THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Vanderbilt 73,
Murray State 47
Tennessee Tech 73, @SMU 62
VANDERBILT 73, MURRAY STATE 47
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Murray State women’s basketball team’s 2021-22 campaign came to a close Thursday night with a 73-47 loss to Vanderbilt in the first round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Racers kept pace with the Commodores for the entire first half, trailing by three at the end of the first, 20-17, and tied with Vandy at the half, 28-28. The Racers came out of the locker room at halftime firing on all cylinders, leading the Dores, 35-29, with 6:39 to play.
However, it was at the point where things fell apart for the Racers. From that point on Murray State was outscored by Vandy, 44-12, including a 17-0 run in the last 7:04 of the game. With the win, the Commodores advance to the second round of the WNIT to face Liberty.
Macey Turley led the Racers with 13 points, while Katelyn Young followed with 10. Hannah McKay was just shy of a double-double in the contest, with nine points and a team-high nine rebounds.
The Racers end their 2021-22 season with an overall record of 22-10.
TENNESSEE TECH 73, SMU 62
DALLAS, Texas - Tennesse Tech defeated SMU, 73-62, in the first round of the WNIT on Thursday. .
Tech (21-10) advances to the second round and will load up the bus and cruise up the Texas highways to Houston on Sunday with the game slated for a 2 p.m. start.
Anna Jones led the way with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting, while also pulling down seven boards. Mackenzie Coleman picked up her 12th career double-double, scoring 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting and 2-for-2 from 3-point range and collecting 11 rebounds. Anna Walker also had 13 points and eight rebounds.
Savannah Wilkinson led SMU (14-15) with 20 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 8-for-20 from the field. Kayla White scored 16 and Sydne Wiggins added 10.
The 73 points scored by the Golden Eagles were the most allowed by SMU since the start of the new year and eclipsed only by Oklahoma, North Texas and Arkansas-Pine Bluff over the complete course of the season.
The distance was built mostly in the second quarter. After Tech ended the opening period up 18-15, the Golden Eagles caught fire in the second, hitting seven of their 14 tries, while the Mustangs were held to 3-of-11 shooting. Tech extended its lead to seven points on a Coleman 3-pointer, but SMU cut the deficit back down to three twice, but the Golden Eagles scored five unanswered points to close out the half with an eight-point, 34-26 lead.
SMU had the Golden Eagles back within four twice in the third, but Tech surged once more in the period, going on a 7-0 run on a Jones driving layup, a Walker 3-pointer on a second-chance shot and a layup from Maaliya Owens to go up 11 before the period closed.
Tech led by as many as 16 points with 4:40 remaining in the contest and SMU briefly returned the game back to single digits but the Golden Eagles were able to lead by as many as 13 again before the final buzzer sounded.