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RICHMOND, Ky. – A strong start staked the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team to an early lead, but the Redhawks struggled offensively in the second half in a 52-37 loss at Eastern Kentucky on Saturday.
The Redhawks (4-13, 1-3 Ohio Valley) were outscored by a 30-14 margin in the final 20 minutes after taking a 23-22 lead into the locker room.
“They really came out in the second half and played hard,” Southeast head coach
Ty Margenthaler said. “We played very well defensively today, but we didn't play a complete game. We had a lot of good shots around the rim, but we couldn't get that proverbial lid off the basket.”
The Colonels (7-7, 3-1 OVC) made their first three shots from the floor to grab an early 6-3 lead. Southeast rallied back with a 10-0 run over the next five and a half minutes. Baskets from
Karley Evans and
Brittany Harriel erased the early deficit as Evans' hoop came after going the length of a court following a steal and Harriel hit a jumper from the baseline to make it 7-6. Southeast's lead extended to 11-6 after Evans and
Patricia Mack hit two free throws apiece. Mack followed with a baseline jumper to make it 13-6, capping the rally.
Southeast's lead ballooned to 17-8 with under eight minutes left in the opening frame, but EKU countered with nine-straight points to even the score at 17. Evans scored in transition to snap the tie, but Raechele Gray drove to the basket on the next possession to even it up at 19-19.
Harriel got open underneath the basket on an inbound play to put the Redhawks back in front, but Gray followed up with a three-pointer to put the Colonels on top, 22-21 with just over a minute to play in the first half. After an offensive rebound,
Bianca Beck got to the hoop and made a layup with 11 seconds to go, putting Southeast on top 23-22 at the break.
EKU tallied the first four points of the second half to put the Southeast in a 26-23 hole less than a minute into the final frame. The lead got to 44-32 as the Colonels outscored the Redhawks 22-9 in the first 13 minutes of the second half.
The Colonels got a big lift in the second half from Jade Barber, who scored all of her game-high 14 points in the final 20 minutes of play. She also finished with 10 rebounds.
Harriel was the lone Redhawk to score in double figures, finishing with 11 points. She also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for her third consecutive double-double, the fourth occurrence in the last five games.
Southeast held EKU to 38.8 percent shooting , 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) from three-point range and finished with more rebounds (43-40). However, the Redhawks hit only 4-of-30 (13.3 percent) from the floor in the second half, shot 22.0 percent for the game and hit only 1-of-13 (7.7 percent) from beyond the arc. The Redhawks committed 15 turnovers and forced the Colonels into 12 miscues.
Southeast returns to the court on Jan. 14 when it takes on Eastern Illinois at the Show Me Center.
