This week is going to be a big weekend for the Racers.We have a chance to win the team's first Ohio
Valley Conference regular-season title if we win our final two games of the
season.We will be playing Morehead
State first, Thursday, and then Eastern Kentucky, Saturday.Morehead is one of the two teams that we have
lost to this season during conference action, but the loss came early in the
season when we still weren't playing at our best.We are optimistic about our chances this
week.When we played Morehead early in
the year we were a different team.Now
the team has bonded more and we all know our roles better.
The upperclassmen know what to expect this weekend, pressure wise
since we have been in the same situation before.The last two seasons we have ended the year
in second place and two years ago we lost the final regular-season game by two
points to take the title away from us.The underclassmen don't know what that feeling is yet so this situation
will be new to them.
We have five seniors this year and this season has meant a lot to
all of us.Winning the OVC Tournament
last year was a big stepping stone for us, so this season we felt like we had
to play just as well to prove ourselves.I think that is what we have done - we have proven that Murray State is
a dominate team and they come to compete every time that we step on the court.
The excitement for the week hasn't just been on the court.On Monday the team and the Guffey sisters
were surprised with some of the highest honors that a Racer women's basketball
player has earned.During half time of
the men's game, after our win over UT Martin, it was announced that both Amber
and Paige had earned Academic All-America First Team honors and that Amber had
been named the Academic All-America of the Year for women's basketball.
Both Amber and Paige have worked hard both on and off the court
throughout their careers at Murray State.These awards are not only great recognition for them, but it helps show
the freshman that you can not only be a great athlete on the court, but you can
excel in the classroom as well. The underclassmen are already doing great jobs
in the classroom, so this will help encourage them to keep that up through
their career's here at Murray State.
Yesterday we played SoutheastMissouriState and lost for the
first time in 11 games.We played really
bad and SEMO took advantage of that.This is only our second conference loss and we are still tied for first
place in the conference.This loss could
help us in the long run because we now know that we have to be ready to play
every game.If we are not ready to play,
then the other team will take advantage of that because the other team will be
ready to play.
We play Eastern Illinois on
Saturday.This is a crucial game for the
simple fact that Eastern Illinois and our team
are tied for first in the conference.Whichever team wins this game will take sole possession of first
place.Eastern
Illinois is a good team and we have to be ready to play from the
start.If we are not ready then we will
get beat.I think our team has learned
from our last loss and I think we will be ready on Saturday.
Next week we have a busy week.It is the last week of the regular season
and we have three games.Our last three
opponents are UT-Martin, MoreheadState, and Eastern Kentucky.We need to come out ready to play because all
three of these teams will be ready.MoreheadState
and Eastern Kentucky are still trying to
improve their seed for the tournament.When we play Eastern Kentucky it is our
senior night.It will be the last
regular season game that I will ever play at the RSEC.It will be sad because it will be the last
time that our five seniors will play at the RSEC during the regular
season.Nevertheless, we are looking
forward to playing in the OVC tournament.
Last week I got a lot of media attention because I set the
school record with 46 points scored in a single game, but there were several
other players that performed just as well and helped me break the record.Without the assists from players like Amber and
Paige Guffey and the play of everyone on the court I would not have been able
to accomplish what I did.
Amber's performance means a lot to the team.She
scored 51 points in two games, added13 rebounds, and dished out 17
assists.The things that she does with
the ball, like drawing people to her to get the ball back out to the open
person it amazing.She makes the defense
be honest.When she is penetrating they
have to make a choice.Most of the time
she will draw two or three people and that leaves me and Angela Mullins open to
hit our shots.
Angela has also been doing a great job this season.She has gained a lot more confidence and is consistently
hitting her shot around the free-throw line.She is proving that if there is something you do well and work on it a little
more there is nothing that anyone can do to stop you.Everyone on the team has been stepping into
their roles and improving with each game.
Earlier in the season we really relied on Amber, Paige, and me
to score a lot.Now we are getting more
penetration and drawing the extra defender and are able to get it to the open
player and getting more scoring from the rest of the team.
No matter who has the most points on the scoreboard there
are many other people that are getting the assists and screening to help that
person get those points. Those are the most important stats and unfortunately they
go unnoticed. Most people don't think about those things but that is a huge
part of the game
My 46 points were not because of what I did, it was a team
effort - I could not have done it alone.
Things like the ice storm that affected the area really
bring a team together and I think that helped us refocus for last week's
games.As a team we had a good bond
before the storm, but the storm made us want to win more because if we didn't people
would say it was because the storm took it out of our rhythm.It wouldn't be the team it would be the storm.It took dedication from the team to stick
around and do what we could to stay focused.
