Redhawks bounce back from EKU loss

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State women's coach B.J. Smith was anxious to see how the Redhawks would respond after having their 10-game winning streak snapped.

He got the answer he was looking for Saturday -- especially in the first half -- as Southeast defeated Ohio Valley Conference foe Morehead State 82-70.

The Redhawks (18-7, 12-2), who began the road trip with Thursday's four-point loss at Eastern Kentucky that ended their longest winning streak on the Division I level, remained in second place in the OVC, one game behind Eastern Kentucky.

"I was really looking forward to seeing how we'd come out after the disappointing loss," Smith said. "I thought we bounced back and responded pretty well.

"We were sporadically pretty good. We had some minutes where we looked really good."

Said junior point guard Wanika Owsley, "It was a hard loss the other night, but we knew we had to bounce back. It's a 'W.'"

Junior center Tatiana Conceicao paced Southeast offensively with 23 points. She also had nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Senior guard Brandi Russia scored 17 points and had three assists; senior forward Chandra Brown had 12 points, six rebounds and three assists; and junior forward Natalie Purcell added 11 points off the bench.

Junior point guard Tiffanne Ryan came off the bench to lead Southeast in assists (four) and steals (three), while freshman center Leanne Evans provided a spark with eight points off the bench.

"Leanne gave us some good minutes," Smith said.

After playing a miserable first half against Eastern Kentucky -- Southeast never led in that contest -- the Redhawks came out strong Saturday.

The Eagles (5-20, 3-11) led just once, at 3-0 in the opening moments. Southeast scored the next seven points and was pretty much in control the rest of the way, although MSU did hang tough most of the second half.

Southeast opened up a 15-5 advantage less than seven minutes into the game, thanks in large part to 10 bench points -- six by Purcell and four by Evans.

The Redhawks' biggest first-half lead was 35-17, and they were ahead 39-25 at halftime. Purcell had eight points in the period and Evans contributed six. Conceicao led with 11.

"The first 10 minutes, I thought we were as good as we've been all year," Smith said.

MSU scored the first seven points of the second half to make it 39-32 and Southeast had trouble shaking the pesky Eagles until late.

Although the Eagles got no closer than seven points, they were within 63-54 with under eight minutes left before the Redhawks finally pulled away for good, their biggest lead being 81-61.

"I think we let up some in the second half," Owsley said.

Southeast held a 37-28 rebounding advantage and forced 23 turnovers, which helped overcome the Eagles' strong shooting (51.2 percent, including 62.5 percent in the second half). The Redhawks shot 39.7 percent.

"We're happy to get the win, but we know we have to get a lot better," Smith said. "But we don't want to play our best game at Morehead State tonight. We want to play our best game in two weeks [at the OVC tournament]."

Freshman guard Anitha Smith-Williams led MSU with 17 points. Senior center Shelly Johnson had 16.

The Redhawks play their final two regular-season games at home, Thursday against Murray State and Saturday against Tennessee-Martin.