Redhawks women on brink of missing OVC tourney

~ UT-Martin pulled away from Southeast in the second half

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team saw its chances of making the Ohio Valley Conference tournament take a major hit Saturday.

The injury-riddled Redhawks suffered their seventh straight loss, 65-43 at Tennessee-Martin.

Southeast (7-19, 4-12) is last in the 10-team OVC and two games out of eighth place with two contests left. The top eight finishers qualify for the conference tournament.

The Redhawks still can make the tournament, but they need to win their final two games and also receive some help.

Southeast last missed the OVC tournament in 1996-97. The only other time Southeast did not qualify was in its second Division I season in 1992-93.

The Redhawks also matched the 1997-98 squad for the program's second-most losses on the Division I level.

UTM (9-17, 7-9) moved into a fifth-place tie after not winning an OVC game last season. The Skyhawks swept the season series from Southeast, also beating the Redhawks 49-46 on Jan. 21 in Cape Girardeau.

Freshman forward Bailie Roberts led Southeast with 16 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

Freshman guard Shelah Fields added 13 points for Southeast, but no other player scored more than five points.

LaBrica Ward paced UTM with 19 points and 15 rebounds.

Southeast shot just 32.1 percent from the field, but UTM wasn't much better at 34 percent. However, the Skyhawks hit 18 of 21 free throws compared to just 2 of 4 for the Redhawks. UTM also held a 44-30 rebounding advantage.

The Redhawks scored the game's first five points and led 10-4. The squads were tied 19-19 late in the opening half but UTM ended the period with a 11-3 run to go ahead 30-22 at the break.

The Skyhawks steadily pulled away in the second half.

Southeast finishes its regular season with two home games, Thursday against eighth-place Tennessee State and Saturday against third-place Austin Peay.