Jakob Milani
Staff Writer
A dominant second half from junior guard Macey Turley pushed Murray State to a 67-60 victory over the Jacksonville State Gamecocks on Thursday, Jan. 21.
Senior forward Laci Hawthorne set the pace for the Racers early, scoring six of the team’s first nine points and drawing two fouls, leading to two made free throws. Jacksonville State kept it close in the quarter, making seven of its 15 shot attempts and taking an 11-9 lead with 4:23 remaining in the quarter, but after a 7-0 run the Racers led the Gamecocks 18-15 at the end of the first quarter.
Despite going up by 11 points early in the second, the Racers struggled to score throughout the quarter. The Racers went a whole 3:42 without making a basket, starting at the 6:10 mark. In that time, the Gamecocks only managed to score six points because of Murray State’s defensive pressure. The Racers held their lead through the end of the quarter, leading the Gamecocks 33-28 at halftime.
At halftime, the Gamecocks led the Racers in nearly every specialty stat. However, the two stats that made a difference for the Racers were their turnovers and free throws. The Gamecocks had 12 turnovers at halftime while the Racers only had four. Murray State also shot 8-13 from the free throw line in the first half compared to the Gamecocks, who shot just 3-4 from the line.
Neither team shot as well in the third quarter. The Gamecocks shot 36% from the field, while the Racers shot 38% in the quarter. The Gamecocks’ eight fouls proved to be the difference maker as they allowed Murray to shoot 11-12 from the free throw line. Despite the comparatively poor shooting effort in the quarter, Murray State still led 54-46 at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was dominated by junior guard Macey Turley, who scored 11 of the team’s 13 points in the quarter. After just eight points in the first half, Turley erupted for 18 of the team’s 34 points in the second half and shot 7-8 from the free throw line in the half. Thanks to her second half performance, as well as a 13-point and 16-rebound double-double from freshman forward Katelyn Young, the Racers defeated the Gamecocks 67-60.
Turley’s consecutive free throw completion streak was snapped after 45 straight made free throws, breaking Paige Guffey’s consecutive streak of 44 consecutive free throws for Murray State. Turley talked postgame about breaking Guffey’s record, and what that means to her.
“I don’t really think about it,” Turley said. “Whenever I go up to the line, I’m just (thinking) ‘I gotta make this for my team,’ and fortunately down the stretch I was able to make them.”
Although she got off to a rough start to the season, Turley has picked it up lately. She scored a season-high 26 points against Jacksonville State, shooting 3-5 from three-point range and 9-10 from the free throw line. She talked postgame about how both her and the team have improved over the last few games.
“I think the switch was at the UT Martin game,” Turley said. “Raegan picked a word which is what we do pregame and the word was ‘fire,’ and I think that just made everyone light a spark under them and just play with a lot of energy and get things done.”
Head Coach Rechelle Turner also talked about Turley’s performance recently, saying that her competitive spirit is what pushes her in games.
“She wants the ball,” Turner said. “She’ll be the first to tell you she didn’t shoot the ball well. She’s the type of kid that’s gonna continue to take that shot. She’s gonna take it upon herself. Win or lose, she wants to make sure that she does everything she can do to help us win… Being able to put the ball in her hands at the end of a game closes games out. She just does so much for us, but it’s just her competitive spirit and her willing to do whatever it takes, regardless.”
The team has now improved to 6-6 on the season after back-to-back wins over Belmont and Jacksonville State. Turley discussed how the team has learned to win over the last couple of games.
“I think we’ve learned a lot,” Turley said. “I think the big thing is what Coach has been saying. We have to play eight five minute quarters, and I think that really helps in breaking down the game so we aren’t focusing on the entire game, we’re just focusing on those five minutes. Obviously, we gotta rebound and just keep playing like we know how.”
The Racers came away with the win, despite shooting 18-61 from the field. Turner discussed after the game how the team pulled out the win over the Gamecocks.
“We didn’t shoot the basketball well tonight, but we found a way,” Turner said. “Nineteen-20 from the foul line in the second half will help get and sustain leads. We got stops when we had to, the kids made plays when we needed them to. We’re getting a lot of great production from our bench. Alexis Burpo is finally back playing the way we need her to play, and that’s turning things around for us. Just really proud of these kids. It wasn’t easy; nothing’s gonna be easy. We’re not gonna make any excuses for our schedule, but it’s been tough.”
The Racers shot 27-33 from the free throw line on the night and 19-20 in the second half. Turner says it was no coincidence but that it was part of the game plan heading into the game.
“We talked about it actually because they are a very very aggressive, defensive team,” Turner said. “So we wanted to make sure that we took advantage. We were shooting free throws extremely well as a team. So we gotta take advantage of that. There were several times that we were in the double bonus with five minutes to go in the quarter. Our kids kept attacking and kept going and getting to the basket. And I’ll say this again: 19-20 free throws in the second half from a team is how you take the lead and sustain the lead. And that’s huge for our basketball team.”
The Racers improve their record to 7-6 overall and are 4-4 in OVC play with their win over Jacksonville State. Their next game will be at home against Tennessee Tech Saturday, Jan. 23, at 4:30 p.m.
