NORMAL, Ill. — Illinois State women's basketball dropped its first home game of the season in a hard-fought 73-62 loss against the league-leading Murray State Racers (24-3, 15-1) on Sunday afternoon at CEFCU Arena.
The Redbirds (16-11, 10-6) held a 14-point advantage at the break after shooting a blazing 65.4% from the field, but a cold second half proved to be the difference on Senior Day.
HOW IT HAPPENED
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Murray State jumped out to a 4-0 lead to start the game. Bella Finnegan swished an 18-foot jumper to score the Redbirds' first points of the day. The Racers converted on a three-point play to extend their lead to five.
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A 16-0 run for the Redbirds over the next three and a half minutes, featuring scoring from Doneelah Washington, Jaeden Pratt, Grace Nelson and Addison Martin, gave ISU an 18-7 advantage and forced the Racers to use their first timeout.
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Out of the timeout, Murray State ended its scoring drought with a layup. Madison Austin came off the bench and scored to put the Birds ahead by 11. The Racers made a driving layup with just under two minutes to go, but the remainder of the period was scoreless, with ISU leading, 20-11, after the first 10 minutes of play.
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The Racers went on a 9-2 run to cut their deficit to four to begin the second quarter. The Birds didn't flinch and answered with an 11-0 run, including eight points from Trista Fayta, to go ahead, 37-22, with 1:04 left in the half. Washington beat the buzzer with a second-chance tip-in layup to give ISU a 14-point lead heading into the locker room.
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Murray State scored the first five points of the third period and went on a 12-4 run to once again cut the Birds' advantage back down to four. A layup from Washington and four points from Martin regained a double-digit lead, but back-to-back triples from the league's leading scorer, Halli Poock, kept the Racers in it.
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Washington made a layup with 1:14 left to make it 53-46, but two free throws and a last-second layup by the visitors sent the Birds' into the fourth quarter with a 53-50 lead.
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The initial 1:20 of the final quarter was scoreless until Murray State made a driving layup and converted from three-point land to give the Racers their first lead since they owned a 7-6 edge with 7:38 remaining in the first quarter.
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Martin knotted the game at 55 with a layup , but eight of the next 12 points scored in the contest came by the Racers, giving them a 63-59 lead at the media timeout with 3:41 remaining.
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A 6-0 run by the Racers out of the timeout put them ahead by 10 with 1:21 left. Murray State ended the game making its last four field goals to secure the 73-62 comeback victory.
HIGHLIGHTS
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Fayta led all scorers at the break with 16 points on 5-for-5 shooting.
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Seven different Redbirds scored in the first quarter.
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De'Shawnti Thomas earned her first career start as a Redbird on Senior Day.
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ISU shot a season-high 69.2% from the field in the second quarter.
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Martin scored a team-high seven points in the fourth quarter.
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Three Redbirds scored in double figures: Fayta (18), Washington (14) and Martin (14).
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Washington recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 boards.
UP NEXT
The Redbirds host Southern Illinois on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the final home game of the season at CEFCU Arena.
