Final Stats

MURRAY, Ky. – A cold shooting second half doomed Jacksonville State (4-12, 1-5 OVC) as Murray State claimed a 78-49 win at the Regional Special Events Center on Thursday.

The Gamecocks shot 41.9 percent in the first half before enduring a second half that saw JSU shoot 19.4 percent from the floor, including 10 percent on 3-pointers, and 27 percent from the free throw line (5-18)

Murray State (7-10, 2-4 OVC) was just the opposite, shooting 50 percent overall and 57 percent from beyond the arc in the second half. The Racers stretched a seven-point halftime advantage into a 61-41 lead with 9:07 to go in the contest.

Karisma Boykin connected on a three to open the game and a Danielle Beneby jumper gave JSU a 5-3 lead before a 9-2 run gave the Racers the lead for good, 14-7, with 14:34 left in the first half.

The Racers would lead by as many as 11 points in the half when JSU used an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 29-27 on a Boykin layup with 3:56 remaining in the first half.

Murray pushed the lead back to seven points when a Paris Hollingsworth jumper got JSU to within three, 34-31, with 54 seconds to go in the half.

Trailing, 36-31, Jax State had one more chance to cut into the lead but a missed a jumper followed by an Isom bucket gave Murray State a 38-31 lead at halftime.

Jolie Efezokhae led the JSU scoring with nine points in her return after missing the last three games due to an illness. Zenobia Pitts added eight points and Boykin chipped in seven. Cierra Duhart led JSU with five rebounds.

Mallory Luckett became just the second women's basketball player in Murray State history to record a triple double with14 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

Isom was the Racers' leading scorer with a game-high 22 points, going seven-of-eight from the floor with a 3-pointer and went a perfect seven-for-seven on free throws.

Kayla Vance connected on five 3-pointers to finish with 17 points while Mariah Robinson grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

Jacksonville State wraps the two-game road trip against Tennessee Martin on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Elam Center in Martin, Tenn.