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CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southeast Missouri women's basketball team rallied from an 11-point second half deficit, but Southern Illinois scored five points in the last 17 seconds to send the Redhawks to a 58-57 loss on Wednesday.

The Redhawks fall to 4-5 on the season while the Salukis are now 1-6.

SIU came out with the first six points of the second half, extending a five-point halftime lead to 33-22 at the 18:13 mark. Patricia Mack made a put back to pull Southeast within nine points at 33-24. Courtney Shiffer followed with a layup, but SIU's Rishonda Napier connected on a three to make the lead 36-26. The Redhawks then fought back with a 12-1 run. Mack hit a jumper then Jordan Hunter scored a basket at the rim to cut the gap to six. Allyson Bradshaw's three-pointer from the corner made it a one-score game.

A Jameeka Bouie free throw upped the SIU lead to four, but Bradshaw hit another three then Hunter scored in transition off a steal to put the Redhawks on top 38-37 with 13:31 showing on the clock.

The Salukis grabbed a 43-40 lead after a Jordyn Courier three-pointer with 11 minutes to play. The Redhawks came right back once again, taking another lead after baskets from Bailie Roberts and Bradshaw. After going up 48-45, SIU scored off an Azia Washington jumper and a Mercedes Griffin layup, making it 49-48 with under six minutes left.

Hunter hit two free throws to put Southeast back on top 50-49 during the ensuing Southeast possession. A minute and a half later, Hunter found Kara Wright cutting to the basket for a layup, making it a 52-49 game with four minutes to play.

Bradshaw made a free throw to up the lead to 53-49, but SIU's Dyana Pierre made a free throw and Jameeka Bouie made a three that tied it up with 2:07 showing on the clock.

After a timeout, Hunter got the ball to a streaking Mack, whose layup gave Southeast another lead. Hunter then calmly hit two free throws to put the Redhawks back up by four points (57-53) with 44 seconds to play.

Cartaesha Macklin drew a foul with 17.6 seconds remaining and promptly hit two free throws to make it a two-point game. The Salukis pressed and forced a turnover, which led to a Rishonda Napier jumper that evened the score at 57-57 with under 10 seconds left. With the Redhawks trying to move up the court, Macklin intercepted a pass. With Macklin trying a desperation attempt at the buzzer, Southeast was whistled for a foul with 0.5 seconds left. The Salukis' leading scorer hit the first free throw to cap the SIU comeback.

"It's a very frustrating way to end the game," Southeast head coach Ty Margenthaler said. "I talk to our players every day that we need to come out ready on the road. We are a different team on the road. The team responded from a deficit and took a lead, I give the team credit. I felt confident we would win that game, but we didn't do enough to win down the stretch.

Southeast grabbed an early 3-2 lead after an old fashioned three-point play by Bradshaw. After falling behind 7-3 early, the Redhawks got a steal and Roberts hit Wright for a breakaway layup to make it 7-5.

The Salukis countered that bucket with an 8-0 run to open up a 15-5 lead with 12:23 left in the opening stanza.

A Wright jumper and a Jordan Hunter three-pointer cut the gap to 15-10. The Redhawks' offense hit a dry spell afterwards, going 8:09 without scoring as the Salukis went on a 6-0 spurt to go up 21-10 with under four minutes left in the first.

Two free throws by Courtney Shiffer ended Southeast's scoring drought. The Redhawks drew to within four points at 25-21 after a three-point play by Hunter with 1:07 to play. That was as close as Southeast got the rest of the half as SIU took a 27-22 lead into the break.

Both teams were plagued by turnovers in the opening frame with the Salukis committing 12 and the Redhawks finishing with 11 in the first 20 minutes of play. Hunter led all players with nine points.

The Redhawks shot 32.8 percent for the game while the Salukis made 34.5 percent of their field goal attempts. Both teams made four three-pointers with Southeast taking 21 attempts and SIU 14 from beyond the arc. The Redhawks hit 13-of-17 (76.5 percent) free throws and the Salukis posted a 16-of-24 (66.7 percent) mark from the foul stripe. Rebounds were even at 43 apiece and Southeast committed 19 turnovers against 18 SIU miscues.

Hunter's 17 points led all players and Bradshaw (14 points) also scored in double figures. Mack grabbed 11 rebounds, her third-straight game with 10 or more rebounds.

Southeast returns to the Show Me Center on Saturday when it hosts Western Illinois