Iowa ends Racers' magical run, 92-57
WBB: Murray State's winningest season in program history wraps up at 25-8
Murray State fell to Iowa, 92-57, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma. Here’s what you need to know:
With the loss, Murray State’s season ends with a record of 25-8.
Here’s the complete box score from the game.
This was the first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2008 for the Racers.
Murray State’s Katelyn Young left the game early in the third quarter with an ankle injury and did not return.
Ava Learn and Halli Poock each scored their 1000th career points in the game.
Poock was the only Racer in double-figures with 15 points.
Murray State’s 57 points were the fewest they’d scored in a game all season.
Iowa held the Racers to a season-low 30.6% from the field.
The Hawkeyes shot 56.2% from the field, and assisted on 28 of their 41 made field goals.
Iowa advances to play the winner of Oklahoma and Florida Gulf Coast on Monday in the Round of 32.
A great ride ends too soon for Young and the Racers
For five years, Katelyn Young had been remarkably durable, starting every game she ever played with the Racers. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be able to finish her 155th and final game in a Murray State uniform. Early in the third quarter, Young rolled her left ankle and had to leave the game. She wouldn’t be able to return, and had to watch helplessly in the second half as the game got away from her teammates. The end result didn’t take away from her gratitude after an historic career.
“It's pretty sad coming to an end but I'm glad I came here,” Young said. “It was the best decision ever. Coach (Rechelle) Turner and the rest of the staff do a great job putting the players in a great position to succeed and just know what the team can do good and just continue to push that. I've had great years here. All of my teammates are amazing. I love them, and I'm glad I went out on top this year. This team has been awesome this year. There's just really no regrets.”
“When I finally got to her and bent down, I said, "You don't owe me another minute,’” Turner said. “‘You don't owe me anything. You've given this program everything.’ That's truly how I feel about it. She really changed the projection of this program, and she stuck with us when it was hard. We did a system change, and she agreed to that, and she fought through that. Then the ability to go make money. She had the ability this year, but she never wavered. She said, ‘I want to come back. I want to win a championship.’ The special young lady that she is is what I'll always remember. She played her best basketball this season and got her jersey retired. Just an exceptional career for an exceptional young woman.”
Young finished the game with six points and seven rebounds. She only connected on 1-of-6 shots from the field, thanks in large part to Iowa’s defensive focus on her.
“She's a great player,” Iowa center Ava Heiden said, complimenting Young. “She can shoot. She can drive. She's left-handed. So it was definitely going to be a defensive challenge. I think that my length definitely contributed to (Young’s struggles), and yeah, it just worked out pretty well.”
Learn hits milestone in her final game
With her first basket of the day two minutes into the game, senior forward Ava Learn scored her 1000th career point, capping a successful career at both Purdue and Murray State. Learn finished with eight points and ten rebounds on the day before she fouled out late in the third quarter. When she picked up her fifth foul, Learn left the floor in tears, with her jersey pulled up over her face.
“I think all my emotions came out when I fouled out,” Learn said. “It was very hard for me, but, like Kate said, I would not want to go out any other way. This team is unbelievable. I love them all so much. The connection, and like Coach Turner always says, no one really cares whose game it is, what's happening, as long as we're winning together, that's all that matters. I could not have finished it in a better way because that's my favorite type of basketball is when you're playing with your best friends and your sisters because I also think that's when you play the best basketball. I was so grateful for that.”
Learn’s 321 rebounds this season are the fifth most in a single-season in program history.
“Ava and Trinity (White) will be difficult to replace,” Turner said about her senior class. “I'm forever grateful those two chose Murray State and came and gave us their best two years of basketball. I don't think you replace people. I think you have to figure out a way to replace their productivity, to replace their efficiency, and I think those three kids gave us so many things, sometimes not even in the stat sheet. It's going to be difficult to say, ‘Well, we'll replace them with this person or that person or that type of player.’ They are a special group, a special group of seniors that have led us to this point.”
Hawkeyes bottle up the Racers all day long
Murray State’s 57 points were the fewest they’d scored all season, their five made three-pointers were tied for the fewest all year, and their 30.6% field goal percentage was the worst day of shooting since 2023.
While the Racers may want to have some of those misses back, the biggest reason for Murray State’s offensive struggles was simply the Iowa Hawkeyes.
“I knew we were in trouble at the end of the first quarter,” Turner said. “I know our analytics, and we were not getting out in transition. They did an outstanding job stopping us in transition. They were keeping us from getting into things that we wanted to get into very quickly, and we weren't making shots, so all the credit goes to them. People don't give them enough credit for their defense. I thought they really got after us. They really game-planned well to try to keep Katelyn off balance, and then again, when we are not making shots, it makes it difficult for us. I felt decent at 35-30, and then about 11 seconds later, I think it was a 12-point game — but that's what they can do. They have the ability to do that. They have so many players that can make plays. They had kids step up and make shots today that they don't even normally make. That's what makes great teams; when kids can do things and step up and help their team win. People might want to make the narrative, ‘Well, if Katelyn had not gotten hurt…’ We were beat before Katelyn got hurt. Let's not take anything away from Iowa in any way, shape or form. The game analytically was not going the way we needed it to. The pace wasn't anywhere where we needed it to be, and the three-point shots weren't going in. So I want to make sure everyone understands that they won the game and they did a great job.”
The greatest season in program history comes to a close
After recording a program-record 25 wins, and earning their first Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships, this Racer team has so much to be proud of, and Turner isn’t letting them forget that.
“Our team and program is not defined by this 40 minutes,” Turner said. “There were lot of big moments and a lot of big minutes throughout the year. That's the first thing I told these kids: This game does not define you. It just wasn't meant to be today. Iowa is a better basketball team today. That's basketball and that's sports. So we will definitely celebrate this. We will celebrate them individually and collectively, and we will make sure that they all know how much we appreciate what they have done for Racer Women's Basketball. We hope to use this platform in recruiting. We hope to use this platform to shine a light on Murray State University as a whole. We have great ambassadors in that locker room, and I'm extremely proud of them.”
Turner also took a moment at her postgame news conference to shine a spotlight on Murray State fans.
“I’m just really, really proud of our community and Racer Nation for the love that they showed our team all year long,” the eighth-year Murray State head coach said. “They just kept showing up. That ten-game winning streak, they were our sixth man. It just seemed like every night, there were more and more people there. To be able to win the championship in Evansville with half of Murray there made it extra special. We went out today, we're in Oklahoma and we had a great number of fans. As a coach you want your women to know that they are loved and appreciated and Racer Nation did an outstanding job of showing our young women just that this year.”