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MARTIN, Tenn. – Bailie Roberts scored a career-high 19 points, but Tennessee Martin used a 17-0 run to break open a four-point game and send the Southeast Missouri women's basketball team to an 88-47 loss on Saturday night.

The setback drops Southeast to 4-17 and 1-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

“I was really pleased with the team at halftime, we were right where we wanted to be,” Southeast head coach Ty Margenthaler said. “We made hustle plays and hit shots in the first half, but then we came out flat in the second half. We turned the ball over a lot, we hung our heads and they went on a run to put it out of reach. We still need to learn how to play a 40-minute game.”

After scoring the last four points of the first half, UT Martin (12-8, 6-1 OVC) started the second half red hot, scoring the first 15 points of the frame to take a 48-25 lead just over four minutes into the closing period. UT Martin upped the lead to 41 points with 28 seconds remaining in the contest.

The teams traded baskets early on. After a Jasmine Newsome runner opened the scoring for UT Martin, Southeast got baskets from Brittany Harriel and Roberts. Jaclissa Haislip hit a pair of go ahead three-pointers, but buckets from Courtney Shiffer and Roberts tied the score at 8-8 with nearly five minutes gone by.

Newsome broke the tie with a three-pointer, but Bianca Beck and Roberts scored baskets to put Southeast back in front, 12-11. A Southeast turnover led to a Heather Butler transition layup to put the Skyhawks up, but Shiffer scored on a spin move from in close to make it 14-13 in favor of the Redhawks.

The lead was short lived as UT Martin scored eight-straight points and went on a 13-3 run to go up 26-17 with under nine minutes left in the opening stanza. The Redhawks closed to within four points (29-25) with 2:51 showing on the clock in the first half. With the score 28-19, Shiffer made another strong post move to score in the block and Roberts scored two-straight baskets to close Southeast's surge. Roberts led all players with 10 points in the opening frame. However, UT Martin got baskets from Butler and Perica Glenn to close the half and take a 33-25 lead into the locker room at halftime. That four-point gap was the closest the Redhawks got the rest of the way.

UT Martin shot 58.2 percent from the field, including a 67.9 percent clip in the second half. Southeast made 32.7 percent of its shots, but slumped to 28 percent in the final 20 minutes. UT Martin made 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) three-pointers compared to Southeast's 2-of-10 (20.0 percent) mark from long range. The Skyhawks also made 14-of-18 (77.8 percent) free throws and Southeast hit 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) from the charity stripe. The Skyhawks enjoyed a 34-31 advantage on the glass and held a 22-14 edge in turnovers.

Roberts' 19 point outburst was her most since tallying 16 at Illinois-Chicago on Nov. 15. She was joined in double figures by Shiffer, who tied a season high with 14 points. Patricia Mack led all players with nine rebounds and Karley Evans dished out a team-best four assists.

“Bailie came out  of the gate playing very well,” Margenthaler said. “She really wanted the ball tonight and she worked real hard. This is going to give her confidence going forward.”

The Redhawks return home on Monday night for a critical OVC game against Austin Peay. Opening tipoff is at 7 p.m. CT.