Southeast women end trip to Hawaii with loss to BYU

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Southeast Missouri State University's women put up a strong effort but suffered its second loss in the Waikiki Beach Marriott Invitational.

Brigham Young held off Southeast 62-52 late Friday. Southeast fell to 4-3. Brigham Young (5-1) and host Hawaii (2-2) played late Saturday for the championship of the three-team tournament.

Junior center Tatiana Conceicao led Southeast with 16 points. She scored 22 points during Thursday's 79-69 loss to Hawaii and was a virtual lock to make the all-tournament team.

Senior guard Brandi Russia added 10 points for Southeast.

Brigham Young got 20 points and 12 rebounds from junior forward Ambrosia Anderson. Senior forward Kristen Kozlowski added 16 points for the Cougars.

Southeast started off strong and scored the game's first eight points but Brigham Young rallied for a 30-23 halftime lead.

The Cougars, whose only loss this season was by three points to nationally ranked Arizona, could never shake Southeast, which pulled to within one point twice in the second half and trailed just 55-52 on Conceicao's basket with 2:13 remaining.

Brigham Young outrebounded Southeast 44-27. Southeast was also hurt by a second straight poor shooting performance, hitting just 37.5 percent from the field overall (21 of 56), including 22.2 percent from 3-point range (six of 27).

Against Hawaii, Southeast shot 40 percent overall and 16.7 percent on 3-pointers.

The Cougars did not shoot all that much better than Southeast, hitting 41.4 percent (24 of 58) and 27.3 percent on 3-pointers (three of 11). Brigham Young had a solid advantage from the free-throw line, making 11 of 15 compared to four of six for Southeast.

Southeast returns to action Saturday with a game at Illinois-Chicago. The teams met earlier this season, with Southeast posting an 85-82 overtime victory in its own Thanksgiving Classic.