Looking to extend their win streak to four, the Murray State women’s basketball team hosted the top-seeded team in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), the Missouri State Bears. The Feb. 27 showdown was a battle of No. 1 vs No. 2 in the conference standings with the tournament in Evansville, Indiana, two weeks away.
The first quarter was back-and-forth with each team trying to gain a significant advantage early. The story of the first half was the play of two dynamic guards, Murray State sophomore Halli Poock and Missouri State’s Lacy Stokes. Stokes finished the quarter with 10 points and Poock finished with 9 points. Missouri State guard Kaemyn Bekemeier nailed a short jump shot as the buzzer sounded to give the Bears the lead going into the second quarter.
Murray State turned the game around in the second quarter, out-scoring the Bears 14-8 and taking a 31-27 lead into halftime. Poock and graduate forward Katelyn Young were the only Racers to score in the quarter, with Young scoring eight and Poock scoring six.
The Racers came out of halftime looking ready to put Missouri State away for good and their play showed it. In the first 5:42 of the third quarter, the Racers went 2-for-3 from the three-point line after going 3-for-14 in the whole first half. Murray State took the biggest lead of the game for either team in the third quarter, extending their lead to 12 thanks to a pair of free throws by senior forward Ava Learn to cap off a 7-0 Racers run. Missouri State brought the lead to eight as the third quarter ended thanks to a Stokes layup with three seconds left in the quarter.
Despite Missouri State looking down and out in the third quarter, they proved in the fourth why they are the top seed in the MVC. Despite being down 10 with 6:18 remaining, Missouri State went on a 9-0 run over the next 2:15 to bring the Racer lead to just one with 3:50 left in the game.
Murray State Head Coach Rechelle Turner let the pot-game press conference know where she wanted the ball to go after Missouri State worked their way back into the game.
“Me and Kate had a conversation with about five minutes to go and I told her ‘This is your moment’,” Turner said.
Young countered the Bears run with a 9-0 run by herself. She scored 11 straight points for the Racers in that stretch.
That stretch sealed the game for Murray State as they hit six straight free throws to cap a perfect night from the line and knock off Missouri State 78-67 in the penultimate home game of their season.
Young finished with a game-high 27 points along with seven rebounds. Poock scored 26 points on 57% shooting, something she said the pregame speech helped her with.
“Coach Turner just talked about the moment today,” Poock said. “She said don’t have any regrets today and step up.”
Before Poock answered the question about her shooting performance today, Young knocked on the table for good luck and told Poock to “keep it up.”
Murray State’s next game is the Senior Day game against Southern Illinois at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky. The Racers will look for their first five-game win streak since Jan. 26, where they won their sixth straight game, beating Evansville 104-66.
