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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Bailie Roberts erupted for a career-high 22 points to lift the Southeast Missouri women's basketball team to a decisive 70-58 win over Murray State at the Show Me Center on Monday night.

The senior scored 15 of her points in the second half to give the Redhawks (7-8, 2-1 Ohio Valley) two-straight wins for the first time since Dec. 4-7, 2010. Southeast is 2-1 in OVC play for the first time since the 2007-08 season, its last regular season conference title.

“Tonight was a great win for this basketball team,” Southeast head coach Ty Margenthaler said. “To win two home games to start conference play is great. We did what we needed to do to win. You can tell our team is growing, this would've been a tough game to win last year. I'm happy for the team especially the senior class for getting off to this start.”

MSU (8-6, 1-2 OVC) opened the scoring on a Mariah Robinson three-pointer, but Southeast scored six straight on a Roberts jumper and free throw along with a Brittany Harriel three-pointer that made it 6-3. After Robinson's three tied it up, Southeast scored six-straight points on two Roberts field goals and a Patricia Mack layup, making it 12-6 with 14:44 left in the half.

The Racers pulled within one point after a three-point play by Keiona Kirby and a jumper from Robinson, but Southeast countered with seven points in a row to up the lead to 19-11. Four of those points came on layups by Courtney Shiffer and another on a three by Allyson Bradshaw.

A Jessica Winfrey layup ended Southeast's run at 7-0, but Jordan Hunter drilled a three-pointer to up the lead to nine points. After a Robinson jumper, Southeast scored six-straight points to go up 28-15 with 4:23 left in the half.

The Redhawks went cold for the rest of the first half and the Racers capitalized with a 9-0 run to close the opening frame. That spurt left Southeast with a 28-24 lead at halftime. Southeast shot 40.7% in the stanza and held MSU to only 26.7 percent from the floor. The Redhawks also owned a 25-16 rebounding advantage in the opening 20 minutes.

“I challenged the team at halftime and they responded well to it in the second half,” Margenthaler said. “Murray State is a very explosive basketball team. They get to the free throw line a lot and we kept them off the line pretty well.”

Southeast scored the first four points of the second half to double the lead back to eight points. Mack ended a five and a half minute scoreless drought with a baseline jumper and Kara Wright scored in transition to make it 32-24. After a Kelsey Dirks jumper pulled MSU within six, Roberts made a jumper and two free throws to make it a 36-26 Southeast lead with 16:50 to play.

Tessa Elkins pulled MSU's deficit down to seven with a three from the corner, but Harriel's layup and Hunter's three forced a Racer timeout and put the Redhawks up 41-29 at the 12:59 mark. Less than a minute later, Hunter found Roberts wide open on an inbounds pass for a layup, making it a 14-point Southeast lead.

Roberts wasn't done there, she promptly drilled a three-pointer to up the lead to 17 and Wright scored in transition with a mid-range jumper to pump it up to 48-29. Olivia Hackmann then scored with another transition jumper to give Southeast a commanding 50-29 lead with 9:33 left, capping a 14-0 Redhawks run and put them in control.

MSU cut the deficit to 54-40 on the strength of a 9-2 run, but Southeast countered with a 7-0 spurt of its own to make it a 61-40 game with 4:10 left. The Racers never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

The Redhawks shot 43.1 percent from the floor offensively. Their defense smothered the Racers throughout, holding them to 27.7 percent shooting. Southeast made 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) three-pointers and kept MSU to 8-of-30 (26.7 percent) from beyond the arc. Southeast also enjoyed a 49-37 advantage in rebounding and forced 17 MSU turnovers, though committed 20 of its own. The Redhawks recorded a season-high 20 assists.

Roberts' outing is the most a Southeast player has scored this season. Hunter also scored in double figures, tallying 19 points while dishing out four assists and grabbing eight rebounds. Mack grabbed 12 rebounds to lead all players while Wright recorded a career-high five assists.

Southeast concludes its three-game home stand on Wednesday night when it hosts Saint Louis for a non-conference tilt. That game tips off at 6:30 p.m.