Late rally not enough for SEMO women as they fall to Tennessee Tech

A slow start to the second quarter proved to be the demise of the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks as they fell 76-66 to the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles on Thursday.

Both clubs traded baskets in the early going as the Redhawks raced out to an 8-7 lead.

The Golden Eagles went on to out score the Redhawks 10-4 in the final six minutes of the opening quarter to take a 17-12 lead.

“I think we were both just trying to feel each other out a little bit,” Redhawks coach Rekha Patterson said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of defense. Both teams were shooting like 60% at one point.”

With the momentum on their side, Tennessee Tech continued its rampant start offensively as they opened the second frame on a 10-2 run to take a commanding 27-14 lead.

“We just turned the ball over some,” Patterson said. “Our intensity defensively wasn’t where it needed to be.”

SEMO was able to reel off a quick 7-2 burst to cut the deficit to 8, but 8 straight points from the Golden Eagles ballooned their lead to 37-21, forcing a Redhawks timeout.

Tennessee Tech’s lead got to as many as 19 in the first-half, but once again SEMO was able to cut into the lead to make it 45-33 Tennessee Tech as the two clubs entered the locker room at halftime.

“We talked about how we weren’t in alignment,” Patterson said. “They were giving effort but it’s like somebody wound you up and then you are all going in different directions. You’re giving effort but it’s not connected effort.”

A quick bucket from the Redhawks would cut the lead to 10, but that was as close as they would get in the third quarter as Tennessee Tech built a 20 point lead and didn’t look back as the Golden Eagles led 65-50 after three quarters.

The Redhawks had their backs against the wall to start the fourth and they began the quarter on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 9 just two minutes into the fourth quarter.

The run reached 10-0 as the Redhawks were able to cut the lead to 65-60, before a pair of free throws ended the run.

“We had some fight in us,” Patterson said. “We just have to play with that fight for longer than 15 minutes in order to have success.

Like she had been doing all night long, Alecia Doyle was doing everything she could to will the Redhawks across the finish line.

She knocked down shot after shot, perhaps the biggest being her three-pointer with five minutes remaining for her 30th point of the night to make the Tennessee Tech lead just 67-63.

“I thought in the second half she was shooting with her soul,” Patterson said of Doyle. “It looked different and I think that’s why there were different results.”

Even with Doyle seemingly knocking down everything, it wasn’t enough as the Redhawks eventually fell 76-66.

Leading the Redhawks offensively was Doyle who finished with 31 points on 12-for-23 shooting, including 4-for-6 from three-point range.

Also scoring for Southeast was Jaliyah Green with 9 points, Amiyah Buchanan with 8 points, Indiya Bowen with 6 points, Michaela Mayfield and Kiyley Flowers with 4 points and Abbigail Stephens and Megan Barton with 2 points.

SEMO (6-16) returns to the court at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10, when the Redhawks host Tennessee State at the Show Me Center.