Crown them! Racers are Valley champs
WBB: Murray State wins their first-ever Missouri Valley championship
Murray State beat Indiana State, 109-70, Saturday afternoon in Terre Haute, Indiana. Here’s what you need to know:
With the win, the Racers improve to 24-7 overall and 16-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
View the box score from the game here.
At 16-4, Murray State clinched a share of their first Missouri Valley Conference title with Missouri State.
Katelyn Young led the Racers with 27 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Murray State broke the century mark for the sixth time this season.
Ava Learn (21 points), Haven Ford (17 points) and Halli Poock (11 points) all scored in double-figures for the Racers.
Murray State outscored the Sycamores in the paint 62-38.
After trying to get to 80 shots in a game for the last two years, the Racers took 84 — the most against a Division I team since November of 2012.
The Racers, who will likely be the #1-seed in next week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, will officially find out their next opponent on Sunday.
After eight long years, Turner finally leads Racers to the mountaintop
On March 29th, 2017, Murray State introduced Rechelle Turner as their new women’s basketball coach. 2,901 days later, Turner led her team to a 109-70 win at Indiana State, as the Racer program clinched a share of their first-ever Missouri Valley Conference regular season title.
“I read something at the end of the year last year, right before the kids came to campus in June,” Turner said during her postgame radio interview. “It talked about, ‘If you're going to pray, pray big.’ Why not? Nothing's impossible for God, and there's no reason not to ask him for what you want. Every night before the kids got to campus, and up until today, I prayed that this team would win a championship. Kate (Young) comes back, Ava (Learn) and Trinity (White) transfer in — and they give us two good years. We get Halli (Poock) to come over from Bradley. Haven (Ford) ready to be a sophomore. All these kids, Briley (Pena), junior season, accepts her role. These freshmen come in, we're expecting big things from them, and we just don't know what we're going to get. Destiny has a great season, her best season yet, up until her injury. But I just prayed that this team would win a championship because what a way to cap off Katelyn’s career. Like I told the kids after the game, God is good, and so I want to first of all, thank God for this and for allowing us to be in this position. I couldn't do this without my husband, Travis. He's a rock. He's been there for me for 23 years worth of marriage and 23 years of coaching. He's been there the whole time through the good and the bad, and I can't thank him enough. Cadwell and Cade for allowing Mom to do what she does, because Mom has to miss a lot. My oldest son, who plays baseball, had two home runs the other day, and I missed them. That's tough, but he understands, and they're very supportive. My parents, who go with us on every trip, are our biggest supporters. My sister and the rest of my family, I just love them and can't thank them enough. I have so many great friends that are there for me and that lift me up every time I need it, and I’m thankful for them. Most of all, I'm thankful for our crew. We have a great basketball family, and the kids in the locker room, the managers, the coaches, trainer, strength and conditioning (coach), everything that goes into this, every person played a part in us getting here today. It's just really, really a special time for this program.”
Racers blow game open in the third quarter
Murray State led Indiana State, 47-36, at the half. The Racers had missed a few opportunities, but were pretty much scoring at will. Defensively, Murray State was struggling to slow down the Sycamores’ Keslyn Secrist, who finished the game with 26 points.
In the third quarter, any chance for Indiana State to try to stay within arm’s reach of the Racers evaporated quickly. Murray States Katelyn Young scored nine of her 27 points in the first 2:30 of the quarter, as the Racers outscored the Trees 35-11 in the quarter to take an 82-47 lead to the final period.
The final ten minutes were nothing short of a coronation for the Racers. While Murray State has checked a milestone box for their program, they know they have more to accomplish next week in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
(Video: Murray State Athletics)
“It's kind of a melodramatic championship win, simply not being at home,” Turner said. “We celebrated in the locker room, but we'll do something for these young women, just to make sure that they understand the importance of this and celebrate this. I guess we'll go get some victory ice cream, and this may be the best tasting ice cream that we've ever had. We've got a lot of work to do. I feel like we're tired right now, I really do. It's been a long season. We’ve got to take a couple days off. We got to get ourselves back together, because nothing about the Missouri Valley Tournament is going to be easy, and we have to make sure that that we are ready for whatever comes.”
Tournament bracket will be released Sunday morning
There are several ties in the conference standings that need to be broken Sunday morning by the NCAA NET rankings. Once the rankings are released, the tournament bracket will be released. There is a belief that after today’s results, the Racers will be the #1-seed, but that won’t be confirmed until Sunday morning. If the Racers are the #1-seed, they’ll play the winner of #8-seed Valparaiso and #9-seed Bradley at 12:00pm on Friday at the Ford Center in Evansville.