Only two teams haven’t lost a game since Missouri Valley Conference play this season, since the league schedule began on Dec. 3. Those two teams are the Murray State Racers and the Belmont Bruins.

In a rematch of the 2025 MVC tournament championship game, the Racers hosted the Bruins at the CFSB Center on Jan. 18 in the first of their two regular-season meetings.

Murray State jumped out to a 26-14 lead after the first quarter, capped off by a buzzer-beating floater by junior guard Haven Ford. The Racers shot 55.6% from the field in the first quarter, with two of their 10 makes coming from behind the three-point line. Ford and junior forward Sharnecce Currie-Jelks both finished the quarter with six points, while junior guard Halli Poock led the team with seven.

Belmont was unable to bring it any closer at halftime. The Bruins found themselves on a scoring drought that lasted 2:57. Murray State only made one of their next nine shot attempts in the same time frame. Despite a much worse shooting quarter, the Racers took a 45-26 lead into the halftime break.

Head coach Rechelle Turner said in the post-game press conference that the team “played some of their best basketball” in the first half.

“Ball movement, shots, defense, rebounding and 12 offensive rebounds in the first half,” Turner said. “You never want halftime to come because you know that’s going to take away that momentum.”

The second half was much different than the first. Both teams found themselves in a scoring drought at the third quarter media timeout. Murray State ended its drought after 4:08 thanks to a basket from Poock. The Bruins ended their scoring drought after 6:15 but wouldn’t make another field goal until the fourth quarter.

Despite having a 20-point lead going into the final frame of play, the third quarter for Murray State seemed like the tide may swing in Belmont’s favor.

With 5:35 left in the game, Belmont had cut the Racers’ lead to 12. Back-to-back trips to the foul line for Ford extended the lead back to 16. Junior guard/forward Keslyn Secrist and senior guard Briley Pena drained three-pointers in consecutive possessions and hurt any chance the Bruins had of coming back.

The Murray State Racers beat the Belmont Bruins 69-48, taking sole possession of first place in the MVC and remain as the only unbeaten team left in conference play with a record of 8-0. The win extended the Racers’ winning streak to 14 games, which is the longest in program history. The winning streak is tied for the fourth longest win streak in Division I women’s basketball.

Poock led the Racers with a joint game-high of 22 points. She has yet to score less than 19 points in MVC play. Ford finished with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Currie-Jelks finished with 12 points and a game-high 15 of Murray State’s 53 rebounds. She leads the country in double-doubles with 15 and is the only player in the country averaging 15 points and 12 baords. Secrist also finished with 12 points.

The Racers travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to play the University of Northern Iowa Panthers at 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 23. Pena said the team needs to stay level-headed as the season continues.

“I don’t think we need to put too much pressure on ourselves because we have this winning streak,” Pena said. “We just need to worry about one (game) at a time, as well as the scout and prep for that game.”