Gage Johnson
Sports Editor
Despite a late comeback effort, Murray State women’s basketball allowed 12 points off turnovers in the first quarter to make the difference in a 76-66 road loss to Southern Illinois University.
It looked like SIU’s offense was throwing a pebble in an ocean to open up the game. The Salukis went 6-for-8 from the field—with 4-for-6 coming from beyond the arc—to put the Racers quickly behind at 16-4.
Eight of those points came from junior guard Makenzie Silvey, who hit two of the Salukis’ four from beyond the arc. She was a mainstay in SIU’s offense throughout the game, finishing the night with 20 points and 6 rebounds.
This hot start made it tough for the Racers to fight their way back to extend their winning streak to six games and Head Coach Rechelle Turner said it was a lack of effort on the defensive end that caused this.
“We were not moving defensively when the game started,” Turner said. “I though the first five minutes of the game was maybe the worst defense we played all year when all I’ve been doing is bragging on it. They were taking shots like they were at a shootaround. We let them get really comfortable at first and that’s probably my fault. I may have stayed in the zone too long.”
Along with a struggling defense, it was seven turnovers, 5-for-12 shooting and 1-for-5 shooting in the first quarter that hindered the Racers, leaving them trailing the Salukis 25-11 going into the second quarter.
The Racers kept themselves in the ballgame, seeming to find their groove in the second quarter by cutting down their turnovers and outscoring SIU 16-15. This sent them to the locker room trailing 40-27 despite the Salukis shooting 51.6% from the field in the first half.
Murray State continued to try to work its way back into the game, outscoring SIU in the third with sophomore guard Macey Turley leading the way.
Turley was nearly doing it all for the Racers, scoring at will to end the night with 31 points on 9-for-25 shooting while going 5-for-9 from deep. Turley also grabbed six rebounds and it was her fourth and final assist that led to a three from freshman forward Macie Gibson to cut the Salukis’ lead to single digits at 66-57 for the first time in the game.
With the high level of intensity that Turley plays night in and night out, Turner expects these kind of performances out of the 2018-19 OVC Freshman of the Year.
“She’s just going to compete,” Turner said. “That’s just the kid that she is. She’s going to put our team on her back and she’s going to do everything we can to will ourselves to score as many points as we can. She’s our best offensive player right now so the ball needs to be in her hands. [I’m] just really proud of the resiliency that she shows every time we take that court.
However, Turley didn’t receive much help as no other Racer scored in double figures. SIU was able to take advantage of this and despite being outscored by Murray State for the last three quarters of play, come away with a 76-66 win.
It wasn’t all Silvey for the Salukis, as senior forward Nicole Martin controlled the paint on the offensive end for the Salukis with a team-leading 24 points and six rebounds on the night as well.
“She’s an exceptional player,” Turner said. “We don’t really have anybody that can match up with her athletically or physically on the inside. I thought at times we did a good job on her, but when she catches the ball that deep she’s going to be able to score the basketball.
Freshman guard Jentri Worley didn’t dress as she is waiting on an MRI on a possible bone bruise and sophomore forward Sadie Hill sat out after showing concussion symptoms after being hit in the head during practice Wednesday.
This loss snaps the Racers’ five-game winning streak and puts them at 6-3 overall going into their matchup with Samford University.
Despite the loss, Turner is happy with her team’s effort going into the end of their non-conference schedule.
“When this team gives effort, good things happen,” Turned said “After losing the first quarter like we did, we won the second, third and fourth quarter. I hate to lose, but this effort that they gave today against a very good basketball team will go a long way when conference play starts.”
Murray State’s first of its last two non-conference games will tip-off at 6 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 20, when they take on Samford at the CFSB Center.
