Skyhawks down Racers during ‘We Back Pat’ day

The Skyhawks took flight against OVC rival Murray State, Saturday night in the Elam Center. With UTM's dynamic duo at the helm, the Skyhawks defeated Murray State, 84-67.

UTM gained two victories in one contest, and the sweetest win did not happen on the court. In front of a full crowd of Skyhawk and Racer fans, former head coach Betty Giles brought together one of her best wins of her career. It was a night to honor and support UTM legend Pat Head Summitt as she battles the early stages of Alzheimers.

Giles had every Skyhawk fan wear an orange t-shirt that read "We Back Pat", and during halftime there was a moving video describing Summitt's career, as well as the challenges she will be facing with Alzheimers.

Just one week prior to the battle against Murray State, UTM's Heather Butler passed Summitt as the fastest player to hit 1,000 points in school history. This game not only honored the Skyhawks past, but also showed great hopes for the future. Saturday night, another upcoming star would join Butler and Summitt in the prestigious 1,000 point club.

Jasmine Newsome only needed one point to become the 13 player to reach 1,000 points in school history. As the Skyhawks won the opening tip, it was evident in Coach McMillian's game plan that Newsome was the go to choice for the game's opening points.

Newsome drove to the basket, and missed her first attempt which set up Mallory Schwab of Murray State to drain the opening bucket.

On the transition, Newsome would be fouled, sending her to the charity stripe to shoot two. With complete poise and excellent composure, she sank both buckets, and became the 13 player in Skyhawk history to reach the 1,000 point club. Newsome received a standing ovation from the UTM fans, which continued even as the Racers took possession of the ball.

As time waned away in the first period, both squads were having shooting trouble. With 7:55 left in the first half, the score sat at UTM 19, Murray State, 17. Both teams were cold at the three point line; UTM was shooting 17 percent, and Murray State sat at 20 percent.

Not until the end of the first half did the Skyhawks begin to slowly pull away. Heather Butler was held quiet in the first 15 minutes of the contest, but with three minutes left to play in the  half, she quickly racked up five additional points putting her at 10 for the half.

At half time, the Skyhawks held a six point lead with the score sitting at, 34-28.

As the second half began, UTM came out and played extremely fast paced. With this tempo change, UTM appeared to catch Murray State off guard.

The Skyhawks posted eight points in a matter of four minutes. The Racers then had a small run of five points.

However, Newsome drove a nice layup through the Racer defense which resulted in an easy two. Murray State's coach, Rob Cross, called a timeout with the Racers behind by 11 with 15:36 left to play.

Time began to tick away on the Racers, for the Skyhawks dynamic duo began to take the game over with 10 minutes remaining.

Butler accounted for 18 of UTM's second half points and Newsome sunk 15 of her own.     

The Skyhawks saw impressive play from their two outstanding guards, and they had great play from down low by Percia Glenn. Glenn accounted for 12 points, as well as grabbing nine rebounds for the Skyhawks.

Murray State ended up with two players in double digits, Erica Burgess with 26 and Kayla Lowe landed 16. Murray State's middle was solid with the play of Kyra Waston. Watson sank eight points, and also grabbed 13 rebounds for the Racers.

With the win, the Skyhawks solidified a birth in the OVC tournament which will be played in Nashville on February 29. This will be the second straight year for the Skyhawks to make the tournament, and they are striving to come away as conference champions yet again.