Redhawks win No. 20

~ Southeast beat Austin Peay 67-47 for its 11th straight victory.

As successful as the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team has been this season, the Redhawks have enjoyed few breathers.

A rare exception was Wednesday night as the red-hot Redhawks pulled away in the second half to roll past visiting Austin Peay 67-47.

After having eight straight Ohio Valley Conference games decided by 10 points or less, the Redhawks enjoyed their most lopsided OVC victory of the season.

"We're not used to winning by a margin like that," junior forward Crysta Glenn said. "But we'll take what we can get."

Southeast's Rachel Blunt screamed for a timeout to avoid a held ball during the first half of the Redhawks' game against Austin Peay on Wednesday. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Added senior guard Ashley Lovelady: "It feels good to win pretty big, but that's usually not how we do it."

But the Redhawks keep doing it, regardless of the style.

Southeast (20-6, 15-2) has won 11 straight games and 16 of its last 17. The Redhawks, chasing their third consecutive OVC regular-season title, increased their league lead to 1 1/2 games over idle Samford.

"We just want to keep taking care of business," Lovelady said.

Austin Peay (5-21, 2-15), which fell into a last-place OVC tie, hung with Southeast during a tight first half that featured 10 lead changes, seven ties and no advantage bigger than three points.

Southeast's Ashley Lovelady shot over two Austin Peay defenders during the first half.

The Redhawks carried a 32-29 lead into the break on junior guard Sonya Daugherty's 3-pointer with 1 second remaining.

Southeast then dominated the second half, holding Austin Peay to 17.9 percent shooting, hitting 52.4 percent of its own shots and outscoring the Govs 35-18.

"We had better ball pressure and we just communicated better," Lovelady said.

Lovelady had a strong all-around performance with 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals while playing a team-high 33 minutes.

Lovelady ran the point most of the second half as junior guard Tarina Nixon played only five minutes in the period, the result of a first-half collision.

Southeast's Tarina Nixon collided with Austin Peay's Darcy Warner as she went up for a shot during the first half of Wednesday's game at the Show Me Center. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

"Coach prepares me for that kind of stuff," Lovelady said. "And I ran the point in junior college."

Nixon, who finished with 11 points in just 20 minutes, was shaken up late in the opening half. She returned to the court for the start of the final period, but soon went back to the bench.

"Tarina started to have a little headache and we didn't want to take any chances," Southeast coach John Ishee said. "Hopefully she'll be ready for Saturday [when Eastern Kentucky visits Southeast].

"Ashley stepped up big. She played really well at both ends. She ran the team really well after Tarina went out."

Glenn matched Lovelady with 14 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Senior center Missy Whitney scored 10 points and blocked three shots, while junior forward Rachel Blunt added nine points and six rebounds.

Southeast outscored the Govs 17-3 over the opening eight minutes of the second half to lead 49-32, and the margin never dipped under 12 points.

"I think our defensive pressure wore them down," said Ishee, whose squad leads the OVC in scoring defense and has held its last three opponents to 47 points or less.