Charleston, Ill. – Southeast Missouri women's basketball defeated the Eastern Illinois Panthers 77-54 in a Saturday matinee in Charleston.
 
Southeast stuck first with a pair of free throws from Iyanna McCurdy before EIU answered with a 6-0 run. The Redhawks struggled to take care of the ball early in the quarter with eight turnovers, however SEMO ended the quarter on an 11-0 run to take a nine point advantage into the second quarter.
 
SEMO led 17-8 after one.
 
Both teams began the second quarter trading buckets back and forth, with SEMO hanging on to a small cushion around five points the first seven minutes of the period. EIU looked as if they were going on a run multiple times throughout the period, but the Redhawks had an answer for almost every bucket.
 
After two, the Redhawks led the Panthers 38-31. Southeast shot 46 percent from the field for the half.
 
The Redhawks opened the second half going scoreless for almost three minutes, EIU also began the half cold from the field but was able getting to the line at will with Southeast committing five team fouls in the opening four minutes.
 
At the five minute mark a pair of buckets from Deja Jones and Adrianna Murphy helped stretch the lead to 11. The panthers came right back with 5-0 run of their own to cut the lead back to six.
 
Both teams traded buckets the rest of the quarter. Southeast took a five point lead at 53-48 into the fourth quarter.
 
Southeast struck early in the fourth with a couple buckets stretching its lead to nine points early. EIU hit a three cutting the lead to six at the 7:01 mark prompting a timeout from the Redhawks.
 
After the timeout, the Redhawks went on an 10-0 run including three point plays from both Deja Jones and Iyanna McCurdy, extending the SEMO lead to 16.
 
The Panthers went stone cold the rest of the fourth, not hitting a field goal since their three-pointer at the 7:01 mark. Southeast shot 56 percent from the field in the fourth quarter as they went on to win by 23.
 
Southeast had four players score in double figures. Tesia Thompson led the way for the Redhawks with 18 points.
 
Adrianna Murphy added 15 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Deja Jones had 12 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
 
Iyanna McCurdy also chipped in 12 points and career-high tying seven rebounds for Southeast.
 
Southeast will remain on the road next week, taking on Tennessee Tech on Thursday and Jacksonville State on Saturday.