CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's basketball (2-0) improved to 2-0 in the early 2019-20 season with an 83-60 rout of Evansville (1-1) Sunday afternoon at the Show Me Center. 
 
The victory marked Southeast's first 2-0 start to a season since the 2009-10 campaign when the Redhawks opened the year with wins over Missouri-Saint Louis and Southern Mississippi. 
 
Southeast utilized a 27-point third quarter to battle past the visiting Purple Aces.
 
Tesia Thompson paced SEMO with a game-high 21 points. 
 
The Redhawks started the game slow, converting 33.3 percent of their field goals in the first half before posting a clip of 51.7 percent in the final half. 
 
A pair of Roshala Scott free throws extended the SEMO advantage to eight, 16-8, with 2:41 remaining in the first quarter. 
 
Abby Feit then connected with a three-point basket to cut the Redhawks lead to 18-17 at 8:21 in the second. 
 
Scott then notched a pair of lay-ups to give SEMO a 34-29 advantage heading into the locker room.
 
After the break, Southeast started to pull away from the Purple Aces. A Thompson jumper made the scoreboard read 45-10 SEMO at 5:46 in the third frame and started a 15-0 Redhawks run to grow the lead to 20.
 
Thompson had 14 of 21 points in the third quarter alone. 
 
Sophie Bussard swished a three with 29 ticks left in the quarter to increase the lead to 61-40.
 
The Redhawks kept Evansville at bay in the fourth quarter and took their largest lead of the game after a three-pointer from Scott. The freshman guard from Earle, Arkansas, buried the basket with 18 seconds left in the game to push the advantage to 23 and secure the 83-60 victory.
 
SEMO outrebounded the Purple Aces, 46-38. Scott totaled a game-high of eight in 16 minutes of action to complement her 13 points. 
 
Taelour Pruitt chipped in 14 points while Carrie Shephard had 11 along with seven rebounds. Shephard saw 34 minutes of action and was 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. 
 
LaTrese Saine paced SEMO with four blocks and compiled nine points with six boards. 
 
The Redhawks were fouled 32 times in the game and were 29-for-44 from the charity stripe. Saine was five-of-six from the free throw line and Thompson was 11-for-12. 
 
Feit led Evansville scorers with 26 points.
 
SEMO next plays on Wednesday when it travels to State University, Arkansas, to take on Arkansas State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.