Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Austin Peay
Players Mentioned
Racers Face-Off With Govs in Regular Season Finale
2/23/2018 3:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Date/Time: February 24/4:30 p.m.
Site: Clarksville, Tenn.
Opponent (Record): Austin Peay (15-13, 8-9 OVC)
Murray State Record: 11-17, 7-10 OVC
Watch Live: OVC Digital Network
Listen Live: Froggy 103.7 FM (Jeremy Rose PxP)
Live Stats
All-Time Series: Murray State leads the all-time series 51-45
Last Meeting: at MSU 91, APSU 65 – Feb. 8, 2018
Twitter In-Game: @RacersWBB
Saturday's regular season finale is a big contest for the Murray State women as they travel to face rival Austin Peay at 4:30 p.m., in the Heritage Bank Battle of the Border. With a win Saturday, the Racers would move into seventh in the OVC standings due to a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Governors.
MSU clinched its trip to the OVC Tournament next week in Evansville, Ind., with a 70-63 victory Thursday night at Eastern Illinois. Bria Bethea led the Racers with 19 points in the victory while Brianna Crane recorded her third triple-double of the season behind 11 points and 12 boards. Ke'Shunan James added 15 points of her own to go along with six boards and a team-high five assists.
Last time out against APSU, James recorded one of the best single-game performances in program history with 41 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Those 41 points are a career-high for James and the fourth-most points scored in a single game in program history. James fell just one assist shy of the third triple-double at MSU all time.
Bethea and James continue to prove to be the most-potent offensive duo in the league as they average 38.6 points combined during league play. James ranks second in the OVC in scoring at 22.5 points per game in conference-only contests while Bethea's 16.1 per ranks fifth.
Austin Peay has been solid this season at home, going 9-4 at the Dunn Center in 2017-18. The Governors are led by Brianne Alexander's 11.6 points per game while Keisha Gregory is second on the team in scoring at 10.2 per and leads the Govs in rebounding with six per contest. Gregory is one of the best shooters in the OVC, going into Saturday's contest shooting 41 percent from 3-point range and 94 percent at the free-throw line. Alexander and Falon Baker are the only two Govs that have started in all 28 games this year. As a team, APSU is averaging 63.5 points per game and is allowing 65.3 per.
Win-or-lose Saturday, the Racers will be playing Wednesday at the OVC Tournament. A win would make MSU the No. 7 seed and would face either SIU Edwardsville or UT Martin at 3 p.m. With a loss, the Racers would remain as the eighth seed and face Belmont at 1 p.m.
