Waterloo native Halli Poock leads Murray State into NCAA battle with Hawkeyes

It had already been, in the words of Halli Poock, “a super-special” Sunday.

A few hours earlier, Murray State had secured an automatic bid to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, just its second in school history.

Then came ESPN’s selection show, adding to the day’s super-specialness.

A reunion with a high-school teammate awaits Poock. And so does an encounter with the team she followed throughout her young life.

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Poock will lead 11-seed Murray State (25-7) into Saturday’s first-round NCAA game with 6-seed Iowa (22-10). Tipoff is 11 a.m. at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla.

“We won’t shy away from who we are,” said Poock, a native of Waterloo and a former all-stater at West High School. “Anything can happen in March, and we want to prove that we belong.”

One of the first people that Poock will seek out upon the Racers’ arrival in Norman will be Sahara Williams, a four-year teammate at West and a sophomore at Oklahoma.

“It’s an opportunity that not many people get,” Poock said. “We had played together since grade school.”

Poock and Williams would be second-round foes Monday if their respective teams win Saturday.

Murray State earned a slot in the field by winning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament title.

The Riders whipped Belmont in the championship game, 83-62, at Evansville, Ind., then took the 2-hour bus ride home and awaited the NCAA selection show.

Poock spent her first collegiate season at Bradley, where she was a third-team all-MVC player and a member of the all-freshman team after averaging 14.9 points per game.

At Murray State, she plays alongside a 3,000-point career scorer in fifth-year player Katelyn Young. Still, Poock is second on the team in scoring (17.1 points per game) and dishes out 4.4 assists per contest.

The Racers live up to their nickname, scoring at an 87.8-point clip, which is highest in NCAA Division I.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Poock said of the Racers’ style. “We play at a fast pace. It’s fun basketball. We’ve improved a lot on defense.”

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com