Jakob Milani
Staff Writer
In one of the most exciting games of the season, the Murray State women’s basketball team defeated the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles in the final regular season game by a score of 68-67.
With it being the final regular season game, a lot was at stake in terms of seeding for the OVC Tournament, making this game the most important of the season.
The scoring was abundant for both teams in the first quarter. The Racers shot 8-18 from the field, shooting 4-6 from three-point range and 4-5 from the free throw line. Freshman forward Katelyn Young scored eight points for the Racers in the quarter, shooting 3-6 from the field and 2-3 from the free throw line.
The Golden Eagles made 11 of their 18 shot attempts, scoring 23 points in the quarter. Senior guard Jordan Brock scored 10 points on 5-6 shooting from the field. After the first quarter, the Racers led the Golden Eagles by a score of 24-23.
The offense slowed dramatically in the second quarter as neither team scored above 12 points. The Racers scored 10 points on 5-16 shooting from the field, and grabbed 11 rebounds . The Golden Eagles scored 12 points on 5-14 shooting and 2-6 shooting from three-point range.
Junior guard Anna Jones scored seven points for the Golden Eagles in the quarter, making three of her six shot attempts. Heading into halftime, the Golden Eagles led the Racers 35-34.
The Golden Eagles shot 50% from the field in the first half, making 16 of their 32 shot attempts. The Racers shot 4-5 from the free throw line in the half compared to the Golden Eagles’ 1-3 shooting from the line. The Golden Eagles also led in the rebound battle, outrebounding the Racers 22-17.
The third quarter was another back-and-forth battle with a run by each team to add to the excitement. The Golden Eagles took a seven point lead after a 9-0 run with 3:32 left in the quarter, but the Racers answered with a 6-0 run of their own to end the quarter. The Racers made six of their eight free throw attempts, two of which came in their final run of the quarter. With the 6-0 run, the Racers led at the end of the third quarter by a score of 52-51.
The fourth quarter was just as close as the third as the game came down to the wire. The Golden Eagles went on a 7-0 run over the first 2:30 of the quarter to take a 58-52 lead. Junior guard Macey Turley took over for the Racers after the Golden Eagles’ run, scoring 11 points on 4-5 shooting from the field.
The Racers climbed back to tie the Golden Eagles at 62 with 2:40 left in the game. The Golden Eagles then took a 67-62 lead with 1:52 on the clock, but the Racers went on another 6-0 run to end the game with junior guard Manna Mensah sinking a free throw to take the lead. The Racers defeated the Golden Eagles by a score of 68-67.
Brock led the Golden Eagles in the game with 30 points on 13-25 shooting from the field and 4-6 shooting from three-point range. Jones finished with 23 points in the game, shooting 10-17 from the field and 2-6 from three-point range and grabbed eight rebounds.
Turley led the way for the Racers, scoring 25 points on 8-18 shooting from the field, 5-10 shooting from three-point range and 4-4 shooting from the free throw line. Young tallied 16 points and 12 rebounds, marking her ninth double-double of the season. Junior guard Lex Mayes added 11 points for the Racers. .
Head coach Rechelle Turner gave a lot of credit to the team’s effort, saying the team had a very gutsy performance.
“Macey Turley made huge shot after huge shot,” Turner said. “Our kids made big plays. Manna made that huge free throw. Just a lot of contributions led to this victory.”
Turner also spoke about the momentum the team has heading into the OVC tournament after winning seven of the last eight games. She said that this team is one that the staff worked really hard to put together for a long time.
“They are just playing well together,” Turner said. “We’ve had kids step up. Hannah McKay, Burpo, Macey Gibson, Manna. That’s what it takes. We’ve said all along that 15 is how many we have on this team and it takes all 15 to get it done. The reason we are what we are is our culture. No one cares who gets the credit as long as we get it done.”
The Racers take on SEMO in their first game of the OVC Tournament on Thursday, March 5. Turner discussed what it will be like playing SEMO, who won the tournament last season.
“We’re super excited about improving our seeding tonight,” Turner said. “I hadn’t really thought much about it to be honest. We’re gonna enjoy this one tonight and tomorrow. Fortunately, we have an extra day of rest playing on Thursday instead of Wednesday.”
The Racers finished the regular season with a 15-10 record overall and 12-8 in conference play. The Racers will be the sixth seed in the OVC Tournament and will go up against SEMO on Thursday, March 3, at 3:30 p.m.
