Birthday wish come true, Redhawks defeat TSU

On SEMO head coach Rekha Patterson’s birthday, the Redhawks gave her quite the present, a win. The SEMO Women’s basketball team defeated the Tennessee State Tigers (TSU) 48-47, on Saturday at the Show Me Center. Alecia Doyle and Indiya Bowen led the Redhawks on offense with 18 points apiece.

Throughout the first quarter, SEMO had success going inside as they were 75% on shots from the paint. The three-point line was a different story as the Redhawks were 0-5 in the quarter and TSU shot 100% from three (2-2). SEMO’s interior defense held the Tigers to just 30% from inside the three-point line.

The second quarter was a struggle for both teams offensively with the Redhawks just 37% from the paint and 1-6 from three. Luckily for the Redhawks, TSU did worse shooting just 20% from the paint and 0-3 from three. Both SEMO and the Tigers had three-minute stretches of putting up zero points.

Redhawks head coach Rekha Patterson said while the Redhawks may have trouble scoring but they kept TSU from scoring too.

“I think we've had a lot of practice in games of struggling to score and being able to not let that flow into the defense and say, ‘Okay, if we're not scoring, we have to make sure we do what we can to keep them from scoring,’” Patterson said. “I also thought our offensive rebounds, even though we didn't score well off of them gave us energy and that may have also deflated the opponent.”

The Redhawks struggled in the third quarter, at one point going on a five-minute scoreless streak and TSU took the lead, eventually extending it to five. Back-to-back threes from Bowen and Doyle tied the game for the Redhawks, and the game was 39-39 entering the final frame.

The fourth quarter was ugly for everyone, through the first nine minutes of the quarter both teams had scored just five points each. A foul on the Tigers sent Bowen to the line for the Redhawks, where she knocked down both for the lead.

“I was just thinking ‘I have to make these, I want to win this game,” Bowen said.

TSU missed their next shot and a rebound by the Redhawks forced the Tigers to start fouling. Jaliyah Green knocked down two big free throws, giving SEMO a four-point lead, TSU did score a three at the buzzer but it was not enough as the Redhawks held on.

SEMO goes on a road trip to take on Eastern Illinois and SIUE before returning to the Show Me Center on Feb. 22 to battle Little Rock at 5:15 p.m.