Jan. 8, 2008

Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri State women's basketball came back from a 20-point deficit in the first half, but its second-half comeback fell short as it dropped a 71-68 decision to visiting Murray State in a Ohio Valley Conference battle Monday night at the Show Me Center. The Racers improved to 10-5 (4-3) on the year while the Redhawks fell to 9-6 (4-2) on the year.

Murray State jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game behind four points apiece from seniors Alaina Lee and Shaleea Petty. A three-pointer from junior Amber Guffey at the 12:49 mark later gave the visitors a 19-7 advantage, but Southeast scored eight of the next 13 points over a near four-minute stretch that sliced its deficit to 24-16 with 8:54 left in the first half. Guffey later hit two threes to start a 16-6 Racer run which ran through the final seven minutes and hiked their leading margin to 40-22 entering the half.

The Redhawks bounced back in the second half with a 18-9 scoring drive in seven-plus minutes with 11 combined points coming from seniors Ashley Lovelady (Elkhart, Ind./Moberly Area CC) and Missy Whitney (Charleston, Mo./Three Rivers CC) which cut Murray State's advantage to 49-40 with 12:14 left in the contest. Consecutive jumpers from senior Gerraca Matthews and junior Ashley Hayes brought the Racer lead to back 12 at 53-41 less than a minute later. A 14-4 run by Southeast through a span of three minutes cut its deficit to 57-55 with 7:23 remaining in the game before a trey by Guffey opened a 10-4 scoring drive in a three-minute stretch to hike the lead back to 67-59.

After Guffey hit a pair of free throws brought the Racers to a 69-61 lead at the 3:01 mark, the home team posted an 8-0 run in two minutes to close within one point at 69-68 which culminated on a trey from junior guard Sonya Daugherty (St. Louis, Mo./Hancock) with a minute left in the game. The score stayed the same until Southeast had a chance to take the lead with less than 20 seconds left, but missed a potential game-winning layup before Guffey hit a two more from the charity stripe to go up by a three-point margin with five seconds left. The Redhawks attempted a game-tying three attempt that missed at the buzzer.

Daugherty tallied a game-high 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting and contributed seven rebounds to lead Souheast. Whitney nearly tallied a double-double as she posted 21 points with nine caroms that included going 11-of-12 from the line, while junior forward Crysta Glenn (San Diego, Calif./Cowley County CC) posted a game-high 12 boards and added six points.

Guffey tallied 19 points, including 5-of-9 from downtown, to pace Murray State, while Petty scored 14 points with nine boards and a game-high five assists. Junior Ashley Hayes contributed 13 points and Lee posted 11 points for the Racers.

The Redhawks open a three-game road trip through Tennessee beginning Saturday, Jan. 12 at Austin Peay with a start time of 5:15 p.m.