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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Southeast Missouri women's basketball team fell 90-75 to Western Kentucky Tuesday night in the Show Me Center.
 
The Lady Toppers shot a red-hot 63.2 percent from the field and were led by Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year Alexis Govan with 21 points.
 
"It was a frustrating evening for our team and staff," Southeast head coach Ty Margenthaler said. "It wasn't the outcome I was expecting. I was expecting a better ball game. I was disappointed in our effort."
 
Southeast falls to 2-2 on the young season while WKU improves to 3-1.
 
The Redhawks won the opening tip and scored the games first basket, a layup from Patricia Mack. Jordan Hunter dished the pass as Mack was cutting towards the basket.
 
From there, the Lady Toppers went on a 9-0 run to open a 9-2 before Mack sank a free throw. However, it wouldn't be until the 13:47 mark that the Redhawks would hit their next field goal, an Olivia Hackmann layup to make the score 11-5.
 
Western Kentucky built a lead that hovered around 10 points for most of the first half. But, with 3:54 remaining, the Lady Toppers began an 8-0 run to build a 41-23 advantage ending with an Alexis Govan layup with 1:41 remaining.

Behind Govan's 17 first half points, Western Kentucky entered the intermission with a 43-27 lead.
 
The Redhawks would try to make things interesting, climbing back to within nine points using a 13-2 run midway through the second half.
 
A pair of free throws from Allyson Bradshaw and Mack started the run. Two Hillary Lively layups, a Brianna Mitchell shot in the paint and a set of Hackmann free throws completed the run to make the score 53-44 with 13:50 remaining.
 
The Lady Toppers called a time out to put a freeze on Southeast and immediately made a 3-point basket from the hands of Micah Jones. Southeast answered on the ensuing Redhawks possession as Hackmann scored on a layup.
 
Utilizing a Chastity Gooch turnover, Hackmann sank a trey to bring the home team within seven points at 56-49.
 
On the next WKU possession, Kendall Noble would miss a jumper but Gooch snagged the offensive rebound and immediately found Jones for the open long-distance shot.
 
That shot would start a 16-3 Lady Topper run that Southeast would be unable to recover from.
 
Hackmann led the Redhawks with 14 points while Mack posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Lively and Kara Wright each added 10 points apiece.
 
After Govan's game-high 21 points, Gooch poured in 18 while Micah Jones scored 12 on 3-of-4 from long range.
 
"We have to learn from this game," Margenthaler said. "The biggest thing we can take from this, I hope, is that we have to be ready to compete for 40 minutes. We started slow and didn't have a lot of energy.
 
"When we did play with energy, we had spurts that gave ourselves an opportunity."
 
The Redhawks now enter a stretch where six of their next seven games are on the road. That begins with Missouri on Thursday night. Tip-off from Columbia is slated for 7 p.m.