'Hawks surge by SIU

~ Southeast used a second-half burst to defeat the Salukis 74-63.

It took Southeast Missouri State less than 6 minutes of the second half to turn what had all the makings of a thriller into a blowout.

The Redhawks trailed Southern Illinois by one point at halftime of Tuesday night's game at the Show Me Center.

With 14:11 remaining in the second half, the Redhawks had a 21-point lead, thanks to an incredible 26-4 run. SIU never recovered as Southeast coasted to a 74-63 victory.

"It was impressive," acknowledged Southeast coach B.J. Smith.

Added Southeast senior center Tatiana Conceicao: "It was awesome. I think that's us right there. That's how we can play."

Smith knows it might not be realistic for the Redhawks to consistently perform as well as they did during that stretch of nearly 6 minutes.

But Smith does think they can reach that level for large stretches of games. He also believes they took a major step in the right direction Tuesday after being somewhat inconsistent in their first four games.

"It's the first time we really looked like I thought we would," said Smith, whose squad improved to 3-2 and dropped SIU to 3-1. "We had a lot more intensity, a lot of deflections, and we didn't give up as many easy looks."

A tight first half -- there were seven ties, six lead changes and no advantage larger than six points -- ended with SIU ahead 32-31. It appeared that the Salukis would threaten to continue their best start since the 1991-92 season.

"They were a good team," Southeast senior forward Simone Jackson said. "We knew we had to make some adjustments on defense and raise our intensity."

Southeast did just that in the second half, forcing several early turnovers and errant shots by the Salukis.

The Redhawks scored the first 14 points of the final period, getting five points from Jackson, four points from Conceicao, a 3-pointer from senior forward Natalie Purcell and a layup from freshman guard Tarina Nixon.

Just 3:21 into the last 20 minutes, Southeast led 45-32.

Less than 3 minutes later, it was 57-36. Conceicao had eight points in the run, Purcell had six, and Jackson and Nixon each added five.

"We can play that way all the time," said senior point guard Wanika Owsley, who had the other two points in the game-changing 26-4 spurt. "That's what we practice to do."

The final score was somewhat misleading, as SIU never got closer than 14 points until the last 2 minutes, and the Salukis did not close within 11 points until the final 50 seconds.

"I kind of took the air out of the ball the last few minutes with the big lead, and we probably lost some of our intensity," Smith said.

Conceicao, coming off a career-high 30-point performance in Southeast's previous game, poured in 27 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Jackson had 16 points and five assists, while Purcell recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. She added three steals and three blocked shots.

"I thought Natalie was really big with those 10 rebounds," said Smith, whose squad held a 36-31 edge on the boards.

Nixon, making her first Southeast start, had five points, five rebounds and three assists, while senior guard Tiffanne Ryan came off the bench to hit a pair of 3-pointers.

"Tarina is really going to be a good player," Smith said. "She's still not 100 percent [because of a knee injury]."

Southeast also got a big lift off the bench from 6-foot-6 junior center Joiceline Thesing, the tallest player in the program's history.

Thesing, a junior college transfer, had struggled somewhat in the first four games. Tuesday, she had four points and blocked five shots, while altering numerous other attempts.

"She played really well," Smith said. "Hopefully she can take this and build on it."

Sophomore point guard Erin Pauk led SIU with 19 points.

"They're a much-improved team," said Smith of the Salukis, who had gone 3-24 in each of the past two seasons. "I really felt we'd have to play well to win."

After SIU shot 50 percent in the first half, the Salukis shot just 37.1 percent in the second half.

Conversely, Southeast improved from 35.5 percent in the opening period to 62.5 percent in the final half.

"Even in the first half, I thought we were in control," Smith said. "We just weren't making shots."

Southeast returns to action Friday night at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a team that beat the Redhawks 90-87 in double-overtime at the Show Me Center last Friday.