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COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A tremendous start by the Southeast Missouri women's basketball team gave host Tennessee Tech all it could handle, but a late TTU run sent the Redhawks to a 60-57 overtime loss on Saturday night.
The loss drops the Redhawks to 4-16 and 1-6 in Ohio Valley Conference play.
“I couldn't be prouder of our basketball team tonight,” Southeast head coach
Ty Margenthaler said. “We worked so hard and we gave everything we had. I thought we really played great defense. Tech has two great guards that can put up big numbers. We just didn't make some shots at the end, but they were good shots. It was unfortunate that they just didn't go in at the end.”
Southeast grabbed an early 4-2 lead as
Brittany Harriel nailed a jump shot and
Bianca Beck set up a
Courtney Shiffer layup. TTU responded with three-straight Brittany Darling layups to grab an 8-4 advantage with about four minutes gone by.
Two
Patricia Mack free throws cut the deficit to 8-6 and the teams traded baskets twice to get to 12-10. After A Briana Jordan jumper, Shiffer made a basket through contact to make it a two-point game. Jordan made a basket in transition before
Karley Evans drilled a jumper from the free throw line. After another Darling layup, Mack used a pump fake to get to the hoop and score.
A Tacarra Hayes free throw extended the Golden Eagles' lead to 15-12, but Beck hit two from the charity stripe to cut the gap to one at 15-14 with 10:19 left in the first half.
Allyson Bradshaw came off the bench and drained a three-pointer from the wing to give the Redhawks the lead with less than seven minutes to go. A
Yelena Rosado score made it 19-15 and a Shiffer basket extended the run to 9-0 and put Southeast up six with five and a half to play.
Southeast was not done just then, Harriel hit a jumper from the elbow and capped an 11-0 run, making it 23-15 in favor of the Redhawks. Jala Harris finally ended the run with a layup, but Evans calmly knocked down a three-pointer to give Southeast a 26-17 advantage. After another defensive stop,
Bailie Roberts completed a sensational individual effort by following her own missed shot and hitting a baseline jumper to make it 28-17 with the clock showing 2:20 in the opening stanza. Roberts' basket was the final touch of a 16-2 Southeast run that spanned 9:09
TTU closed the gap before the break as Tacarra Hayes drilled a jumper in the lane and Kellie Cook hit a three-pointer from the corner at the buzzer. Despite the late surge, the Redhawks took a 28-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Harriel opened the second half with a layup to bump Southeast's lead to 30-22. However, TTU went on a 12-2 run over the next five minutes to grab a 34-32 lead with 14:19 remaining in the contest.
Two Darling free throws extended TTU's lead to 36-32. At that point, Evans hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to one. A Hayes free throw made it a two-point game, but
Bailie Roberts made consecutive baskets. The junior drilled a jumper off the dribble and got to the basket for a layup to put the Redhawks back on top, 39-37 with 11 and a half minutes to play.
A Shiffer layup made it 41-37, but the Golden Eagles scored four-straight points to tie the score with 10 minutes left. Harriel came right back with a long jumper to put the Redhawks back in front, but Jordan hit a shot at the other end to even the score once again. Harriel crashed the boards afterwards and got an offensive rebound and a put back to put Southeast up 45-43 with under eight minutes left.
Bradshaw extended the lead to five with a long three-pointer, but a three-point play by Hayes made it 48-46 with 5:59 showing on the clock.
The score stayed that way for the next minute and a half before Mack nailed a long range two, upping the lead to 50-46 with under four and a half minutes left.
The Golden Eagles clawed back to within two points on a pair of Kylie Cook free throws. Southeast still had a 50-48 lead with under two minutes to play, but Molly Heady got to the hoop and scored to tie it up with 1:40 left.
The Redhawks grabbed an offensive rebound and had the ball with under a minute to play, but the Golden Eagles drew a charge with 36 seconds to play. Southeast got a stop and took a timeout with 11 seconds left, giving it a chance to take the last shot of regulation.
Southeast broke TTU's press and created a good look for Harriel, and her shot appeared on line, but was just a hair off the mark at the buzzer, sending the contest into overtime.
A Roberts free throw opened the overtime scoring and gave Southeast a 51-50 lead, but the ensuing possession saw Hayes find Heady for a layup to make it 52-51 in favor of TTU. Beck drilled two free throws and Harriel made a layup to put the Redhawks up 55-52, but Heady hit a layup and a jumper to put the Golden Eagles back in front by a point. After a block, TTU got into the open floor and Jordan scored to extend the lead to 58-55 with 1:03 left.
Southeast got three good looks at the basket on its next possession, including two potential game-tying three-pointers. However, none of those shots fell and TTU iced the game with a pair of free throws.
Harriel led Southeast with 12 points and she was joined in double figures by Shiffer's 10. Roberts narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Four TTU players scored in double figures, led by Molly Heady's game-high 14, all of which came after halftime. Darling scored 13 off the bench, Hayes tallied 11 and Jordan scored 10.
A 4-for-6 shooting line in overtime gave Tennessee Tech a 41.7 percent field goal percentage for the game. Southeast hit 39.0 percent of its shots, but went 2-of-9 in overtime. The Redhawks made 4-of-15 (26.7 percent) from three-point range and held the Golden Eagles to 1-of-7 (14.3 percent) from beyond the arc. Southeast enjoyed a decisive 44-35 advantage in rebounding, but TTU had a 19-11 edge in turnovers. Tech made 9-of-15 (60.0 percent) from the free throw line and Southeast hit seven of its 10 (70.0 percent) freebies.
Southeast is off until Jan. 28 when it travels to UT Martin.
