Redhawks squeak out home victory

~ The Southeast women nipped EKU 73-72 to retain a share of first place in the OVC.

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team breathed a collective sigh of relief Saturday after its Ohio Valley Conference home-court magic continued.

But just barely.

Eastern Kentucky nearly erased a five-point deficit in the final 20 seconds Saturday, and had a potential game-winning 15-footer at the buzzer.

"I was praying, 'please don't let her make that shot,'" Southeast acting head coach John Ishee said.

Ashley Cazee didn't, and the Redhawks escaped with a 73-72 victory that kept them perfect in nine OVC games at the Show Me Center.

The Redhawks (17-7, 12-4), who on Thursday moved into a three-way tie for the OVC lead by beating Morehead State, now share the top spot with only Murray State, which beat Morehead on Saturday to push the Eagles a game behind.

"It's getting down to the wire, and that [the OVC regular-season title] was one of our goals at the start of the season," sophomore point guard Tarina Nixon said. "We just have to keep winning."

Southeast beat EKU 64-62 on Jan. 2 in Richmond, Ky., needing Nixon's basket in the final 30 seconds to take the lead for good.

Things were just about as difficult Saturday, as the Colonels (9-16, 6-10) put up quite a fight before suffering their fourth straight loss.

"I give them credit for playing us so tough," senior center Lachelle Lyles said. "They're a hard team to beat."

Southeast led 43-36 at halftime -- thanks to 66.7-percent shooting -- and matched its biggest advantage by scoring the first basket of the second half.

But EKU would not go away, and the Colonels took their first lead since early in the game as a Crystal Jones bucket made it 49-48 with 12 minutes remaining.

That set the stage for a tense, back-and-forth finish. Over the final 12 minutes, there were nine lead changes and no margin bigger than five points.

"I credit Eastern Kentucky, because they're a really good team, and this has been a great rivalry the last few years," Ishee said. "They have good players, and they present us some matchup problems."

The Redhawks took the lead for good on reserve sophomore guard Szandra Pal's layup in traffic with 3:05 left, making it 65-63.

Pal, averaging just two points per game, hit all three of her field-goal attempts and scored six points.

"She stepped up and made big plays," Ishee said.

Southeast was far from out of the woods after Pal's basket, although the Redhawks appeared to be in good shape when Nixon made two free throws with 20 seconds remaining for a 72-67 advantage.

Cazee's 3-pointer with 13 seconds left made it 72-70 -- and set the stage for a wild finish.

Nixon hit one of two foul shots with 11 seconds left to make it 73-70.

EKU missed a 3-pointer, but the Colonels put in a follow shot with 3.5 seconds remaining.

Southeast then had its inbound pass intercepted by Cazee, who took a couple of dribbles and put up a shot from around the free-throw line that bounced off the rim as time expired.

"I had my hand out there and contested it," Lyles said. "But she still got a pretty good look."

Nixon led the Redhawks with 19 points and four assists.

Junior forward Missy Whitney, coming off Thursday's 28-point performance against Morehead State, scored 18 points. She added three blocks, two assists and two steals.

Lyles, the nation's leading rebounder with an average of nearly 17 per game, scored 13 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season.

Sophomore guard Sonya Daugherty added 11 points.

Southeast shot a season-high 54.3 percent from the floor (25 of 46), which helped offset the Redhawks' 19 turnovers.

"We shot well, and we had to, because Eastern Kentucky was very tough, just like I expected them to be," Ishee said.

Jones, a junior guard, led the Colonels with 26 points.