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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (2-5) fell 79-62 to Western Illinois (4-3) Wednesday in front of 1,692 in attendance at the Show Me Center for the annual Classroom on the Court contest. Reigning Summit League Player of the Year Ashley Luke finished with a game-high 24 points to pace the Leathernecks, who shot 48.4% (30-for-62) from the field and 38.9% (7-for-18) from 3-point range for the game.
 
Western Illinois got out to a 13-2 lead over the first 5:09 before Southeast went on an 8-2 run over the following 1:14 to cut the lead to 15-10 with 13:30 left in the opening half.
 
The Leathernecks would then go on a 9-0 run to increase the lead to 24-10 with 10:38 remaining in the opening half before the Redhawks answered with a 10-3 run to pull within seven with 7:37 remaining.
 
Over the final seven minutes of the first half, Western Illinois would increase its lead to 13 as the teams headed to the locker room with the Leathernecks ahead 41-28.
 
Southeast shot 37.1% (13-for-35) from the field over the first 20 minutes. Jasmine Robinson led the team with six first-half points and a Southeast career-high five rebounds while four others contributed four points.
 
Western was led in the first half by Luke, who had 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting with five rebounds. Michelle Farrow added eight points off the bench, including a 2-for-2 mark from 3-point range.
 
The Leathernecks opened the second half on a 4-0 run to increase the lead to 15 before Southeast started cutting the deficit. Allyson Bradshaw drained two 3-pointers and pulled the Redhawks to within 11 at 47-36 with 15:45 remaining and 52-41 with 11:32 left before Western drained two consecutive shots to increase the lead to 57-41 with 10:57 on the clock.
 
Southeast went on a 11-0 run over 1:33 to pull within seven at 63-56 with 6:06 left, making five of six shots during that stretch. Western answered with a 10-2 run to again push to lead to 15 at 73-58 with 3:48 remaining.
 
From that point, Western went on to score six of the game's final 10 points to account for the 17-point victory.
 
As a team, the Redhawks shot 34.3% (23-for-67) from the field and 73.7% (14-for-19) from the free throw line in the game.
 
Bradshaw led Southeast with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including a 2-for-5 mark from beyond the arc. Connor King scored nine points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds, tying Erin Bollmann for the Redhawks single-game season-high. Robinson finished with 12 points. Brianna Mitchell added 10 points off the bench.
 
Michelle Farrow and Michelle Maher both scored in double figures for the Leathernecks, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The Redhawks will begin a four-game road stretch on Saturday with a 2 p.m. tip at Central Arkansas. They will then play at UMKC on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. and will participate in the Glass City Classic at the University of Toledoa with consecutive 11 a.m. games on Dec. 13 and 14 against Detroit and Idaho.