Turner: Racer women will ‘focus on ourselves’ in Valley

She admitted that, when it comes to the biggest challenge facing her program, she is not really sure what that is just yet. The Racers will not receive their conference schedule for about another month, meaning important details, namely travel arrangements, cannot be determined yet. 

However, there is one thing she and her players have determined, and it is the same thing she began emphasizing earlier this after Murray State’s move to The Valley became reality.

“We decided from the beginning, when this decision was made, that we were going to focus on ourselves,” she said of a program that has steadily made progress since she took the Racer reigns. Turner has compiled a 76-72 record in five seasons and guided her alma mater to its first postseason tournament appearance, a visit to the WNIT, in more than a decade last season as the Racers went 22-8.

“The only thing we can control is us, so we’ve recruited hard, we’ve worked hard to improve the players that we have and our individual workouts and our summer sessions, everything that we’ve done, has mainly been focused on us because, at this point, that’s really the only thing we know and can control.”

Turner said she has had chances to look at the Racers’ new domain and said some things are becoming obvious. She said the skill level appears to be higher than what was faced in the OVC, a fact that seems validated by The Valley’s postseason record last season. 

Valley teams participating in the WNIT were 2-0, including Drake’s upset of Southeastern Conference representative Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Missouri State also defeated Florida State of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

However, with a veteran lineup that includes last season’s OVC Player of the Year, forward Katelyn Young and Murray High alums Macey Turley and Alexis Burpo, both fifth-year guards who were named to the All-OVC Team, Turner said the Racers are not shying away from anyone in a conference whose overall RPI ranking is within the top 10 nationally. 

“We never change the expectation, and that is to win a championship,” Turner said. “We’re studying new teams, we know there are a lot of new coaches, so you don’t know what to expect at this point. However, the goal is the goal and the expectation is always the expectation, regardless of the situation we’re in.”

Murray State is being joined in its maiden Valley voyage by a fellow former OVC member in Belmont and former Horizon League member Illinois-Chicago.  Overall, though, The Valley is featuring two new coaches at existing programs, as well as the three new coaches from the teams joining it for the first time.

The brand of play exhibited in this league appears to be driving this year’s plan to separate the respective men’s and women’s media days, an announcement The Valley made on Tuesday. Commissioner Jeff Jackson expanded on that decision Thursday. 

“When you consider the esteem that women’s basketball has had in the Missouri Valley Conference what we’ve had, (women’s teams) can handle it on their own in terms of notoriety and publicity that they deserve,” said Jackson, adding that The Valley’s postseason tournament, dubbed “Hoops in the Heartland” in Moline, Illinois, has had a big part in making that possible. “So we’re excited about this event (Sept. 14 at the TaxSlayer Arena in Moline) and we’re very much looking forward to it.

“We’re also going to have some Title Nine 50th-year celebrations, not only during the fall at Media Day, but during our women’s basketball championship in the spring, so it’s an exciting time for us in many ways. They’ve earned it but, more importantly, we want to make sure that our women’s athletes are having a grand experience and this is just part of that endeavor.”