Strong Second Half Propels Racers to Victory Over Longwood

Monday, January 23

CFSB Center

7:00 PM

Murray State

Longwood

Photo by: Dusty Schull

Strong Second Half Propels Racers to Victory Over Longwood

1/23/2012 11:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score I Box Score (pdf)

After trailing by five at the half, the Murray State women's basketball team came out in the second half and pushed through to an 86-77 victory over Longwood in a non-conference game at the CFSB Center.

The Racers (8-11, 4-3 OVC) were led by the trio of red-shirt sophomore Erica Burgess and juniors Mariah Robinson Kyra Watson. Burgess and Robinson combined for the first time that two MSU players recorded 20+ points in the same game since March 2, 2010. Burgess garnered a career-best 31 points and added four rebounds. Robinson added 21 points and five boards. Watson was also key to the Racers victory, recording her first double-double, with career highs of 14 points and 12 rebounds.

The first 10 minutes of the first half were a back-and-forth battle for control of the scoreboard. With 9:30 left to play the Lancers (5-18) went on a 10-4 run to take control of the half (21-15). The Racers made two 5-0 runs late in the half to cut the advantage to as little as one, but could not gain the lead and went into the locker room trailing 40-35.

In the first two minutes of the second stanza, the Racers cut the deficit to two, with a 5-2 run and then tied the game at 44 after a 9-4 run, with 16:15 left to play. The teams traded points for the next three minutes before the Racers took over for good with a 6-0 run (56-50). MSU pushed the lead out to as many as 13 (69-56), with nine minutes left to play. The Lancers then made a final push over the next four minutes and managed to cut the deficit to four before the Racers pulled back out to as many as 10.

Free throws and turnovers were keys to the win for MSU. The Racers hit 14-of-18 shots from the charity stripe and only allowed Longwood to make nine trips to the line (made 9). MSU also forced the Lancers into 15 turnovers and committed just nine. The Racers took full advantage of those turnovers, scoring 20 points.

MSU will conclude their regular-season non-conference games, when they travel to Southern Illinois, Thursday, Jan. 26 for a 7:05 p.m. tip-off.

Notes: Burgess' 31 points marked the first time since Jan. 13, 2011 when a Racer scored 30+ points in a game…Watson's double-double was the second of the season for MSU and the first since Nov. 22, 2011.