Josh Embry
Contributing Writer
Murray State women’s basketball suffered losses at the hands of UT Martin and SEMO, extending its losing streak to four games and leaving them without its first OVC road win.
UT Martin
Trailing by as many as 35 points in the third quarter, the Murray State women’s basketball team was not able to come back, losing 98-56 to UT Martin on Thursday, Jan. 16.
The Racers fall to .500 on the season (8-8) and slip to 1-4 in OVC play. The Skyhawks move to 9-7 and remain undefeated in conference play.
The Racers were dominated in the paint, getting outscored 50-24 and coughed up the ball 23 times.
Right out of the gate, UT Martin applied full-court pressure on Murray State like they did in their previous matchup only two weeks earlier.
The Racers handled the pressure relatively well and scored seven fastbreak points in the opening quarter. Sophomore guard Lex Mayes drilled three triples in the quarter as well but the Skyhawks scored at will in the paint and led 30-19.
Junior forward Maddie Waldrop, who came into the game averaging 9.8 ppg and 7.8 rpg, injured her back five minutes into the second quarter and did not return. UT Martin seemed lost without their starting forward but turned up the heat towards the end of the quarter.
Murray State allowed the Skyhawks to shoot 47% from the field in the second quarter but was outscored 23-17. At halftime, UT Martin held a 53-36 lead.
Mayes finished with 14 points at the half and sophomore forward Alexis Burpo was two rebounds shy of her career-high, grabbing 12 rebounds in 20 minutes of action.
The second half was all Skyhawks as they came out and scored 55 total points in the half and held the Racers to 20 points.
The third quarter was a nightmare in terms of shooting for Murray State. The team shot 2-for-16 (12.5%) from the field and turned the ball over nine times as well.
Head Coach Rechelle Turner said the team is aware of how detrimental their shooting woes are to winning games.
“We continue to shoot the ball terribly and we can’t score the basketball,” Turner said. “It doesn’t matter defensively what we do if we can’t score.”
Meanwhile, UT Martin shot 57% from the field to score 23 points. The Skyhawks led 76-41 entering the fourth quarter.
The game was all but over in the fourth quarter, with both coaches removing their starters with three minutes left. UT Martin would go on to win by 42.
Turner commended the Skyhawks on how well they are playing despite having multiple players injured.
“They are so good and they have so many injuries,” Turner said. “I can’t even imagine how good they would be if they had a full arsenal.”
With a young team like the Racers are, Turner knows the process can be challenging but wants the team to continue to carry on.
“We are gonna have to go through the valleys and we are gonna have to take on the hurt and the adversity and the things that we’re going through in order to get to the good stuff,” Turner said. “We’ve gotta continue to go the course.”
UT Martin’s junior forward Chelsey Perry scored a game-high 30 points (12-21 FG) along with 11 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals. Sophomore guard Kyannah Grant had a near triple-double, with 16 points, six rebounds, and eight assists.
Before her back injury held her out of the game, Waldrop tallied 15 points along with six rebounds, three assists, and three blocks in only 15 minutes.
Three Racers scored in double figures with Mayes leading the way with 17 points. She shot an efficient 6-for-8 from the field and a 5-for-7 from behind the arc, tying her career-high in made threes.
Both senior forward Cekeya Mack and junior forward Laci Hawthorne contributed 10 points and Hawthorne grabbed six rebounds as well.
Burpo controlled the glass again tonight, corralling 14 rebounds which ties her previous career-high she set just five days earlier. She added six points and five assists as well.
Sophomore guard Macey Turley, who came into the game averaging 18.6 ppg, was held to eight points on 2-for-8 shooting while also dishing out five assists.
Turner said the team must move on from this loss and play one game at a time.
“We got 13 games left,” Turner said. “We’re gonna attack it one [game] at a time. You gotta have amnesia and get over it.”
SEMO
A 24-1 run to open the second half proved fatal for the Murray State women’s basketball team as they were not able to hold on to their 10-point first-half lead against SEMO, losing 88-73.
