CINCINNATI, Ohio – Southeast Missouri women's basketball (1-3) fell to Xavier University (2-0) in its first road game on Friday, 54-48.
 
The low-scoring affair saw neither team score more than 20 points in a single quarter.
 
Southeast was led in scoring by Bri Mitchell with 11 points. Olivia Hackmann picked up her third double-double of the season on Friday, recording 10 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Mandy Madden worked a season-high 12 rebounds, 10 of which came in the first half of the contest. Madden also tied a season-high three blocked shots.
 
Adrianna Murphy did a little bit of everything in Friday's game. The sophomore point guard had five points, four rebounds, seven assists with no turnovers, and five steals. She played a team-high 34 minutes.
 
As a team, the Redhawks were outshot, 34.6 percent to 30.4 percent. Each team only hit three 3-pointers, shooting 25 percent from beyond the arc.
 
One of the biggest difference makers in the game came at the free-throw line. Southeast got to the line only seven times while Xavier went 29 times. The Musketeers made 15 of their 29 free-throw attempts while the Redhawks made only three.
 
Southeast scored first in the game but Xavier quickly jumped out to a 9-4 lead on the Redhawks less than three minutes into the game. With the exception of a made free-throw by Mitchell, both teams were held scoreless for over six minutes until Deja Jones completed a layup to make it 9-7 with 1:05 to play. The Musketeers scored with just seconds to play in the quarter to bring the first quarter total to 11-7.
 
Jones led the Redhawks in scoring with four points in the opening frame while Madden pulled in six rebounds.
 
Both teams combined for 18 misses from the field in the six minute, 11 second scoring drought in the opening stanza.
 
The Redhawks were narrowly outscored in the second quarter, 16-13. Xavier went up 22-11 before Iyanna McCurdy and Mitchell scored three-straight layups to narrow the lead to 22-17.
 
The Redhawks trailed at halftime, 27-20. Mitchell and McCurdy each had four points in the second quarter as Mitchell led in scoring in the first half with six points. Madden already tipped the double-digit rebound mark with 10 in the half, a new season-high mark.
 
Southeast may have trailed in shooting in the opening half but dominated the boards, 27-24. The Musketeers missed their first eight free-throw attempts, finishing the half 5-of-13 from the line.
 
Down by five with 6:44 to play in the third, Southeast rattled off eight unanswered points over four and a half minutes to take a three-point lead, 34-31. Xavier scored three points in the final minute of the quarter to tie the game at 34 going into the final stanza.
 
The two teams went bucket-for-bucket to begin the fourth quarter, tying the game two more times. Xavier opened a four-point lead but a bucket by LaTrese Saine and a 3-pointer by Hackmann put Southeast back on top by one, 43-42 with 5:22 to play.
 
It was two minutes and 22 seconds before Xavier scored on a layup to go ahead by one, 44-43. After struggling to make free-throws earlier in the game, the Musketeersfocused in and made 8-of-10 chances in the final quarter, keeping SEMO at bay in the final minutes. Hackmann hit her second 3-pointer with 27 seconds to play to cut it to four but that's the closest the Redhawks would get, ultimately falling 54-48.
 
Maddison Blackwell led Xavier with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Kindell Fincher and Raeshaun Gaffney each tallied 10 points in the game.
 
Southeast is back in action on Sunday at the University of Evansville. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. from the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.