Jakob Milani
Staff Writer
The final game of the first round of the OVC Tournament proved to be an exciting one as the Murray State women’s basketball team defeated the SEMO Redhawks by a score of 67-64.
Despite a slow start from the Racers, junior guard Macey Turley stepped up yet again and led the team to a first round upset win.
The first quarter started slow for both teams, with the Racers scoring the only two points in the first three minutes. The Redhawks got their scoring together soon afterwards, going on a 7-0 run from 6:42 to 5:48. The Redhawks’ defense held the Racers to their lowest scoring quarter of the season, allowing just eight points, with four from Turley and four from freshman forward Hannah McKay. The Redhawks extended their lead to 11 and at the end of the first quarter, led the Racers by a score of 19-8.
The Racers got it together in the second quarter, opening with a three-pointer from junior guard Lex Mayes. The Racers slowly climbed their way back into the game and even went on a 7-0 run from 2:45 to 1:42. The Redhawks still held their lead with senior forward Latrese Saine holding down the inside with three blocks in the quarter. Despite an 18-point quarter from the Racers, the Redhawks led 30-26 heading into halftime.
The Redhawks had an easy time scoring inside during the first half, scoring 22 of their 30 points from the paint, while the Racers scored 10 points in the paint. Saine proved to be an issue for freshman forward Katelyn Young, scoring eight points in the first half with five rebounds and four blocks. Young scored just five points on 2-8 shooting but grabbed five rebounds of her own.
The Racers came out in the third quarter with the same energy from the second quarter, going on a 7-0 run early on to give the Racers a 33-32 lead. Saine fouled three times during the run, forcing her to retreat to the bench.The Racers finished their dominant quarter with another 8-0 run, not allowing a single point from the Redhawks in the last 3:55 of the quarter. At the end of the third quarter, the Racers led the Redhawks by a score of 48-41.
The game went down to the wire, with an exciting fourth quarter to cap it off. The Redhawks brought the game to within three points early in the quarter, but the Racers held their lead and answered by going up eight with 4:16 left.
The Redhawks didn’t back down as they went on a 7-0 run, cutting the Racers’ lead to 62-61. However, Turley came in clutch for the Racers, making two free throws to stop the Redhawks’ run and helping give the Racers the victory. The Racers advanced to the next round after defeating the Redhawks by a score of 67-64.
Sophomore guard Roshala Scott led the Redhawks in scoring with 22 points on 10-19 shooting from the field, grabbing nine rebounds in the process. Junior guard Deanay Watson scored 11 points in the game on 4-10 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. Saine finished with 11 points, six rebounds and nine blocks.
Head Coach Rekha Petterson spoke postgame about the Redhawks’ loss, giving a lot of credit to the Racers’ Head Coach Rechelle Turner.
“Rechelle does a great job with her group,” Petterson said. “They made a few more plays down the stretch than we did. Obviously we missed Tesia Thompson and Taelour Pruitt. Those are players that when in March, they can go make plays. I am extremely proud of the effort that our young ladies displayed today. They left it all on the floor and just came up a little bit short.”
Turley led the way for the Racers, scoring 25 points on 7-17 shooting from the field and 10-11 shooting from the free throw line. Young finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 5-16 from the field and 4-4 from the free throw line. McKay finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, her first double-double of the year.
Turley spoke postgame about the teams performance, saying though the game didn’t start in the team’s favor, they still managed to get the job done.
“We didn’t start out the way we wanted to,” Turley said. “We weren’t really focused and we let SEMO get whatever they wanted offensively. We picked it up in the second half. Katelyn made some big shots, Lex made a big three in transition and we just overall rebounded better.”
Turley also spoke about her feelings on her first OVC Tournament win. She said while it is great to get the win, there’s still another game to be played tomorrow.
“It feels great,” Turley said. “Obviously we’re excited, but we know we’ve got business to take care of tomorrow. We gotta celebrate this one a little bit, then get focused in on tomorrow.”
Turner also spoke about the win, saying the team’s resilience is what keeps them going and is what earned them the win.
“It was just a gutsy performance by our kids,” Tuner said. “We did not play well at times during the game. Defensively, we didn’t do what we were supposed to, offensively we were stagnant in the first half, but the consistency and the resilience of this team is what has gotten us to this point all year long. Every time somebody thinks we’re down and counts us out, that’s a mistake because these kids are never gonna quit.”
Turner also talked about how the team performs every game, saying they continue to surprise her.
“These kids amaze me every single day,” Turner said. “The way they are able to handle [themselves] mentally and physically this entire season. We played with six kids today and a lot of them played 40 minutes. It’s not ideal going forward, but it is survive-and-advance right now. The bottom line is they know what we gotta do… we’ve gotta be able to step up and play. There’s no way we can play with six people tomorrow. We’ve got a really big challenge ahead of us.”
The Racers advance to the semi-finals in the OVC Tournament. The Racers will take on Belmont University on Friday, March 5, at 3:30 p.m. at the Ford Center.
