Racers retire Young's #31, beat SIU 87-64
WBB: With the win, Murray State pulls into a tie for the Missouri Valley lead
Murray State beat Southern Illinois, 87-64, on Saturday afternoon at the CFSB Center. Here’s what you need to know:
With the win, the Racers improved to 20-7 overall and 14-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
This is the second time in program history Murray State has won at least 20 games three times in a four-year window.
With Missouri State’s loss at Belmont, Murray State is now tied with Missouri State and Drake for the Missouri Valley Conference lead with two games to play.
Murray State retired Katelyn Young’s #31 prior to Saturday’s game.
Along with Young, the program honored Ava Learn, Trinity White, Jenna Walker and manager Angela Gierhart on Senior Day.
Sophomore guard Halli Poock scored 17 of her 23 points in the second quarter to lead the Racers.
The Racers play at Evansville on Thursday.
The GOAT gets her rightful place among Racer immortals
After each of the Murray State seniors were honored prior to Saturday’s game, there was one extra part of the Senior Day festivities that needed to be handled. For the fourth time in women’s program history, Murray State retired a player’s number as Katelyn Young watched her #31 drop from the rafters.
Retiring Young’s number was nothing short of a state secret for the last several weeks, but she accidentally tipped herself off that something big was about to go down.
“No one told me anything,” Young said. “(Before the game), I have to look around my gym and there might have been a little blank spot. I was like, ‘There's no way they're actually doing it. There's no way that it just happened to be there.’ I really was surprised whenever it dropped. It's a huge honor. I'm so thankful for the university be able to do that. I'm just so thankful.”
“I didn't want Katelyn to get away from me, so I said, ‘Hold my hand,’” Murray State Head Coach Rechelle Turner said about the moments before the number dropped. “She's like, ‘Huh?’ — like, that's not something we normally do. So I kind of grabbed her hand because I thought if she starts to walk off, I don't need her to walk off. About that time, they started the announcement. “I just said, ‘Look up.’ I just kind of looked at her as they dropped it, and tears filled her eyes. I just said, ‘You deserve this, and I hope you know that.’ It was just kind of an emotional moment. (She’s) just the most humble, best player that I've ever been around. If I was as good as she is, I'd talk smack on every play. I'd be giving it to people left and right. That's just not who she is. I know in her heart of hearts, when she has time to kind of take it all in, how much it's going to mean to her.”
Walker gets one final moment in the spotlight
Jenna Walker transferred to Murray State three years ago with the hopes of being an offensive weapon for Rechelle Turner and the Racers. Unfortunately, Walker’s body never allowed her to reach her full potential. After battling injuries for much of the last two years, Walker medically retired before the season started back in October. During every pregame shootaround, the team ends the practice by shooting half-court shots until somebody finally makes one. Fittingly enough, Walker was the one who knocked down the half-court shot.
After the game, she was emotional about that moment and her basketball journey that is coming to a close.
“I think it was just like every other day, but when I walked in, it was a little different for me,” Walker said, fighting back tears. “Everybody thought I was sad because it was Senior Day. I was sad because I couldn't play. It was like every day for me, but I had to clear it up because the main thing was to win. That's something that I've had to figure out how to get through every day. It's been fun getting to watch them do their thing. This is the best team we've ever had at Murray State. This is the best crowd we've ever had at Murray State, and Coach Turner's done an amazing job for a program that nobody thought that she could get to this point. I just want to thank everybody for coming out and supporting and us getting a win over all the emotions. I cry a lot, but today it was a different feeling, but it was the same for everybody. I feel like maybe a little bit more emotional for all of us (seniors).”
“She's had a tough, tough career,” Turner added. “Injury-wise, once she got here, she never was right, and we weren't really able to figure that out. She made a difference in this program in the locker room. She made a difference in this program on the sidelines, at practice, and just being there for each and every one of the players on our team through thick and thin. You have to have those people. You're not only successful if you have great players, you have to have great people, and she's one of those all-time great people.”
She may not have been able to play, but that didn’t mean Walker didn’t interject herself into the proceedings at one point in the game.
Seniors battle emotions walking off the floor one last time
With the game in hand in the 4th quarter, Turner started emptying her bench and giving her seniors one last chance for a curtain call, and giving them all a final opportunity to get an ovation for their years of work within the program.
“Watching the seniors last year, I was just like, ‘Ooh, I can't imagine that — “I'm going to be balling my eyes out,” senior guard Trinity White said about her final walk. “I was strong (walking) off the court until they started playing that (seniors) video (after the game). It was just a nice feeling that everybody was there for us. Everybody came out to support our basketball team and I couldn't ask for anything else.”
“Honestly, it hasn't hit me,” senior forward Ava Learn added. “Probably later I'll be crying in my mom's arms. I think it was really special. The beginning was a little frustrating of a game, but I think by the end of it, I was personally able to let it go and just play the game. I did think to myself one time, ‘Wow, I could possibly not play on this court again.’ I was like, ‘That's not true. It's fine.’ So, reality has not set in, so let's all pray for me on that one,” Learn chuckled.
There was also a game on Saturday against Southern Illinois
Almost lost in the celebration of the senior class was Murray State’s win over SIU. The Racers were slow out of the gate, before finally starting to roll early in the second quarter. Halli Poock scored 17 of her 23 points in the second quarter to help blow the game open.
“We had no doubt that it was going to be emotional and it was going to be tough to kind of set all that aside, but we talked about it,” Turner said. “We don't really let our players go into any situation without discussing it, and they knew we had to be locked in and focused. I also knew that it was just going to take us a little time to settled in. Not only are our seniors emotional, I mean, Haven (Ford) and Halli are about as thick as thieves as they can be with Kate. Haven's having a hard time with this — she really is. I've had to talk to her a couple times today just to help her through her emotions. They get close and they love each other. When one chapter gets close to ending, they never know what's ahead, obviously, but I was proud of the way we kind of held it together. It wasn't our best performance by any means, but it was good enough to do what we needed to do today.”