Men’s basketball has always been a force at Murray State. I will always root for the team that I was lucky to spend two years working for and a lifetime cheering on. The move to the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) is starting to show Racer fans (and their wallets) that to be good in this era and in this league, isn’t going to be easy.
Spoiler alert: other schools besides Murray State care about basketball. While I understand the majority of fan’s frustrations with how the men’s team is doing, there is a simple solution for them all to get their fix of good college basketball. GO WATCH THE MURRAY STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM!
The first thing I’d like everyone to know is that EVERY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAME IS FREE! The great people at Community Financial Services Bank (CFSB) did everyone a solid and paid a good fee to make all of their games free admission.. For students, every ticketed sporting event is already free. We should be thankful because we get to witness an incredible team play great basketball for FREE! If you are a sports fan, and more specifically a basketball fan, why in the world would you turn down free basketball? Students, even if you don’t like sports, getting out to a game is good to break the monotony of everyday college life.
Murray State’s women’s team, at the time of writing this, is ranked third in the country in scoring. THIRD. IN THE COUNTRY. They average 88.8 points per game this season. The other nine teams in the top 10 are all ranked in the AP top 25. Those teams, in AP rank order are: Southern California, Notre Dame, Texas, LSU, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Florida State. That means Murray State averages more points per game than all but two teams in the entirety of Division 1 women’s basketball. If you want to see the scoreboard light up consistently on the home side, this team makes that happen.
While that statistic alone should be good enough to get fans in the CFSB Center to watch them, let’s dig a little deeper. The Racers have shown growth every year since becoming members of The Valley. The team finished 15-16 in their first full season in the MVC. Below .500 isn’t ideal, obviously, but they started to figure out what it takes to be competitive in this conference. Year two saw the Racer go 20-12, the second 20-win season for Murray State since Head Coach Rechelle Turner took over. In their third season in the conference, Murray State is 14-4 and tied for first place in the MVC with Belmont. The Racers have a chance for consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time since they had three back-to-back-to-back 20-win seasons from 2006-2009.
As of writing, the women’s next game is against the Belmont Bruins, who are tied with the Racers for first in the MVC at 8-1. This Murray State team is trending toward being one of the best women’s teams of all time at Murray State and they don’t have the fan support backing them that they deserve. I am a devoted member of Racer Nation (not just because I go to school here) but it sickens me that fans are not supporting women’s basketball like I know they can. Even if their record wasn’t as good, I would still shout from the rooftops to go and support them.
The impact of former Iowa Hawkeye Caitlyn Clark can be attributed to the growth of women’s basketball. Racer Nation, I’m happy to inform you that we have our own, very skilled Katelyn (Young), right here in Murray, Kentucky. We also have Ava Learn, Haven Ford, Halli Poock, Trinity White, Briley Pena, Destiny Thomas, Braxcynn Baker, Jada Cook, Grace Billington, Adalyn Koelling, Cam Hoover, Adriana Blazquez and Jazmine Young. The energy these women bring to every game is infectious. Constantly celebrating each other and being proud to represent the blue and gold, while just being happy that everyone is thriving and having a great time.
Every good basketball team has a group of managers that help their team in ways that go unnoticed to the public eye. Evan Quertermous, Ryder Boles, Angela Gierhart and Addie Hatfield go above and beyond for the women’s team. From filming games and practices, recording stats, rebounding before games, helping out during workouts and supporting the team just as much as the players and coaches do. Their contribution (and all managers across the country) deserves recognition. Without managers, things would be much more difficult on the staff. They truly are the backbone of the program.
I can’t mention the roster and managers without mentioning the staff that coaches them up and guides them as they not only excel as basketball players, but as people too. Head Coach Rechelle Turner took the job in 2017 and has established a culture like none I have seen in my time as a sports fan. Assistant coaches like Monica Evans, who has been right beside Turner virtually every step of the way; Wyatt Foust, student of the game and was Turner’s successor at Murray High School (and a mighty fine podcaster); Kayla Kleifgen, is in her first year at Murray State after helping Marquette reach their best start in program history during the 2023-24 season; Brittany Patrick, who played in the MVC and was a graduate manager at Indiana University when they earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament; Neija Tucker, a product of Austin Peay and knows what Murray State is all about; and Kayla Mitchell, an active graduate student who understands basketball and is committed to developing the skills of our team and someone who has done more cartwheels in two seasons than I’ve ever done in my life.
I’m choosing to use my platform to let all of Racer Nation and the students, faculty and administration at Murray State know to support our women’s basketball team. Don’t continue to moan in online forums about the men’s team when we have an amazing women’s team that plays in the same building. Murray State basketball fans expect winning basketball and the women’s team is providing it; you just aren’t showing up to witness it.
