MURRAY, Ky. – The Southeast Missouri women's basketball (14-12, 7-6 OVC) team fell to Ohio Valley Conference foe Murray State (10-14, 6-7 OVC) on Saturday evening, 80-61, at the CFSB Center.  
 
Bri Mitchell put up her third 20-point performance of the season Saturday, tallying an even 20 against the Racers. Mitchell was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line and pulled down four rebounds.
 
The Redhawks committed a season-high 24 turnovers which the Racers converted into 30 points. Southeast was called for 22 fouls in the game.  
 
Southeast led very early in the first quarter but the lead quickly gave way to the Racers.
 
Down seven with just under three minutes to play, the Redhawks went on a 9-1 run to recapture the lead. At the 1:18 mark, Mitchell picked up a steal and ran it back for an uncontested layup to give the Redhawks a 21-20 lead.
 
The first quarter ended with the Racers ahead by three, 24-21. Murray's final eight points of the quarter all came on free throws. The Racers has no field goals the final five minutes of the opening period. 
 
A jumper by Corneisha Henderson cut the Racer lead back to four, 31-27, with 6:47 to play in the half. Both teams went scoreless for the next two and a half minutes.
 
A 13-2 run by the Racers put them up 44-29 with one minute to play in the half.
 
At halftime, Murray State led Southeast Missouri, 47-31.
 
Mitchell led the way for Southeast in the half with 12 points; Imani Johnson followed with seven first-half points.
 
Southeast was plagued by 14 turnovers and 13 total fouls in the first half. Murray converted the Redhawk mistakes into 16 points off turnovers.
 
The Redhawks shot 41.2% from the field but the Racers shot 51.7% in the opening half.
 
It was a relatively low-scoring third quarter as each team put up 14 points. A seven-point run by Murray State in the middle of the quarter opened up a 16-point lead, 53-37.
 
The third period ended with MSU out in front, 61-45.
 
Murray led by 25 with 1:49 to play but Southeast finished the game with six-straight points to cut the final total to 80-61.
 
Deja Jones put up her second-straight double-digit point performance with 10 points; the first back-to-back double-digit scoring games for Jones since before conference play began.
 
Adrianna Murphy grabbed a team-best nine rebounds and finished with eight total points.
 
Southeast scored 36 points in the paint with 14 second chance points.
 
Connor King finished with a pair of blocks in the game. King now sits in sole possession of 10^th-place on Southeast's career blocks list with 57.
 
After three-straight road contests, the Redhawks will return to the Show Me Center for the final two home games of the season. Southeast welcomes Eastern Illinois to town Saturday, Feb. 20. Saturday's game will feature faculty and staff day. All Southeast Missouri State faculty and staff will receive half-priced admission with a university ID.