MOREHEAD, Ky. -  Southeast Missouri Women's Basketball (9-19, 6-11 OVC) cruised past Morehead State (14-14, 9-8 OVC) Thursday evening at the Johnson Arena by a final score of 70 - 63 to keep their tournament hopes alive.

Junior Abigail Stevens led the Redhawks in scoring with a season high 16 points. Stevens came off the bench and played 29 minutes and shot six of ten from the field and 4-5 (80%) from the stripe. Stevens hauled in 11 rebounds (6 OR) to lead both teams.

Alecia Doyle and Indiya Bowen also notched double digit points. Both scored 13 points and went 5-of-8 (62.5%) and 4-of-9 (44.4%) from the floor.

Kiyley Flowers dished out half of the Redhawks assists with seven. The junior was also active on the defensive side of the ball posting two steals and two blocks.

The Redhawks tied their season high in rebounds with 46 compared to MSU's 36. SEMO pulled down 16 offensive rebounds converting them into 15 second chance points.

Guard Veronica Charles led the Eagles with 24 points on a 8-of-22 shooting clip and went 5-7 from the line.

The game featured three ties and seven lead changes.

Bowen made the first two baskets for the Redhawks with a driving layup and a deep three at 8:36.

Both teams struggled to get something going to begin the first. Going into the media the Redahws had a 3:30 scoring drought and were 0-5 shooting while the Eagles had a 3:00 scoring drought.

At the first media SEMO was down five to seven at the 4:48 mark.

Jaliyah Green ended their scoring drought of 5:00 with a three to cut MSU's lead to five.

To end the quarter Amiyah Buchanan completed the and-one and Stevens made the last minute layup to put the Redhawks down by two, 17-19. SEMO made seven of their 17 in the opening quarter

The Redhawks were slow to begin the second then they rattled off three in a row with Stevens completing the and-one for her seventh point, and Doyle made the pull up for her first points to come within two.

Michaela Mayfield banked in a two pointer at the top of the key from Daejah Richmond to tie the game at 25 with 7:43 remaining. Then Megan Barton grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back up to take their first lead of the game, 29-27 at 5:00.

Heading into the media the Redhawks played stout defense holding the eagles to 1-7 and a scoring drought of 2:30.

Out of the timeout both teams traded baskets with a highlight from Stevens when she hauled in two offensive rebounds to tie the game at 31.

At the half the score was tied at 38 and Stevens and Mayfield had the most points for SEMO with nine and eight. 

MSU's Charles had their most points with 14 and as a team they went 14-30 (46.7%) and 7-14 from deep. So far the Redhawks were shooting 15-37 (40.5%) and 4-12 (33.3%) from beyond the arc.

Both teams were active on the glass offensively, SEMO having ten offensive rebounds and the Eagles had seven.

Right out of the gate Buchanan gave the Redhawks the lead with an easy, wide open layup.

The Redhawks fought their way to a seven point lead in the third. The run starting by 
Stevens when she notched her 11th point after making both free throws.

At the media timeout the Redhawks led 46 to 39 at the 6:38 mark.

SEMO continued to put it on the Eagles not letting up on offense when Green made a driving layup and Buchanan made both from the line putting SEMO up 49 - 42 at 3:54.

Both teams then went on a cold streak after SEMO went scoreless for three minutes and Morehead made one of their next eight shots.

The teams ended the streak after their leading scorers traded baskets. Stevens put a layup through the hoop for her 14th point and Morehead's Charles made her 17th point.

During the third SEMO had their best scoring run of seven in 8:21.

The Redhawks continued their dominance in the fourth. SEMO's biggest lead of 11 came in the quarter and they held Morehead State to 28.6% shooting.

To start things off though both teams came out sluggish offensively. It took two minutes for either team to score in the fourth with both defenses playing tight defense.

SEMO would then go on a 7 - 0 run and hold the Eagles to zero field goals in five minutes. During the stretch Flowers dished out two dimes to Doyle for a three and one off the inbound for her sixth and seventh assist. SEMO led 58 - 52 with 5:14 left to play.

SMEO then throttled the Morehead State Defense getting up by eight two different times.

With 1:00 left SEMO was up by six and Doyle ultimately sealed the coffin with a dagger from the corner and put both free throws into the bottom of the net for SEMO to have a nine point lead, 69 - 60.

The Redhawks shot relatively well going 26-of-61 (42.6%) from the field, but only shot 5-of-15 from three point land, and 13-of-21 (61.9%) from the charity Stripe. 

MSU shot 37.9% from the floor (22-58), 35% (7-20) from behind the arc, and 54.5% (12-22) from the line.

This was SEMO's third straight year beating Morehead at home.

The Redhawks are now tied at eighth place in the OVC after Tennessee State lost to Little Rock.

Looking Ahead
The Redhawks will wrap up their regular season schedule on Saturday against Southern Indiana at 5:00 p.m in Evansville, Ind.