EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Katelyn Young and the Murray State Racers are taking their high-octane offense to the NCAA Tournament.
Young scored 34 points to top 3,000 for her career and Murray State rolled past Belmont 83-62 to win the Credit Union I Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament inside Ford Center Sunday afternoon.
The Racers (25-7) captured the title in their third season in the league to earn the program’s second NCAA tournament berth. They became the 24th team to win both the regular-season and tournament championships after sharing the regular-season crown with Missouri State.
Belmont (22-12) finished as the tournament runner-up for the second time in three years and will await a possible ninth consecutive postseason tournament bid.
Young, who received the Patty Viverito Award as the tournament’s most outstanding player, ran her career total 3,023 points, moving her past Maine’s Cindy Blodgett and USC’s Cheryl Miller into 15th place on the NCAA’s all-time scoring list.
Her 77 points in this year’s tournament are the fifth-most in MVC history, tying her with former Missouri State star Jackie Stiles. Murray State, which leads the nation in scoring, rang up 265 points as a team in the tourney, the most in conference history.
Sophomore Halli Poock hit six 3-pointers and backed Young with 22 points. Ava Learn added a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double for the Racers, who have won 10 straight and set a school record for victories, and Briley Pena contributed eight points off the bench. Haven Ford scored only five but made her presence felt with 12 rebounds and nine assists in this matchup of former Ohio Valley Conference rivals.
Murray State shot 55 percent in the first half and 51 percent for the game, with Young going 13-for-18 and Poock 8-for-14, including 6-for-11 from deep. Poock’s scoring after she transferred in from Bradley has been a major plus for the Racers.
Young contributed in more ways than just her scoring. She grabbed five rebounds, made a steal and handed out seven assists – three that were particularly impressive.
She passed out of a double-team to Trinity White for a layup as part of a 6-0 run that blunted a comeback that drew Belmont to 51-48 late in the third quarter. Young scored the other points in that burst, sinking a free throw and converting a three-point play to stake her team to a 57-48 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Early in the final period, she whipped a 40-foot crosscourt pass to Pena for a 3-pointer that made it 63-52. Later, she leaped for a high pass into the post and slapped the ball to Pena in the left corner and she splashed a 3 that lifted the Racers into a 73-56 lead with 4:26 left and all but sealed the victory.
Kendal Cheesman led Belmont with 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds to give her 39 for the tournament – the No. 2 figure in MVC tourney history. She was the only Belmont starter in double figures. Tuti Jones and Jailyn Banks each scored nine points and Kendall Holmes had eight.
Banks had averaged 16 points in the first two games but struggled in this one, going 3-for-16. She did lead the team with eight rebounds and five assists.
Poock and Cheesman joined Young on the all-tournament team, which also had Katie Dinnebier of Drake and Lacy Stokes of Missouri State.
Belmont had come in with six straight wins and held its opponents to 55.7 points a game in that stretch. But none of those teams had Murray State’s firepower and the Racers topped 55 points before the third quarter ended.
Young scored 23 points in the first half, making 9 of 12 shots as the Racers opened a 45-29 lead. Belmont began running its offense more efficiently in the third quarter and forced Murray State into some tougher shots.
A 9-2 run got the Bruins back into it and Holmes’ driving layup made it a three-point game with 1:42 left in the third quarter. But Young led that run to finish the quarter and Belmont never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Young has scored 2,029 points during her three years in the MVC, putting her 12th on the league’s career list. Her 711 points this season rank 10th in conference history.
She’ll have least one more game to add to those figures. The Racers’ only other appearance in the NCAA tournament came in 2008, when they won the OVC tournament title.