It was a big motivator and a challenge.Are we going to lose, or are we going to keep
on the path we were on before the storm.Everyone responded well and we are continuing to perform like we know we
can.
This past week we played two
games.Our first opponent was Tennessee
State.They have a good team and they
played really well.We came out a little
flat in this game, but we eventually adjusted and started to play better.This game was all about offense.Each team scored over 90 points, with TSU
scoring 58 in the second half and us scoring 59 in the second half.Our defense was not up to par, but we will
improve it in these last conference games.
The story of this game was my
fellow senior Ashley Hayes, who scored 46 points.She was just amazing and could not be
stopped. In fact she set the MurrayState's
individual game scoring record. I think that this is the best individual
performance by a teammate that I have been a part of.We won the game by four points.
Our next opponent was Austin
Peay.This was a huge game for the fact that
Austin Peay was in third place in the standings and were looking to get closer
to our team.Austin Peay was ready to
play this game and they played really well in the first half.We did not play as well as we could have in
the first half, but you have to give Austin Peay credit for that.We came out firing on all cylinders in the
second half and we shot 70% from the field in the second half.Ashley played great once again.She followed up her 46 point performance with
a 36 point performance.Ashley's
performance this week is probably one of the best throughout the nation.She averaged 41 points, 9 rebounds, shot
28/43 from the field, 10/17 from the 3-pt. line, and 16/16 from the free throw
line.
We have been playing well lately
and are looking to continue that this upcoming week.We play Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State
this week.Both of these teams can be
dangerous and are capable of beating us.We have to be ready to play and learn from the last time we played these
two teams.
Since the
last blog, a lot has happened to our team.Last week we experienced something that most teams do not experience -an
ice storm in Murray.That is not even
the bad thing.We lost power and did not
have it for three days.We had no water
or electricity.The first day that the
power went out, our team stayed at the RSEC (this is where we play our home
games).Surprisingly, the RSEC was warm
and it had some lights.I enjoyed
staying at the RSEC because that meant we could shoot anytime we wanted.
On the
second day without power our team traveled to Martin, Tenn.As we are traveling we could see all of the
ice on the branches and power lines.There were branches on the road that we were driving on so the roads
were dangerous.Our coaches and a couple
of players on our team drove their vehicles and everybody rode with them.Coach Cross was in the front and everybody
was following him.On the way to Martin,
we almost had a collision with each other.I think we were going a little too fast for the road conditions.There was a branch on the road and it caused
someone to put on their brakes really hard.Then everybody else had to put their brakes on hard.We had two cars that wound up in the ditch
and we could not get them out.Jana, who
lives close to Martin, had some of her family come and pull the cars out of the
ditch.Thankfully no one was hurt in
this accident.
After the
little mishap, we continued on to Martin.We were thankful to be staying at a place with heat and a place that had
warm water.Another reason we went to
Martin was so that we could practice at UT-Martin.We are in the middle of our conference season
and had to practice somewhere.We really
appreciate UT-Martin letting us practice in their gym.They did not have to do that, but they knew
that we were in a bad situation and wanted to help us.
We take for
granted a lot of things that we have (water, heat, lights).This ice storm made me realize that I am
really blessed and I really do have a lot of things.This situation will make us stop and think
about things before we start complaining about a little discomfort we may
experience.There are still some people
in Calloway County and the surrounding counties that still do not have
power.Some people are not expected to
get their power back until the end of February.As you can see, our team really did not have it that bad compared to a
lot of other people.
Ashley Hayes
Senior G/F, Murray State
The OVC Player of the Year and an All-OVC First Team and All-Tournament Team member, Ashley scored her 1,000th career point Jan. 24, 2008 against Tennesse Tech. She led the Racers and was second in the OVC wtih 18.4 points per game for the 2007-08 season and garnered a team-high 270 rebounds. In addition, she named OVC Player of the Week four times.
Amber Guffey
Senior G, Murray State
Amber was named All-OVC First Team and OVC Tournament MVP in 2007-08, when she became a member of the 1,000 Point Club at MSU. During the season, she set school records for free throws in a game and in a season and three-point field goals in a season. She is ranked No. 1 on MSU’s three-point field goals and free-throw percentage charts and second in three-point field-goal percentage. (.406) and is the first MSU player to record 300 career free throws and 300 career assists. Amber was named to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll and earned the Medal of Honor for the second-consecutive season. Her twin sister, Paige, is a teammate on the Racers.
