Jakob Milani
Sports Editor
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The Murray State women’s basketball team bounced back after their overtime loss against Austin Peay with an 87-73 win over the SIUE Cougars.
Senior guard Macey Turley spoke about the team’s ability to win after a tough loss against Austin Peay. She said the team just has to lock and keep their focus on what’s important.
“It always feels good to get a W,” Turley said. “But we gotta lock back in and focus on keeping the pedal down and not giving up leads, so we don’t lose like we did in Austin Peay.”
Sophomore forward Katelyn Young struck first with a layup, but junior guard Mikayla Kinnard answered with a layup of her own.
The two teams traded baskets until senior forward Gabby Nikitinaite got two shots to fall and give the Cougars the lead. Senior forward Prima Chellis and junior guard Jaida Hampton added on layups to give the Cougars a 12-4 lead.
A three-pointer from Turley gave the Racers life, and another three-pointer from senior guard Lex Mayes brought the Racers within three points of the lead. Young got two layups to fall, but a jump-shot from Kinnard kept the Cougars up 16-15 at the end of the first quarter.
The Racers took over in the second quarter, starting with a layup and a pair of free throws from senior forward Alexis Burpo. Back-to-back baskets from Young and a layup from Turley extended the Racers lead to five points. Then, a free throw and a three from Turley pushed the Racers lead to nine points.
Burpo continued to add onto her point total with a pair of layups. Then, a pair of free throws from sophomore Bria Sanders-Woods put the Racers up 35-22.
A jump-shot from Kinnard kept the Cougars in the game, but only for a short time as Burpo scored five unanswered points to put the Racers up 16. As the teams went back to the locker rooms for halftime, the Racers led the Cougars 42-26.
Burpo led the Racers into halftime with 15 points, four rebounds and five assists. Young followed with 10 points and four rebounds. Turley had nine points in the first half, shooting a perfect 3-3 from the field and 2-2 from three-point range.
For the Cougars, Nikitinaite, Kinnard and Hampton all had six points at halftime. Nikitinaite and Hampton led with one assist each, while Chellis led with three rebounds.
The Racers held the Cougars to just 10 points in the second quarter, while scoring 27 in the quarter. The Racers also outrebounded the Cougars 25-11 in the first half, with 16 of the Racers rebounds coming on the defensive end.
Sophomore forward Hannah McKay got the second half started with a layup. Chellis answered with a layup of her own, but the Racers kept the pressure on with three-pointers from Turley and McKay to extend the lead to 22 points.
A layup from Burpo was quickly answered with three-pointers from Hampton and junior forward Ajulu Thatha that cut the lead to 17 points.
The teams traded baskets as the clock was winding down in the third. The Cougars refused to let the Racers pull away as they had an answer for every shot the Racers made. As the clock ran out in the third, the Racers were up 63-47.
Murray State opened the last quarter with an 8-0 run that saw four different Racers score, including freshman forward Jaidah Black. The Cougars went on an 8-0 run of their own to bring the game back to within 16 points, but a layup from Turley kept the Racers up 75-57.
The 8-0 run was all the Cougars needed to get back in the game as they slowly chipped away at the Racers lead. Layups from Chellis and Thatha brought the Cougars to within 10 points of the Racers with just 1:58 left in the game.
With time winding down, the time to foul was upon the Cougars in order to get back in the game. However, the Racers free throws shooting was near perfect in the final two minutes with just one miss of the 10 attempted. Once it was all over, the Racers were on top, defeating the Cougars by a score of 87-73.
Turley and Burpo each scored 20 points in the game. Turley picked up seven assists and four rebounds, while Burpo had eight rebounds and seven assists. Young had 17 points and 12 rebounds in the game, while McKay had 12 in the game.
Burpo spoke postgame about her performance and her season as a whole. She said after a down season last season, it’s been all about getting her confidence back.
“My teammates have confidence in me,” Burpo said. “When they have confidence in me, I’m able to shoot or pass and just be the player that I want to be. Getting back to where I’m at has been building my confidence and just practicing my shooting more. I’ve just been trying to play the way I want to play.”
Head Coach Rochelle Turner spoke postgame about the win. She said despite a lackluster fourth quarter, she was proud of how the team was able to pull out the win.
“Thursday left a bad taste in our mouths,” Turner said. “We’re having a hard time putting games away in the fourth quarter. The kids came out and played really well tonight. At times offensively we were really sharp. We rebounded very well … just nice to see them bounce back after Thursday.”
With the win, Murray State moves to 16-7 overall and 8-4 in conference play. The Racers will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, to take on the Tennessee State Tigers on Thursday, Feb. 10. Tipoff for the game is set for 5:30 p.m.
