A furious rally by the women’s basketball team in the game’s final minute could not erase a poor first-half shooting performance against Jacksonville State leaving the Racers with a 78-76 loss.
After trading baskets back and forth in the game’s opening minutes, the Racers’ offense went cold in the first half for the second straight game. Down by one point, the Gamecocks used a 13-3 run that took nearly nine minutes to grab a double-digit lead over the Racers. Murray State made only two of their final 22 shots to close the first half, heading into the locker room down 36-23.
Senior forward Jessica Winfrey tallied a first half double-double despite the poor overall shooting game.
“We were just rushing our shots,” Winfrey said. “We were shooting too much and not trying to get the shots we regularly get.”
While the Racers struggled, the Winfrey kept the team in the game. The double-double marked the 12th of the season for Winfrey as she scored 10 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Racers.
“I wanted to go out and lead for my teammates,” Winfrey said. “I didn’t get to play much the last game so I wanted to show my team that I still had that fight in me.”
Winfrey continued to play well in the second half, but Murray State was unable to stop the Gamecocks offense.
Murray State got back-to-back 3’s from freshman guard Julia Fox and sophomore forward Bianca Babic to trim the lead to eight with two minutes remaining. The Racers continued to shoot 3’s and rallied to within three points, but the Gamecocks hit free throws to hand the Racers their fourth consecutive loss.
Winfrey led the Racers with a career-high 18 points and 19 rebounds.
Babic added her own career-high, scoring 21 points on seven 3’s in the loss.
“The last couple of games I feel like I didn’t contribute enough, so I spent extra time in the gym and it helped me,” Babic said.
The loss ends the Racers 12-game winning streak over Jacksonville State.
Murray State continues their home stand at 7 p.m. Monday against Tennessee Tech.
Story by Tom Via, Staff writer
