Jakob Milani
Sports Editor
[email protected]

Falling short of glory, the Murray State women’s basketball team lost 68-62 to Tennessee Tech in the OVC Semifinals on Friday, March 4.

Despite 22 points from sophomore forward Katelyn Young and a career-high 16 rebounds from senior forward Alexis Burpo, the Racers fell just short of a trip to the OVC Championship.

Postgame, Head Coach Rechelle Turner said though the team ran the plays called, the shots just wouldn’t fall in their favor.

“We drew up some good plays and got some good looks,” Turner said. “We had some good layups from some set calls, and had some open threes to tie the game. It’s no one person’s fault for missing shots, it’s just some days they go and some days they don’t.”

The Racers were quick to get a lead with a layup from senior guard Macey Turley and jumper from Young followed up by a three-pointer from sophomore forward Hannah McKay.

Young managed to land another layup, but an and-one from graduate forward Anna Jones and a three-pointer from junior guard Maaliya Owens brought the Golden Eagles to within one point of the Racers. 

Murray State was able to expand its lead with an and-one from sophomore forward Bria Sander-Woods and a layup from Turley to put the Racers up 14-10.

Another layup from Turley put the Racers up by six points, but graduate forward Mackenzie Coleman got a layup to fall to end the first quarter. The Racers led the Golden Eagles 16-12 heading into the second quarter.

Burpo struck first in the second quarter with a layup, but Jones and sophomore forward Anna Walker answered with a quick 5-0 run to bring the Golden Eagles within one point of the lead.

Young made another layup that was countered by a jumper from junior guard Jada Guinn. Then senior guard Lex Mayes landed a layup from under the basket, but a three-pointer from graduate guard Megan Clark tied the game at 22.

A jumper from Clark and a three-pointer from Walker put the Golden Eagles up by five points. Young countered with back-to-back baskets as the half ended, cutting the Golden Eagles’ lead to just one point. As the teams went to halftime, the Golden Eagles led 27-26.

Young led all scorers at halftime with 10 points on 5-8 shooting from the field and grabbed four rebounds. Turley had six points on 3-9 shooting, and Burpo had 11 rebounds in the first half.

Jones had nine points at halftime on 4-6 shooting and two rebounds. Walker had six points and two rebounds, while Clark had five points on 2-3 shooting from the field.

The Racers took an early lead in the first half with a layup from Burpo but were quickly answered with a jumper from Guinn. McKay then hit a jumper from the elbow, and Mayes hit a three-pointer that put the Racers up 33-29.

Despite the Golden Eagles cutting the lead to one point, the Racers managed to stretch their lead with a pair of free throws and a layup from Young. McKay followed it with another jumper, and the Racers were up by eight points with 2:24 left in the third quarter.

Jumpers from Walker and Owens cut the lead to four points, but a buzzer-beater three from Turley gave the Racers a seven point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Golden Eagles were quick to cut the Racers’ lead as they went on a 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter, with points coming in from Clark, Jones and Guinn. However, Turley managed to counter the run with an and-one, keeping the Racers up by four points.

Walker had an answer, though, as she scored five straight points to put the Golden Eagles up for the first time since early in the third quarter.

Burpo grabbed the lead back for the Racers with a pair of free throws, but as the clock dipped below four minutes to go, Walker hit another jumper to keep the lead in the Golden Eagles’ favor.

Despite their best efforts, the Racers were unable to close out the game and were forced to foul with time running out. The Golden Eagles made their free throws, and when time expired, the lead had hit six. The Golden Eagles ended the Racers season with a 68-62 defeat.

Young was the leading scorer in the game with 22 points and 10 rebounds on 9-18 shooting. Turley had 12 points on 5-17 shooting and five rebounds. Burpo had 10 points and a career-high 16 rebounds in possibly her last game as a Racer.

Walker led the Golden Eagles with 19 points and nine rebounds, shooting 7-11 from the field. Jones had 15 points on 7-11 shooting, while Guinn had 12 points on 5-11 shooting, six rebounds and seven assists.

Burpo spoke after the game about it possibly being her last as she is set to graduate at the end of the semester. She said she’ll take with her some of her favorite memories ever made with some of her favorite people she’s ever met.

“My teammates are like my closest friends,” Burpo said. “We’ve all just grown together. Not just on the court, but off the court as well. That’s just basketball to me.”

Turner also said the team was blessed to be where they were in that game and pointed out how close they were to championship glory.

“We had a very blessed season,” Turner said. “To have the opportunity to be in this position and to coach these young women is a blessing. At the end of the day, it stinks. But these kids played hard and gave it their all … it just wasn’t meant to be.”

The Racers end their season with a 22-8 record overall and a 13-5 conference record, falling just short of the OVC Championship game.