Alone on top for now

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Southeast Missouri State has had its share of problems in Ohio Valley Conference road games this season.

But the Redhawks turned in a road performance fitting of a champion Wednesday night as they took a major step toward their second straight Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title.

Southeast saw host Eastern Illinois score six of the game's first eight points -- but the Redhawks dominated the rest of the way and routed the Panthers 63-42.

"We haven't been doing so well on the road," Southeast sophomore point guard Tarina Nixon said. "We wanted to put everything we had into this game."

The Redhawks (18-7, 13-4) moved into sole possession of first place in the OVC by a half-game over Murray State, although the Racers can pull back into a tie by beating last-place Tennessee State tonight.

Southeast, which has three regular-season contests remaining, clinched a home game for the first round of the OVC tournament on Feb. 27.

"I couldn't be happier," Southeast acting head coach John Ishee said. "I'm proud of everybody. ... We played as a total team."

Southeast, which is unbeaten in nine OVC home games, entered Wednesday having lost four of its seven conference road contests.

Ishee expected a tough battle against EIU (9-17, 6-11), which had won two straight games and four of its last six.

But the Redhawks held the league's highest-scoring team to nearly 32 points below its average as they posted their most lopsided road victory of the season.

EIU entered play ranked 24th nationally in scoring with an average of 73.8 points per game. The Panthers finished with the fewest points allowed by Southeast this year.

Southeast leads the OVC in field-goal percentage defense -- the figure was 37.4 percent prior to Wednesday -- and the Redhawks limited the Panthers to 21.8 percent.

"I was very concerned about this game," Ishee said. "Eastern Illinois is a very good offensive team that can hurt you in a lot of ways. When they're making shots, they're dangerous.

"We played pretty good defense for the most part."

Southeast senior center Lachelle Lyles, the nation's leading rebounder with an average of nearly 17 per game, had her eighth double-double of the season with 14 points and 21 rebounds. She added four steals.

It was Lyles' six performance of at least 20 rebounds.

Junior forward Missy Whitney scored 14 points for the Redhawks, and she blocked six shots to tie the school single-game record. Whitney added seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Also scoring 14 points for Southeast was sophomore guard Sonya Daugherty, while Nixon had 12 points, seven steals and four assists.

Sophomore forward Rachel Blunt added nine rebounds off the bench, while senior center Joiceline Thesing contributed three blocks off the bench.

"I thought our post defense was very good," Ishee said. "Missy, Lachelle, Joiceline, Rachel -- they all did well in there."

After falling behind 8-2, Southeast scored 11 straight points -- nine by Whitney -- to lead 11-8. The Redhawks never looked back.

Ahead 17-13, Southeast used an 8-0 run to begin opening up some breathing room at 25-13.

When Nixon put in a tough runner just before the halftime buzzer, the Redhawks had a commanding 36-19 advantage at the intermission.

EIU started out by making two of its first four shots, but then missed 15 straight. The Panthers were four of 26 from the field in opening period (15.4 percent). They also were hurt by 13 first-half turnovers.

"We take pride in our defense," Nixon said.

The Panthers never got closer than 14 points in the second half, and Southeast's biggest lead was 22 points.

"We were pretty much in control most of the game," Ishee said.

EIU finished with 21 turnovers as Southeast had 18 steals, to go along with 10 blocks.

Southeast plays its final regular-season home game Saturday, against Tennessee-Martin at 5 p.m.