Cookeville, Tenn. – Southeast Missouri women's basketball defeated the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 70-66 on Thursday night at the Eblen Center.
 
Southeast struck early and got off to a quick 6-0 lead taking advantage of easy buckets. Tennessee Tech's offense began to find some success about halfway through the quarter but Southeast remained in a rhythm and controlled the lead through the first quarter.
 
SEMO led 16-10 after one. Ashton Luttrull knocked down two three-pointers in the opening period for Southeast.
 
In the second period the game remained very tight, with both teams trading buckets and the lead hovering around two points for the Redhawks.
 
About midway through the quarter TTU went on a small run and took the lead at 21-20. Ashton Luttrull quickly regained the lead for Southeast with her third three-pointer of the game. From that point, the lead was traded back and forth the remainder of the period.
 
At halftime Southeast led Tennessee Tech 28-26. Luttrull had 14 points in the opening half with four three-pointers.
 
The Redhawks opened the third quarter with a quick 4-0 run to extend its lead to six early. Tesia Thompson became very aggressive, getting to the rim and the free throw line to help stretch the lead to nine points about halfway through the third period.
 
The Golden Eagles slightly chipped away at the lead the throughout remainder of the quarter with a few outside shots and breakaway lay ups to cut the lead to six heading into the fourth.
 
After three, the Redhawks led the Golden Eagles 48-42.
 
Southeast came out in the fourth quarter on fire, with Ashton Luttrull knocking down her fifth and sixth three-pointers of the game and Mandy Madden putting in the layup plus the foul. With the hot shooting, Southeast was able to extend its lead to nine with about seven minutes to play.
 
A three-pointer plus the foul for Jordan Brock cut the SEMO lead back to five with about five minutes remaining.
 
After over three minutes without scoring, Adrianna Murphy drove into the lane for a layup giving Southeast a lead at 60-54 with 3:07 remaining.
 
Tennessee Tech knocked down a pair of free throws at the 1:49 mark to cut the lead to three. Ashton Luttrull then answered that with a driving layup to extend the lead back to five Southeast.
 
The Redhawks got the stop the following possession, prompting Tennessee Tech to foul. Adrianna Murphy knocked down a pair of free throws after the foul putting Southeast up 64-57.
 
The next trip down Jordan Brock nailed a three-pointer cutting the Redhawks lead to four.
 
Tesia Thompson hit two free throws after being fouled, putting SEMO up 66-60 with 34 seconds remaining.
 
Southeast got the stop the following possession for the Golden Eagles, forcing TTU to foul once more. Tesia Thompson knocked down another pair of free throws to put Southeast up 68-60 with 19 seconds left.
 
Jordan Brock hit a three-pointer with 11 seconds left and then fouled Deja Jones right away. Jones missed both free throws, and Brock came down and hit another three for Tech with 1.5 seconds remaining.
 
Southeast got the ball into Deja Jones who was fouled immediately with 0.5 seconds remaining. Jones split the pair, but not enough time remained for Tech to get off a decent shot off with no timeouts remaining.
 
Ashton Luttrull finished the game with 22 points, including six made three pointers.
 
Adrianna Murphy added 12 points, six rebounds and five assists.
 
Tesia Thompson chipped in 14 points, 12 coming in the second half.
 
Southeast will travel directly to Jacksonville, Ala. to take on the Jacksonville State Gamecocks on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m. at the Pete Mathews Coliseum.