SHOW ME CENTER – Southeast Missouri Women's Basketball (4-17, 2-10 OVC) fell on Saturday afternoon to Tennessee State (6-16, 2-10 OVC) by a final score of 70-62 in Cape Girardeau. 
 
Senior Lexi McCully led the Redhawks in scoring finishing with 16 points on 6-19 shooting. Skylar Barnes was the only other Redhawk in double figures as the senior finished with 11 points. The senior backcourt duo accounted 27-of-SEMO's-62 points on Saturday. 
 
As a team, the Redhawks shot 21-63 from the field (33.3%), and just 7-28 from three-point range (25%). At the free throw line, SEMO shot 81.3-percent led by Brianna Hill who finished 4-6 at the charity stripe. 
 
SEMO won the battle on the boards, outrebounding the Tigers by a 36-28 margin led by Ainaya Williams with eight rebounds. Zoe Best snagged seven boards while Barnes recorded five for the contest. 

A pair of Anjelicia Del Valle free throws got the Redhawks on the board after TSU opened the game with a layup as the game was tied after the first minute of play. 
 
TSU would go on a 5-0 run with a free throw and back-to-back jumpers from Erin Martin to give the Tigers a 7-2 lead with 7:28 left in the opening quarter. 
 
Skylar Barnes halted the run as she made a strong move to the basket and finished a layup plus the foul, converting the old fashioned three-point play to make it 7-5 TSU just 25 seconds later. 
 
The Tigers would go on another 7-0 run to make it 14-5 visitors with back-to-back layups an a three-pointer forcing the Redhawk into a timeout with just over five minutes left in the quarter. 
 
SEMO would respond with a 6-0 run of their own began with a free throw from Ainaya Williams, a three from Lexi McCully, and a layup from Zoe Best to get the Redhawks to within three with just under three to play. 
 
TSU closed the first half on a 7-2 run and took a 21-13 lead into the second quarter. 
 
Another three from McCully opened the second quarter to get SEMO to within five points again, but the Tigers went on a 8-0 run following the McCully three to put them back up by 13 points early in the second. 
 
Jariyah Williamson got on the scoresheet at the 7:33 mark with her own three-pointer to get SEMO back to within 10 points. 
 
Trailing 31-19, the Redhawks 7-0 run close the TSU lead to just five midway through the second quarter before a TSU three from Saniah Parker made it 34-26 with just 3:45 left to play before halftime. 
 
A layup from Williamson, a pair of free throws from Brianna Hill, and a beautiful steal and fastbreak layup from McCully got SEMO to within two, 34-32, with just 27 seconds to go before half. TSU would score the final basket and took a 36-32 lead into the locker room. 
 
McCully led the Redhawks at the halftime interval with 11 points on 4-9 shooting, including 60-percent from three-point range (3-5). As a team, SEMO shot 35.5-percent in the opening 20 minutes (11-31), 30.8-percent from three (4-13), and 85.7-percent at the charity stripe (6-7). 
 
Center Ainaya Williams led the Redhawks in rebounds and blocks with six and four, respectively. 
 
SEMO started the second half on a 4-0 run via a layup from Jariyah Williamson and a pair of Zoe Best free throws to tie the game at 36 with 8:15 left in the third quarter. 
 
TSU would respond with an 8-0 run of their own before Ainaya Williams recorded a layup to make it 44-38 TSU. 
 
Another run from TSU, this one a 10-0 run made it 54-38 with 2:44 left to go in the third quarter but the Redhawks would respond with back-to-back three pointers to close the quarter with a 54-44 deficit heading into the final quarter. 
 
The Redhawks would cut the score to within four points two different times in the fourth quarter, but were unable to catch TSU as they would hold on for the 70-62 victory on Saturday afternoon.