OVC-leading UTM routs Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team

~ First-place UTm women remained unbeaten in OVC play with a 100-71 victory

Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach Ty Margenthaler plans to make some changes following the Redhawks' lopsided loss to Tennessee-Martin on Monday.

Southeast (5-12) dropped to 1-3 in Ohio Valley Conference play with a 100-71 loss to the three-time defending OVC Tournament champion Skyhawks (12-6, 5-0) at the Elam Center in Martin, Tenn.

"We're going to go back tomorrow -- it's our day off -- and we've got to find a way to get this team playing better, to get this team executing better," Margenthaler said. "I know that's my job, and I'm going to do that tomorrow.

"We're going to make some changes. Not so much with lineups, with team, but maybe do some different things offensively to get a little bit more movement, to get them to get a little bit better opportunity. We're going to go back to the drawing board tomorrow and get something happening."

The Redhawks hung with the Skyhawks for the first 10 minutes of the game before UTM was able to push the tempo and force turnovers.

Southeast turned the ball over 12 times in the first half and UTM outscored the Redhawks 30-11 over the final 9 minutes, 49 seconds of the half to hold a 50-28 edge at halftime.

"We knew they were going to press, so take care of the ball," Margenthaler said. "We knew that we wanted to play our tempo and not take quick, quick shots that were not available and I thought we did that.

"We did some good things. When we had the layup we took it, but we took some ill-advised shots as well. And the last thing you want to do is get Martin in an up-and-down game because they have the two best guards in our league and probably in mid-major basketball, quite honestly."

UTM guards Jasmine Newsome and Heather Butler combined for 28 points in the first half. Newsome finished with 16 points and Butler scored a game-high 23 points, which brought her career points to 2,506 and moved her into second on the OVC's all-time scoring list. Neither played in the final 10 minutes of the game.

The Skyhawks opened the second half with a 22-5 run in the first five minutes and extended their lead to as much as 44 points with 9:54 remaining.

"I thought our defense was poor," Margenthaler said. "I thought our post defense was extremely soft. They could do anything they wanted to. Anytime the ball went inside, they scored. I thought our post defense was absolutely not at all where it needs to be against a quality team like tonight."

Margenthaler told his players coming into the game that they needed to limit the Skyhawks' free-throw attempts, but Southeast was called for 27 fouls and UT Martin shot 31 of 38 (81.6 percent) from the line.

Southeast didn't shoot many free throws in the first half but finished 30 of 41 from the line.

One positive Margenthaler noted was freshman guard Brianna Mitchell, who finished with 20 points in 18 minutes off the bench.

"I thought Brianna came in and really gave us a lot of energy, toughness," Margenthaler said. "She scored the basketball, so that was really good to see."

Senior guard Jordan Hunter was the only other Redhawk in double figures with 16 points.

Sophomore guard Kara Wright did not start for the first time this season as Margenthaler switched the lineup. She played 16 minutes off the bench and scored four points.

"Kara hasn't been playing as tough as she can possibly play, and we need her to be really tough," Margenthaler said. "[She's] one of our better players on our team and we need her to be more consistent every single day and with great toughness. Kara's a great basketball player and she's going to do a lot of great things for us, but hopefully this will wake her up a little bit. Just trying to get a little fire going with our team. Unfortunately it didn't work, but hopefully it sends a message to everybody."

The Redhawks will have six days off before their next game, which Margenthaler thinks will benefit the team.

Southeast faces Morehead State at 5 p.m. Monday in Morehead, Ky.

"It's going to be a great thing because we're going to go back to the drawing board," Margenthaler said, "and we need a lot of time right now to find out who wants to really play hard and get us to Nashville, because that's our goal."