Redhawks' high OVC hopes plummet to .500

~ The Southeast women fell to 3-3 in conference play with a 70-61 loss to Eastern Illinois.

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- The frustrations for the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team continued to mount Thursday night.

"Frustrating. I'd say that's the key word," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said following the Redhawks' 70-61 loss at Eastern Illinois.

A season that began with such high hopes -- the Redhawks returned three starters, led by Ohio Valley Conference player of the year Tatiana Conceicao, from a team that went 22-8 overall and a second-place 14-2 in the OVC -- keeps spiraling downward.

Southeast (6-7, 3-3 OVC) already has lost more regular-season conference games than it did all of last season. And the Redhawks are within one defeat of matching their overall loss total from 2004-05.

"It's very frustrating. We definitely know we're not playing up to our potential," senior guard Tiffanne Ryan said. "But what is potential unless you reach it?"

While the Redhawks keep struggling, the Panthers (5-7, 4-1 OVC) continue to surge. EIU won just three conference games last year when it tied for last in the 11-team league. The Panthers were picked 10th in this year's preseason poll.

Entering Thursday's contest, EIU had lost nine straight times to the Redhawks, the Panthers' last victory over Southeast coming in the 2000-01 season. Smith was not even at Southeast then.

"It's a big win for our program, because of the respect we have for them," second-year EIU coach Brady Sallee said.

Conceicao led Southeast with 15 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, but she hit just four of 13 field-goal attempts and also made just seven of 12 free throws. The senior center had only four first-half points as Southeast trailed 32-24 at the break.

"She was not a factor tonight," Smith said.

Senior forward Simone Jackson had 14 points and eight rebounds, while Ryan added nine points off the bench as she more than doubled her four-point average.

EIU, which used five freshmen extensively, was led by two of the rookies. Guard Megan Edwards scored 16 points, while forward Rachel Galligan had 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The Redhawks got off to a slow start and never led in the first half. They were tied only once, at 6-6 in the early minutes.

"I thought they played a lot harder than us," Smith said. "They got us to take shots we don't want to take."

Southeast fell behind 34-24 at the outset of the second half, but then finally got going.

When Ryan followed up her own miss with 14:01 remaining, the Redhawks had their first lead of the night, 42-41.

The Redhawks never led by more than two points and their final advantage was 47-46 with just under 10 minutes remaining.

The squads were tied 49-49 with a little more than 7 minutes left when Galligan scored inside to put EIU ahead to stay, 51-49.

EIU opened a 62-53 lead on a basket with 2:53 remaining. Southeast got no closer than six points the rest of the way, and that was with less than 30 seconds to go.

The Panthers hit six of eight free throws late to close out the victory.

Southeast shot 37.9 percent and made only three of 16 3-pointers. The Redhawks also struggled from the foul line, hitting eight of 17.

"We're not consistent with anything," Smith said. "It's not one player, or one thing."

The Redhawks have another road game Saturday, facing Murray State at 5:15 p.m.

"We just have to keep working, trying to get better in practice every day," Ryan said.