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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Morehead State missed only eight second-half field goal attempts to come back and defeat the Southeast Missouri women's basketball team, 70-64, at the Show Me Center on Monday night.
MSU (7-13, 3-3 Ohio Valley) hit 61.9 percent of its shots and scored 41 points to come back in the second half.
“I'm very disappointed with how we played tonight,” Southeast head coach
Ty Margenthaler said. “Morehead State played a very good basketball game. They played their game plan for forty minutes and we didn't have the toughness to step up to it. Tonight was a step backward for us. We're going to regroup and find out what this team is made of.”
Kara Wright and
Brittany Harriel each scored five points to give the Redhawks (8-11, 2-4 OVC) an early 10-4 lead at the 14:12 mark of the first half. The Eagles countered with five points in a row to pull within one, but
Connor King found
Allyson Bradshaw cutting to the hoop for a layup to up the lead to 12-9.
Terrice Robinson evened the score at 12 apiece after driving through a foul for a bucket and hitting the ensuing free throw with 11:53 left. Just over a minute later,
Jordan Hunter drove to the basket for a layup to put Southeast ahead, though Robinson tied it up with a layup two possessions later.
The Redhawks regained the lead by scoring four-straight points on mid-range jumpers by Wright and
Dru Haertling. The Eagles followed that up by taking the lead on a 6-0 run that took less than 40 seconds. MSU kept the lead at 25-23 before Southeast went on a run of its own, scoring eight in a row to go up 31-25 with 2:33 left in the opening stanza.
Bailie Roberts drained back-to-back three-pointers and Wright calmly sank two free throws to cap the run. Southeast eventually went to the locker room holding a 33-29 advantage.
After shooting 1-of-10 from three-point range in the first half, the Eagles caught fire from long range to start the second. MSU made its first four threes of the final period and grabbed a 45-42 lead with 14:11 left.
Southeast answered back with five-straight points as
Olivia Hackmann made a baseline jumper and Bradshaw connected on a three to go in front 47-45 at the 12:42 mark. That lead was short lived as Casey Ryan scored three points the hard way, scoring through contact and hitting a free throw. Ryan's bucket spurred a 17-4 MSU run as it took a 62-51 lead with 6:27 left to play.
The Redhawks got baskets from Hackmann and Roberts to pull within seven points, but two Jones free throws upped the margin to 64-55. After making a free throw, Roberts connected on a three-pointer to bring the Redhawks as close as 64-59 with 1:12 to go. Two possessions later, Roberts made two free throws to make it a five-point game again at 66-61 with 38 seconds left, but that margin is the closest the Redhawks got the rest of the night.
MSU shot 51 percent from the field, the highest figure given up by Southeast this year, while the Redhawks made 39.7 percent of its shots. The Redhawks made 8-of-21 (38.1 percent) three-pointers while the Eagles hit 6-of-18 (33.3 percent) from long range. MSU hit 14-of-22 (63.6 percent) from the foul line while Southeast made only 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) at the line. Southeast outrebounded MSU 42-29.
Roberts finished with 20 points, her second 20-point game this season and two shy of her career high. Wright (12 points) and Bradshaw (11) each finished in double figures.
Patricia Mack pulled in a game-high nine rebounds.
Southeast returns to the court on Saturday when it heads to OVC leader Eastern Illinois.
