at 63-63 with 29 seconds left to play after MSU led by four late in the period.

Ke'Shunan James was able to sink the second of two free-throw attempts with five seconds left to push MSU out front and break the tie prior to Floyd's miss. James, along with Borders each led the Racers with 19 points in the win. James also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and along with Janika Griffith-Wallace, had a game-high five assists. It was the fourth double-double of the year for James.

Borders went 6-of-8 from the floor on the night and hit a pair of 3-pointers. Bria Bethea was the other Racer in double figures on the night as she scored 12 points, all of which came in the first half. Brianna Crane added six points and eight boards in the victory.

MSU got off to a hot start in the contest, scoring the first 11 points of the game andleading by as many as 15 points in the first quarter, 24-9, on its way to a 24-13 advantage after one quarter of play.
However, in the second quarter the Racers got sloppy with the basketball and allowed the Devilettes to go on a big run to end the second period as the Racers committed 15 first half turnovers. LaKendra Bassett rattled home a half-court buzzer-beater to end the first half for MVSU and the Devilettes led 34-33 at the break.

MVSU ended the final 7:27 of the first half on a 19-5 run. During that stretch, the Racers committed eight turnovers to get the Devilettes back into the game and eventually take the lead.
For the game, the Racers committed 21 turnovers to MVSU's 13, however, both teams managed to score 20 points off those turnovers. The Devilettes did have a 46-36 advantage in points in the paint and a 16-10 edge in fast-break points.

MSU shot 46.3 percent from the floor on the night and went 6-of-14 from 3-point range. MVSU went 26-for-64 (40.6 percent) on the night and went just 2-for-12 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range.

The Racers close their non-conference schedule Wednesday as they travel to face Alabama at 7 p.m. It will be MSU's final game before going on a break for the holidays. OVC play tips Dec. 28 at the CFSB Center against Eastern Illinois.