Saint Louis uses 24-0 run against Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team in 54-45 win

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team was much more competitive in its second game under first-year coach Ty Margenthaler.

But the result was the same for the Redhawks, who fell to 0-2 with Sunday's 54-45 loss at Saint Louis University.

Southeast opened the season Friday by getting blasted 66-29 at North Carolina State.

"I thought our kids played with good effort and focus today. We're getting better," Margenthaler said. "We just haven't put a 40-minute game together yet."

SLU (1-1) broke away from a 22-20 halftime lead by scoring the first 18 points of the second half, completing an overall 24-0 run to open up a 40-20 bulge.

"The last few minutes of the first half and the first seven minutes of the second half really hurt us," Margenthaler said.

Southeast countered with a 9-0 burst to pull within 40-29. The Redhawks cut the deficit to 46-38 on a 3-pointer by freshman guard Allyson Bradhaw from Notre Dame Regional High School with a little more than five minutes remaining. The basket represented the first points of Bradshaw's college career.

But the Redhawks got no closer until making it 51-44 with just 36 seconds left. SLU iced the victory by making 3 of 4 free throws.

"I was really proud of them. They could have quit in that second half. We fought," Margenthaler said.

Junior forward Bailey Roberts led the Redhawks with a career-high 16 points. She also grabbed six rebounds.

Freshman guard Yelena Rosado and senior guard Karley Evans added eight points each. Rosado has started both games this year.

Bailey scored 10 points in the first half, hitting 5 of 7 shots to keep the Redhawks close. She scored six consecutive points during an 8-0 run that saw Southeast go ahead 16-13.

The Redhawks led 20-16 before SLU posted the final six points of the opening period to enter the break up 22-20. The Billikens then exploded at the outset of the second half.

Southeast again struggled with its shooting, hitting 32.7 percent (18 of 55) from the field. The Redhawks shot 19.6 percent in their opener at N.C. State.

The Redhawks made 4 of 22 3-pointers (18.2 percent) after connecting on just 1 of 17 from beyond the arc against the Wolfpack.

Southeast didn't fare well at the free-throw line either, hitting 5 of 11 (45.5 percent). SLU went 20 of 30 from the stripe (66.7 percent).

SLU also struggled with its shooting at 30.2 percent (16 of 53).

The Redhawks play their third consecutive road game Tuesday night at Illinois-Chicago.