Austin Peay avenges loss to Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team

Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach Ty Margenthaler spent several minutes talking to his players in the locker room Monday night following their game against Austin Peay at the Show Me Center.

His focus wasn't so much about the specifics of the 87-74 loss to their Ohio Valley Conference West Division opponent, but rather where they go from this point.

"I went in the locker room and told the girls, 'At this point, we're at a crossroads.' We are," Margenthaler said. "I'm excited to see where this team goes, what they want and what this means. We're going to coach them, we're going to lead them, we're going to motivate them, we're going to push them, but again, they play the game of basketball. They're the ones on the court and I'm really excited to see where this team goes.

"But we're at a crossroads for Nashville -- either we figure it out -- we go, [or] we don't figure out it -- we won't go."

The loss dropped the Redhawks' record to 7-15 overall and 3-6 in the OVC, which puts them in fourth in the OVC West standings and 10th in the conference with seven games remaining. The top eight teams compete in the OVC tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

Austin Peay's Tearra Banks blocks a shot from Southeast Missouri State's Kenyada Brown in the first half, Monday, Feb. 3, 2014, at the Show Me Center. Austin Peay won 87-74. (Laura Simon)

APSU improved to 9-14 overall and 6-4 in the OVC. The Governors sit in second in the West Division and tied for fourth overall.

Southeast defeated APSU 75-64 in their first meeting on Jan. 4, but the Governors were "a totally different basketball team," Margenthaler said.

"I was outcoached tonight. And then our players were outplayed tonight," Margenthaler said. "Very disappointed about that, but we've got to learn from this situation, this game, and move on. We didn't do a lot of positive things tonight. We just continued to get ourself in a hole, and it was always catch up, always catch up. That's very difficult against a good basketball team that is playing very, very well, that has five to six scorers on the court at all times."

The Redhawks trailed nearly the entire game and found themselves trying to overcome double-figure deficits multiple times.

With the game tied 9-9 with 14 minutes, 33 seconds left in the first half, APSU outscored the Redhawks 15-2 over the next six minutes to take a 24-11 lead.

Austin Peay’s Tiasha Gray fouls Southeast Missouri State’s Yelena Rosado during the second half Monday at the Show Me Center.

Southeast came clawing back, taking a one-point lead -- their first of the game – with 1:21 left in the half, and the Governors held a 35-32 advantage at the break.

"I felt as poorly as we played in the first half, I felt confident and comfortable going into the locker room down three points," Margenthaler said.

He mentioned that at every halftime he stresses the importance of starting the first four minutes of the second half well, and Monday was no different, but the Redhawks didn't do that.

The Governors outscored Southeast 27-7 over the first 7:19 of the second half to take its largest lead of the game at 62-39. Margenthaler called two timeouts during the stretch, but APSU's lead continued to grow.

"That really put a dagger into us," Margenthaler said. "It seemed like for six minutes in a row it was just basket after basket, and again we got ourselves down and we got frustrated, and we got frustrated with the officials -- our players did -- and we showed some weakness."

The Redhawks had one more run in them. Southeast outscored APSU 28-11 to pull within six points with 4:37 to play, but never came closer.

"Really what it kind of came down to tonight, in my opinion, is our lack of defensive intensity and getting stops at the crucial times," Margenthaler said. "That really, really hurt us and they exposed that, and a team always looks good when they make their shots and they make their layups, and Austin Peay came in there tonight and did that."

The Governors shot 54.2 percent in the game (32 of 59), while Southeast shot 36.2 percent (25 of 69).

Margenthaler's next chance to see how his team responds to the "crossroads" is on Saturday at OVC West opponent Eastern Illinois. The Panthers (9-12, 4-6 OVC) sit one spot ahead in the conference standings.

The Redhawks will look to snap a two-game losing streak.

"We can't allow the one loss to become two, to three," Margenthaler said, "and that's where maturity and getting together as a team and leadership, we've got to get a little better at."