Trio Leads Racers to OVC-Opening Win

Thursday, December 28

CFSB Center

5 p.m.

Murray State

5-7 (1-0OVC)

Eastern Illinois

1-11 (0-1OVC)

Eastern Ill.

Murray St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

12/28/2017 7:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

A pair of seniors in Bria Bethea and Ke'Shunan James and freshman, Brianna Crane, helped lead the Murray State women to an OVC-opening 72-61 win over Eastern Illinois Thursday night at "The Bank."

James had all around fantastic performance as she scored a game-high 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and tallied eight assists on the night. It was James' fifth double-double of the season. Bethea added 17 points, eight rebounds and three steals of her own in the victory while Crane scored a career-best 16 and pulled down nine rebounds.

For the game, MSU (5-7, 1-0 OVC) shot a higher percentage than the Panthers (1-11, 0-1 OVC) as the Racers shot an even 40 percent from the floor while holding EIU to 35.6 percent. The Racers also made seven more free throws than EIU and had a 32-26 edge in points in the paint and a 24-14 advantage in points off turnovers. MSU forced 17 turnovers and committed just 11 of its own.

The Racers controlled much of the contest as they led for nearly 36 minutes on the night. MSU's biggest lead of the game came with 4:55 left in third at 58-40. The Panthers however were able to end the quarter on a 15-5 run and trailed 53-45 after three.

With 8:32 remaining, EIU got as close as it would come in the contest, as it cut the lead down to 53-48. A quick 7-0 spurt by MSU pushed the lead back up to double digits. The Racers would respond with another 7-0 run later in the quarter after EIU cut the lead to 60-53 with 4:25 to play.

MSU trailed the first part of the first quarter before stringing together a nice run to end the quarter and led 16-11 after the period. The Racers led by as many as nine points in the first half and had a 29-23 lead at the half.

Thursday's win marks the third straight OVC opener that the Racers have won and improves MSU's mark to 18-13 in home OVC openers.

The Racers return to conference action Saturday as SIU Edwardsville comes to town for a 5 p.m., contest at the CFSB Center.