Josh Embry
Contributing Writer
jembry3@murraystate.edu
The Murray State women’s basketball team was not able to overcome its poor shooting and lack of rebounding, losing 86-56 to Belmont on Thursday, Jan. 23 at the CFSB Center.
The Racers dropped their fifth game in a row and slip to 8-10 overall and 1-6 in OVC play. The Bruins extend their win streak to three games and move to 11-7 on the year.
Murray State allowed Belmont to shoot only 42% from the field but allowed them to go 12-for-27 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, the Racers’ shooting woes continued as they shot only 33% in the game.
“It continues to be the same struggles — 32% shooting [and] 25% shooting from three,” Turner said. “We just don’t make shots.”
The Bruins began the first five minutes of the game on a 14-4 run but the Racers cut back into their lead. Nevertheless, the Racers trailed 24-17 at the end of the quarter.
Every player struggled to score in the second quarter besides senior forward Ellie Harmeyer, the preseason OVC Player of the Year. She scored six of her thirteen points from the free-throw line and shot 3-for-5 from the field.
Murray State was outscored by five points in the second quarter and trailed Belmont 43-31 at halftime. Despite the team’s poor shooting in the first 20 minutes (36.4%), Turner was pleased with the team’s effort in the first half.
“I thought in the first half we fought pretty good,” Turner said. “I thought we took some punches from them but we just missed so many shots and then let a couple of them get loose and get some shots. We were down 12 at halftime but I felt like it felt like more of a five or seven point game that were kind of right there.”
Belmont had a strong third quarter, shooting 52.6%. Sophomore forward Conley Chinn scored 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting. Meanwhile, the Racers struggled to get anything to go through the hoop, shooting only 5-for-15. Murray State trailed 67-45 entering the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was even worse in terms of shooting for the Racers, as they went 4-for-16 from the field. The Bruins went on to win by 30.
Sophomore guard Macey Turley said the team knows their defense has to get better to be able to have a chance to win games.
“Definitely during this game it showed that our defense isn’t where it needs to be right now,” Turley said. “I think moving forward we’re just going to focus on that and then obviously keep focusing on rebounding.”
Turley said the team’s three point shooting defense was not very good after allowing Belmont to shoot almost fifty percent from the arc.
“We weren’t getting out to the shooters very well [and] we weren’t making them uncomfortable,” Turley said. “Whenever you’re guarding someone that’s six foot [who is] taller than you, you have to get in their space so that they can’t get it off.”
With a team so young, Turner knows that the team will experience growing pains but that these minutes the players are getting now will be beneficial in the future for the program.
“I think the experience that these kids are getting are going to be very beneficial when we bring in our ‘20 class,” Turner said. “I just think that it takes time to build programs. The program that I built before I came here wasn’t just instant. There’s peaks and valleys and it takes time to get a program to where it needs to be.”
Harmeyer proved she earned the preseason OVC Player of the Year award by scoring a game-high 26 points and corralling 18 rebounds in 26 minutes of action.
Chinn did most of her damage from beyond the arc, hitting four triples. She finished with 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting.
Two Racers scored in double figures, with sophomore guard Macey Turley leading the way with 11 points despite having a tough shooting night (3-13 FG). She also had four rebounds and three assists.
Junior guard Ashley Hunter tallied a career-high 10 points –all in the second half– on 4-for-7 shooting in only 11 minutes. Junior forward Laci Hawthorne dominated the glass for Murray State, grabbing 14 rebounds. She contributed seven points and three assists as well.
Freshman forward Macie Gibson drained three triples and finished with nine points. Sophomore forward Alexis Burpo finished with seven points, three rebounds, and two assists.
Murray State found themselves relying heavily on the starters, with sophomore guard Raegan Blackburn being the only bench player to play over 15 minutes.
Injuries to players such as freshman guard Jentri Worley and sophomore guard Sadie Hill has led to this lack of depth. With Worley already out for the season, Head Coach Rechelle Turner said Hill will also be out the remainder of the season.
“Sadie is out for the year,” Turner said. “She’ll be having surgery [in] three weeks maybe. That’s another player that we’ve lost this season due to injury. All you can do is pray for her and that she gets back and surgery goes well and then we can get her back into rehab as much as possible.”
Additionally, senior forward Cekeya Mack decided to not be a part of the organization to focus on her education. Turner said she fully supports and respects her decision.
“She chose to forego basketball to focus on academics,” Turner said. “In women’s basketball, ‘student’ athlete comes first. Student has to be first. We wish her the best of luck in pursuing that. We know that that’s something she’s gonna need to be successful [for] the rest of her life and we are here for her and we want her to complete that so that she can go on and be productive in society.”
With a rough start to OVC play, Turner said it’s her and her coaching staff’s job to keep the team’s spirits up despite their losing streak.
“It’s my job to continue to breathe life into them,” Turner said. “Our staff’s gotta continue to breathe life into them.”
The Racers will look to end their losing streak when they take on Tennessee State at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25 at the CFSB Center.