The Racers had four players in double-digits in points, while senior Ashley Hayes tallied her fourth-straight double-double with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Senior Amber Guffey trailed Hayes by just four points, earning 21 points (nine in overtime). Senior Angela Mullins and junior Mallory Luckett each added 11 and 10, respectively.
With 2:38 left in regulation Murray State was up by six points (69-63) before EIU made a late push to tie the game at 69 and force the extra stanza. In the final 2:15 of the half the Panthers went on a 6-0 run, including four key free-throws, to tie the game. However, their offensive out-put ended with the buzzer at the end of the second period.
Luckett sparked a 15-0 run in the first 30 seconds of the overtime period to propel the Racers into first-place in the OVC standings and snapped a 20-game home winning streak for EIU. Luckett tallied a triple from the corner with 4:31 remaining and then tallied the next two points for Murray State with 2:51 left on the clock.
“Honestly we did a good job defensively tonight, they [EIU] just hit shots tonight,” said head coach Rob Cross. “We made some changes in the second half and forced them to take longer shots and they started to miss.”
