CORALVILLE, Iowa – Murray State came out of the gates charging Sunday on their way to their second straight Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship and automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
The top-seeded Racers defeated 10th seed Evansville, 91-70, to end the Purple Aces’ three-game run in the tournament. Murray State takes their 31-3 overall record into the NCAA Tournament as a 12-seed facing 5-seed Maryland on Friday in Chapel Hill, N.C.
MVC Player of the Year Halli Poock continued her dominance and was named the tournament’s MVP behind her 33 points and 5 assists in Sunday’s title game. The junior guard keeps adding to her tally as Murray State’s single-season scoring leader with 758 points.
A native of Waterloo, Iowa – a little over an hour north of Coralville – Poock was happy she could show out in front of her family and friends.
“Obviously, it’s super special, but especially in front of my family. A lot more people I knew were here so I think it also speaks to the testament of this team,” she told reporters after the game. “I think we found a way all year, and it’s super special to do it with this group because there’s a lot of kids on this team that haven’t accomplished what we did last year.”
Poock was joined by teammates Sharnecce Currie-Jelks and Keslyn Secrist on the All-Tournament Team.
Junior forward Currie-Jelks, who holds the single season Murray State rebounding record with 401, notched another double-double Sunday with 12 points and 16 rebounds. She continues to lead the nation with 26 double-doubles this season.
Junior guard Secrist added 14 points Sunday after shining Saturday with 22 points and 7 rebounds in the Racers’ 72-59 semifinal win over Northern Iowa.
Murray State head coach Rechelle Turner spoke of Secrist’s value to the star-studded team.
“Some people are kind of what you call the unsung heroes, sometimes that are behind the really great,” Turner told reporters Saturday. “We have a lot of really great players, but I think Keslin has been the glue. She’s rebounded. She’s played out of position all year. She’s made big shots, she’s made big plays. She’s posted up bigger kids.”
The Racers have won 15 straight games going into their matchup with Maryland (23-8) at 3 p.m. EST Friday in Chapel Hill, N.C.
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Evansville runs out of gas after unlikely run
The Evansville Purple Aces came into the MVC Tournament with a 5-15 conference record. By the end of the tournament, they nearly doubled their conference wins with three straight victories headed into Sunday’s championship game.
To top it off, Evansville hadn’t won a tournament game since 2017 and were the first 10th seed to advance to the championship game. While disappointed in Sunday’s loss, head coach Robyn Scheer couldn’t be more proud of her team.
“We may have run out of gas a little bit today but just the run we put together, how our players represented our program,” she said, choking up as she looked over at sophomore guard Camryn Runner who was sitting next to her at the press conference table. “They are a joy to coach and these are really happy tears because I just loved every minute with these guys, not just this tournament, but this entire season.”
Runner, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, had 12 points and 7 rebounds in the championship game, after posting 24 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in both Saturday’s semifinal and Friday’s quarterfinal.
While many were intrigued by Evansville’s surprising run in the tournament, Runner knew the team had it in them.
“People are joking that it was like our Cinderella run, like nobody believed in us except ourselves, right?” she said in a press conference after Sunday’s game. “So, obviously it’s special. I still kind of feel like I’m on cloud nine, if that’s fair to say, even though we just lost in the championship.”
“It’s just special, because this team’s young, and we heard that excuse all season, and it sucked hearing that and losing to those close games,” she added. “I mean coming in, we lost to UIC twice this season. We lost to Belmont twice this season. We lost to Illinois State twice this season – like we wanted that one. But I mean, it’s special, because absolutely nobody believed in us except ourselves.”
Indiana State’s Tierney Kelsey rounded out the All-Tournament team. The sophomore guard’s 46 points in the Sycamore’s quarterfinal 105-88 loss Murray State on Friday put her in the record books as third highest single-game scorer in MVC Tournament history – just behind Missouri State legend Jackie Stiles, who scored 56 against Evansville in 2000 and 47 against Drake in 2001.
