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OXFORD, Miss. – Southeast Missouri (1-3) nearly upset Ole Miss (4-1) on Tuesday afternoon, falling 58-57 on a layup by Tia Faleru at the buzzer. The Redhawks came back from a 12-point deficit in the first half in a game that featured six lead changes over the final 8:19.
 
Southeast outrebounded the Rebels 42-40 and shot 42.9% (21-for-49) from the field while holding Ole Miss to a 34.2% (25-for-73) field goal percentage. The Redhawks shot 40% (4-for-10) from beyond the arc and 78.6% (11-for-14) from the free throw line. The Southeast defense held the Rebels to a 29.3% (12-for-41) field goal percentage in the second half.
 
"I'm so proud of our basketball team," head coach Ty Margenthaler said. "We came back and we fought. We had them on the ropes and this can be a turning point for us. Although we are disappointed in the final result, we know our team laid it all on the line today."
 
The final play was set up by a bizarre sequence of events. A layup by Erin Bollmann with 1:11 remaining put Southeast ahead 57-56. The Redhawks defense held Ole Miss on the two following possessions and inbounded the ball with two seconds left. The pass to Hannah Noe was originally ruled out of bounds off Ole Miss defender Erika Sisk before officials reversed the call. The referees then went to instant replay at the scorer's table before ruling there was inconclusive video evidence to again overrule the call, which gave the Rebels the ball with 0.9 seconds remaining.
 
Ole Miss opened the game on a 12-2 run over the first 7:39. The Redhawks then went on a 6-0 run of their own, scoring on three straight possessions to close within 14-10 with 9:04 remaining in the half. The Rebels then responded with a 5-0 run to pull ahead 19-10 with 5:29 left in the opening frame.
 
Southeast closed the first half on a 4-0 run over the last 1:01 to cut the halftime deficit to 31-23. Yelena Rosado led the Redhawks with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting in the first half while Connor King contributed five points, seven rebounds and two steals. Bollmann added three steals in the opening half. As a team, Southeast shot 34.8% (8-for-23) in the first 20 minutes.
 
Faleru paced Ole Miss in the opening half with seven points while A'Queen Hayes added six points. The Rebels shot 40.6% (13-for-32) in the first half.
 
Olivia Hackmann drained two three-pointers and King buried a jumper early in the second half to pull Southeast with six at 37-31 with 15:32 left. The Redhawks defense held Ole Miss to 1-of-10 shooting over the first 7:40 in the second half.
 
Southeast trimmed the deficit to 39-35 on two free throws by Jasmine Robinson with 12:20 left in the second half. Allyson Bradshaw then drained her 127^th career three-pointer to cut the lead to three at 45-42, Bollmann added a layup and Robinson made a short jumper to give Southeast its first lead at 46-45 with 8:19 left during a 9-0 run.
 
After Gracie Frizzell hit a three-pointer for Ole Miss to regain the lead, Robinson made two free throws to tie the score at 48-48 with 7:44 remaining. The Rebels answered with a 6-0 run before Hillary Lively scored off of an offensive rebound with 5:42 left and Hackmann added a free throw with 5:23 remaining to trim the margin to 54-51. Robinson then scored on a layup off of a pass from Bradshaw to cut the lead to one at 54-53 with 4:56 left on the clock.
 
Hackmann put the Redhawks ahead 55-54 with 3:20 remaining with a jumper off the glass that was set up by Robinson. Sisk answered with a steal and layup to regain the lead for the Rebels with 2:49 left.
 
Bollmann's go-ahead layup with 1:11 remaining came off of a pass from Bradshaw, who finished with three assists.
 
With 11 points each, Hackmann and Robinson led the offense. Robinson scored 10 points in the second half and led the team with four assists. Bollmann finished with 10 points, six rebounds and a team-high five steals. King scored seven points and grabbed a game-best 11 rebounds, one short of her career-high.
 
Southeast shot 50% (13-for-26) from the field in the second half 42.9% (3-for-7) from three-point range. The Redhawks made 5-of-6 free throws in the final half.
 
Faleru scored a game-best 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Sisk made a game-high seven steals to go along with six points and five boards.
 
The Redhawks will return to action at regional rival Southern Illinois on Friday evening at 6:05 p.m. Southeast will then play at Bradley at 2 p.m. Sunday. The next home game will be the annual Classroom on the Court contest at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at the Show Me Center.