Redhawks lose a classic

~ Milwaukee-Wisconsin escaped with a 90-87 victory in double overtime.

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team dug itself one hole after another Friday night against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at the Show Me Center.

While the Redhawks (1-2) were able to extricate themselves from quite a few of those holes, in the end, the Panthers came out on top 90-87 in double overtime at the Healthpoint Plaza Thanksgiving Classic.

"I thought we made too many mistakes, too many little things," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said. "We missed too many free throws and layups. You have to make those things in these types of games."

The Redhawks will play Henderson State at 7 p.m. tonight at the Show Me Center in the finale of the Thanksgiving Classic.

Against the Panthers (2-2), Southeast rallied from a nine point halftime deficit, got tying baskets from Wanika Owsley with seven seconds left in regulation and at the buzzer of the first overtime, but still came up short.

Smith said his squad seemed to grab some momentum at points in the game only to fall short when they had a chance to grab the lead.

"You just expend so much energy trying to bridge the gap," he said.

After Southeast clawed its way back into the game, thanks to a pair of late three-pointers from Owsley at the end of regulation, Wisconsin-Milwaukee opened the first overtime period with a 7-0 run. Southeast scored the next seven points to tie the score at 77-77 with 1:53 remaining in overtime.

The Panthers led 81-77 with 25 seconds left, but Tatiana Conceicao put in a layup with 16 seconds left and Katrisha Dunn stole the inbound and tied the score at 81-81.

Meredith Onson hit two free throws with six seconds remaining to put the Panthers back up 83-81. Owsley came to the rescue once again, going coast to coast and hitting a layup at the buzzer to send the game into a second overtime.

"I thought that was a great shot," Smith said. "I wish we were down one. She hit some big shots there."

In the second overtime, Southeast had several opportunities to grab the lead but could not hit the big shot. Molly O'Brien gave the Panthers the lead for good with a layin with 37 seconds remaining. Tiffanne Ryan had a look at a 3-pointer to put the game into a third overtime but missed.

"I felt like we were in control of the whole game besides the first three minutes," Panthers coach Sandy Botham said. "Anytime they came at us and made a run, I thought we answered very well."

Conceicao led all scorers with 21 points, but she played just five minutes in the opening half due to foul trouble and fouled out at the end of the first overtime. Simone Jackson added 17 points for the Redhawks, Natalie Purcell had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Owsley had 12 points.

Southeast led 15-4 less than five minutes into the game before the Panthers went to a zone defense. Without Conceicao on the floor, Southeast was outscored 29-9 the rest of the half.

"They went to a zone and Tatiana got into foul trouble the same time they went to the zone," Smith said. "We struggled with the zone in the first half."

With or without Conceicao on the floor, Southeast had a hard time guarding Wisconsin-Milwaukee's 6-foot-2 freshman Traci Edwards, who tied for the team-lead with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Edwards added a game-high 12 rebounds.

"Traci showed great emotion tonight," Botham said. "She came out aggressive and had some huge blocks. To see your freshman come out tonight -- that was great."

Nichole Drummond added 20 points for the Panthers, Megan Rogers had 14, O'Brien had 13 and Onson added 11. O'Brien added nine rebounds, as the Panthers outrebounded Southeast 45-41.

Despite trailing 33-24 at the half, Southeast stuck with the Panthers throughout the second half. Jackson put the Redhawks up 63-62 with 4:12 remaining, giving Southeast its first lead since leading 24-22 with 3:33 to go in the opening half.

"We've got to execute better," Smith said. "They're a good basketball team. I thought they executed better than we did tonight."

Southeast will get another shot at the Panthers when the Redhawks travel to Milwaukee next Friday.

"We better worry about Henderson State first," Smith said.