Redhawks thrash Jacksonville St. from start to finish

Southeast Missouri State University's women continued their rampage through the Ohio Valley Conference's predicted powers, crushing Jacksonville State 94-51 Thursday night.

The Redhawks improved to 12-6 overall and 6-1 in OVC play with their fifth straight victory as they moved back into a first-place OVC tie.

During a current four-game homestand, Southeast has rolled past the squads picked one-two-three in the OVC's preseason poll, including No. 2 JSU. Earlier, the Redhawks handed No. 1 Tennessee Tech its lone league loss to date, 62-45, and also ripped No. 3 Austin Peay 84-52.

"So far so good," said Southeast coach B.J. Smith of the homestand that ends Saturday against Samford.

The Redhawks were predicted to finish just fifth among 11 OVC teams mainly because they returned only four players, including just one starter.

But that hasn't slowed down Southeast -- and Thursday was no exception as the Redhawks led by 30 points in the first half, were ahead 42-16 at the break and pushed the margin to 45 points in the late going.

"We're pleased with the way we're playing. We're doing a lot of good things," Smith said. "But we know we can't get carried away with what's going on. We still have so many things we need to get better at."

Senior guard Brandi Russia continued her recent hot long-range shooting as she made three of five 3-pointers and scored 15 points. Russia, hitting nearly 47 percent of her 3-pointers (15 of 32) in OVC play, also had four assists.

"Practice makes perfect," she said, smiling. "I've been working on my shot a lot."

Freshman center Leanne Evans matched Russia by scoring a career-high 15 points off the bench, hitting six of seven shots. She had been averaging 1.6 points per game.

"She played great," Smith said. "We felt like she had been playing good in practice and deserved more playing time."

Junior center Tatiana Conceicao, the OVC's leading scorer at 18.7 points per game, added 13 points and added to her conference-leading steals total with five.

Junior forward Natalie Purcell came off the bench to score 11 points as she made three of six 3-pointers.

Tiffanne Ryan, a junior point guard, came off the bench to match Russia's team-leading four assists, and she added four steals to go with five points.

Starting junior point guard Wanika Owsley hit both of her 3-point attempts and scored eight points while recording three assists.

"We continue to get contributions from a lot of people," said Smith, noting that exactly half of Southeast's points came from its bench.

Thursday's win was again sparked by Southeast's trademark pressure defense that forced 30 turnovers and held JSU (6-10, 3-4) to 29.8-percent shooting from the field (14 of 47).

The Redhawks' last three opponents have combined for 87 turnovers and all three have shot under 32 percent.

"We're doing some good things on the defensive end," Smith said. "Good teams on any level will always guard you."

Said Evans, "We work on defense. That's what helps get us going."

While the Redhawks' defense was again stifling, their offense was also sharp. Southeast hit 31 of 64 (48.4 percent), including 10 of 22 3-pointers (45.5 percent), made 22 of 25 free throws (88 percent) and had only seven turnovers.

Southeast, which never trailed, used first-half runs of 20-0 and 10-0 to build its commanding lead at the break, holding JSU scoreless for nearly nine minutes during one stretch. After that it was simply a matter of how lopsided things would be.

WOMEN

SOUTHEAST 94, JACKSONVILLE STATE 51

Southeast

Min FG 3PT FT Rb F Pt

Conceicao 26 4-12 0-1 5-7 6 1 13

Brown 18 3-5 1-1 0-0 2 2 7

Owsley 21 3-4 2-2 0-0 2 1 8

Russia 25 5-11 3-5 2-3 5 3 15

Jackson 15 0-4 0-1 4-4 2 3 4

Ryan 15 2-5 1-3 0-0 0 1 5

Shelford 6 1-1 0-0 2-2 0 1 4

Dunn 17 1-3 0-2 0-0 3 2 2

Purcell 18 4-8 3-6 0-0 1 2 11

Evans 20 6-7 0-0 3-3 3 3 15

Mueggenborg 4 1-1 0-0 2-2 1 1 4

Sweetin 11 1-2 0-0 4-4 1 0 6

Moreno 2 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 0

Sharpe-Taylor 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Team rebounds 3

Totals 31-64 10-22 22-25 31 21 94

Jacksonville State

Min FG 3PT FT Rb F Pt

Fuess 26 4-6 1-2 3-4 5 3 12

Haynes 36 4-7 2-3 5-5 9 2 15

Healy 12 0-3 0-0 2-2 0 1 2

Carlisle 24 2-7 0-0 2-3 4 2 6

Stapp 23 1-4 1-4 0-0 1 0 3

Embry 12 0-4 0-0 1-2 5 3 1

Shepard 13 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0

Thomas 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Freeman 23 2-9 0-2 4-6 10 2 8

Amputch 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Riley 12 0-5 0-0 2-4 2 2 2

Clay 9 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 3 2

Team rebounds 2

Totals 14-47 4-11 19-26 39 21 51

Jacksonville State 16 35 -- 51

Southeast 42 52 -- 94

Shooting percentages: FG: Southeast .484, JSU .298. 3-Point FG: Southeast .455, JSU .364. FT: Southeast .880, JSU .731. Assists: Southeast 20 (Russia 4, Ryan 4), JSU 6. Turnovers: Southeast 7, JSU 30. Technical Fouls: None. Officials: Rusty Campbell, Troy Woodson, Gina Cross. A - 625.