The Racers drop to 8-9 on the season and 1-5 in OVC play. The Redhawks move to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in conference play.
The first half was close throughout, with both teams going on high-scoring runs.
SEMO opened the contest with a 10-0 run in the first three minutes. Sophomore guard Lex Mayes got Murray State on the scoreboard with a three-pointer. The Racers shot an efficient 6-for-11 from the field and 4-for-5 from behind the arc but still trailed 20-18 at the end of the first quarter.
Murray State dominated in the second quarter defensively, holding the Skyhawks to only 23.5% shooting. Meanwhile, the Racers went 8-for-16 in and nailed three more triples. They outscored SEMO 23-11 in the quarter and led 41-31 at halftime.
Sophomore guard Macey Turley paced her point total from Thursday’s game in only 18 minutes of play, scoring 15 points and dishing four assists. Sophomore guard Taelour Pruitt led all Redhawks at the half with 12 points.
SEMO came out at halftime and went on an offensive onslaught that lasted for the entirety of the second half.
Murray State saw its 10-point halftime lead turn into a 10-point deficit in just seven minutes when the Redhawks went on a 24-1 run. The Racers committed nine of their 23 turnovers in the third quarter and shot only 2-for-9, giving SEMO a 62-53 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Head Coach Rechelle Turner said the team was not focused in the third quarter and it led to the Skyhawks’ big run.
“We just never were locked in,” Turner said. “It was just one of those things where it just continue[d] to snowball.
The Racers were able to regain their composure in the fourth quarter and was only outscored by six. However, their cold shooting carried over, shooting only 4-for-15 from the field and allowed SEMO to shoot 8-for-16. The Redhawks would go on to win by 15.
Murray State was dominated in many areas of the box score. SEMO outscored the Racers in the paint 30-8 and controlled the glass with 24 second-chance points compared to 4 for the Racers.
Turner knows the team has to work harder to pull out victories in conference play.
“You have to earn [victories] and that’s what we talked to our kids about,” Turner said. “Nobody’s going to give you anything — you have to earn it. Right now, we’re not earning victories and therefore, we’re not getting them.”
Despite the loss, Turner had nothing but respect for SEMO and their talented players.
“Bottom line is that’s a good team,” Turner said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons [and] Tessia Thompson is a great player. They’re a veteran basketball team that makes plays when you have to make them.”
The Redhawks had four players score in double figures, with junior guard Tesia Thompson leading the team in scoring with 22 points — 17 in the second half — and seven rebounds. Pruitt finished with 20 points, four rebounds, and three assists.
Senior guard Carrie Shepherd had a double-double with 13 points, 10 assists, as well as five rebounds. Junior forward Latrese Saine contributed 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists.
Turley came back from her 8-point performance last game to finish with a game-high 25 points (7-16 FG) along with two rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
Sophomore forward Alexis Burpo set another career-high, but rather in points than in rebounds. She scored 20 points — 13 in the second half — on 5-for-9 shooting, including 3-for-3 from three-point range and 7-for-8 from the charity stripe. She also grabbed eight rebounds.
Sophomore Lex Mayes continued her efficient three-point shooting, going 3-for-5 and finished with 13 points. Freshman forward Macie Gibson added nine points and junior forward Laci Hawthorne grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
With no player being a part of the Racer program for more than two years and having only one senior, Turner knew the team was going to experience growing pains this season.
“We knew this year was going to be difficult,” Turner said. “The bottom line is all you can do is continue to learn, prepare, and then try to perform because we’re not just playing for this year. We’ve gotta get these kids experience and we’ve gotta throw them out there and say, ‘Find your way.’”
Turner said the team is going to focus on their 12 remaining games so that they can make it into the OVC tournament.
“We’ve got 12 games left to work ourselves and get ourselves to the tournament and that’s the only goal right now,” Turner said.
The Racers will look to end their four-game losing streak when they return home to take on the 10-7 Belmont Bruins at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 23 at the CFSB Center.
