Women`s Basketball Win over EKU wraps up trip to

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RACER INSIDER
March 1, 2011
Win over EKU wraps up trip to Nashville
MSU to face Austin Peay
as No. 8 seed Wednesday
By Will Aubrey
Racer Insider Senior Writer
It has been an up and down season for the Murray State
women's basketball team. But when faced with a must-win
situation in their final regular season game against Eastern
Kentucky they came through with a 65-56 victory that got
them into the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
“It feels good,” head coach Rob Cross said, “This time of
year everyone's record is the same, 0-0. All year long every
coach in the league has said that it doesn't matter who's playing
who, anyone in this league can go out and beat anyone else on
a given day. We're excited to be going to Nashville and looking
forward to being part of the tournament.”
The Racers finished the
regular season with a 5-13
record in OVC play, 9-20
overall. They finished in a
tie with Tennessee State for
seventh place but are seeded
eighth because they lost
twice to the Tigers during
the regular season. And they will play fifth seeded Austin Peay
in the first round of the tournament at noon on Wednesday.
MSU lost twice to Peay during the regular season dropping
a 71-55 decision at the CFSB Center back on January 8 and
losing 69-59 in Clarksville on February 5.
But the Racers have played exceptionally well at times this
year. They beat non-conference opponent IUPUI 71-42 and
they beat fourth seeded Eastern Illinois 71-64.
The common denominator in those games was shooting.
MSU has hit just 36 percent of their shots this season and just
Women’s
Basketball
MARILYN AUBREY
Head coach Rob Cross draws up a play for his Racer women in the
team’s tournament-clinching win over Eastern Kentucky.
29.7 percent of their three-point attempts. But they shot 50.9
percent against IUPUI and hit 47.4 percent of their their threepointers. And against Eastern Illinois they shot 43.4 percent
overall and hit 36.4 percent of their three-point attempts.
Those performances indicate they can play well enough to
beat Peay or anyone else in the OVC.
“I have that confidence,” Cross acknowledged. “The
important thing is I think our players feel that way too. They
really believe they can beat anybody. They really believe their
conference record should have been reversed. They have a lot
of belief in themselves.”
“If we play as a team and play consistently for a full 40
minutes I don't think anyone in the league can beat us,” the
Racers' leading scorer Mariah Robinson agreed. “But we have
to actually play that way. We can't just say it after one victory.”
In the two regular season games against Peay MSU
couldn't throw it in the ocean and they also lost the battle on
the boards. In the first game they shot a frighteningly bad 26.3
percent from the field and in the second game they weren't
much better at 31.3 percent. They were outrebounded by 12 in
the first game and two in the second game.
The good news is that the rebounding deficit may be a
statistical anomaly. About 2/3 of all rebounds go to the defensive team so when you don't shoot well you almost always get
outrebounded.
Robinson is capable of carrying them if she gets on a
roll. She scored 44 points against Jacksonville State earlier this
year and she's been over 20 on seven other occasions. But her
shot selection is questionable at times.
Over the last 14 games Robinson has shot 47 percent or
better five times. But she's also had some ugly games – 3-for12 against Southeast Missouri, 5-for-19 against SIU-Edwardsville, 5-for-17 against Austin Peay, 4-for-18 in the rematch
with Jacksonville State, 3-for-14 against Southeast Missouri,
and 2-for-11 against Eastern Illinois.
Kayla Lowe is a terrific shooter and is capable of lighting
it up. Last year she hit 54 percent of her three-point attempts.
She has struggled this year but if she takes her time and shoots
with confidence she should be fine.
Jessica Winfrey has been a reliable force in the low post
as she is averaging a double-double in conference play. She'll
have to continue to play that way for the Racers to make a run
in the OVC tournament.
But at the end of the day it will come down to whether or
not they can make shots.
“We've struggled to put the ball in the basket all year,”
Cross said. “We play hard and our defense is usually good
enough to give us a chance to win. If we can avoid mental
mistakes and shoot just a little better that should be enough to
get it done.”
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