First road win eludes Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team in overtime

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team came ever so close to winning its first road game of the season Saturday.

But host Tennessee Tech rallied to force overtime and went on to beat the Redhawks 60-57.

Southeast fell to 4-16 overall and 1-6 in Ohio Valley Conference play with its fourth consecutive loss, dropping to 0-9 on the road. The Redhawks are 10th in the 11-team OVC.

Defending OVC regular-season champion Tennessee Tech, which had been struggling after being picked to repeat, improved to 7-13 overall and a seventh-place 3-3 in the OVC.

"I couldn't be prouder of our basketball team tonight," first-year Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler said. "We worked so hard and we gave everything we had. I thought we really played great defense.

"We just didn't make some shots at the end, but they were good shots. It was unfortunate that they just didn't go in at the end."

Southeast fell behind 15-12 but used a 16-2 run to open a double-figure lead.

A baseline jumper by junior forward Bailie Roberts with a little more than two minutes left in the first half made it 28-17.

Tech scored the final five points of the opening period to pull within 28-22 at the break.

Southeast went up 30-22 in the opening seconds of the second half. The Redhawks fell behind 36-32 but went back ahead 39-37. It remained tight the rest of the way.

The Redhawks held a 50-46 lead with just more than three minutes left but failed to score the remainder of regulation.

Four straight points by Tech tied things at 50-50 with just less than two minutes left.

Both sides missed opportunities before Southeast found itself with possession with 11 seconds left. A jumper by junior forward Brittany Harriel at the buzzer was just off, sending the squads to overtime at 50-50.

"We wanted Brittany to have the ball. She had a nice look," Margenthaler said.

Southeast, which trailed 52-51 early in the five-minute extra session, scored four consecutive points to go up 55-52 with a little more than two minutes left.

Molly Heady's jumper with 90 seconds remaining put Tech back up 56-55. Southeast failed to convert and another basket by the Eaglettes made it 58-55.

Southeast misfired on two 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds before Tech hit two free throws to go up 60-55 and ice the win.

Harriel led Southeast with 12 points and junior center Courtney Shiffer added 10.

Roberts finished with nine points and a game-high eight rebounds.