Solid start leads to Friday win for Murray girls

MURRAY — Murray put together a solid effort from start to finish Friday in a 74-25 route of Iowa Christian in Bluegrass Conference girls basketball.

Lady Mustangs coach Jerry Shields was much more satisfied with his team’s effort Friday than he was in Thursday’s 46-27 win over East Union at Jerry Brown Gym.

Murray raced out to a 20-1 lead after the first quarter.

“We were a completely different team,” said Shields. “Coming out of the gate, we were a lot different. The attitudes, the kids were pumped up. It was a lot better aspect to the game. We were ready to play.”

The Lady Mustangs defense took charge early.

“Our defense did a really good job,” Shields said.

The Lady Mustangs led 38-12 at halftime and 56-18 after three quarters.

Murray’s offense was crisp throughout.

“We passed the ball a lot better,” Shields said. “A lot of it was not standing around on offense. Our kids have started to move a lot more.”

Shields played all 12 regularly, with 10 reaching the scoring column.

“It was nice to get everybody in the game,” Shields said. “We got a lot of people needed playing time.”

Katie Otto led the way with a game-high 14 points, along with six rebounds. Bre Klein had 13 points and six rebounds. Zadie Hatfield added 11 points, six assists and five steals. Ally Waske chipped in eight points and seven rebounds.

“It was very, very balanced,” Shields said.

Murray (10-3) entertains Grand View Christian (10-3) Tuesday in Bluegrass Conference play.

“Grand View will be really, really tough,” Shields said.