SEMO women's basketball lock up four seed in OVC Tourney; Men’s basketball falters down the stretch

The SEMO Women's basketball team locked up the four seed in the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Tourney with a 67-62 win over the Lindenwood Lions on Thursday in St. Charles.

Jaliyah Green and Sophie Bussard led the way combining for 36 of the 67 points with 18 points each.

“Sophie (Bussard) came up with some big plays on offense for us,” Redhawks coach Rekha Patterson said. “Jaliyah (Green) was finishing strong (around the rim).”

The two teams were deadlocked at 20 after the first quarter before the Redhawks took a 38-32 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Both teams scuffled from the field in the second half as SEMO took a 51-46 lead into the fourth quarter before winning 67-62.

“We struggled to score but we got really good looks,” Patterson said. “What I’m proud of is our kids were able to fight through the fact that we missed those shots and they kept giving effort. We missed those shots but we kept trying on defense. We created 21 turnovers and down the stretch when we needed to make free throws, we did.”

Backing up Bussard and Green’s 18-point nights was Kennedi Watkins with 12 points. Kiyley Flowers and Kori Tomlin had 5 points, Rahmena Henderson had 4 points, Halle Smith had 3 points and Diona Reed had 2 points.

The win makes it five straight for the Redhawks and pushes them to 14-14 overall and 9-8 in OVC play.

Southeast will wrap up the regular season at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25 when the Redhawks travel to take on SIUE in Edwardsville, Ill.

__MBB: Lindenwood 105, SEMO 102__

The Redhawks squandered a 20-point second-half lead as the Lindenwood Lions roared back to beat the Redhawks 105-102 in double overtime.

Southeast trailed 92-88 with under 10 seconds to go in the first overtime but an offensive rebound and putback tied the game at 92 to force double overtime before the Redhawks ultimately fell to the Lions.

“We just shouldn’t have been in that position,” Redhawks coach Brad Korn said. We got up big and we relaxed on offense and we didn’t keep our foot on the gas.”

In a game where the Redhawks were without Phillip Russell due to “repeated violations of the OVC Sportsmanship policy”, Chris Harris posted a career-high 36 points on 11-for-13 shooting from the field.

“He stepped up and made huge plays for us,” Korn said.

The Redhawks were hindered by 20 turnovers and poor free throw shooting as they shot 22-for-36 from the foul line in the loss.

“You can’t have 20 turnovers and expect to win,’ Korn said. “We didn’t make free throws, we turned the basketball over and when you do those types of things that’s the result you get, just normally it isn’t as close as it was tonight.”

Following Harris’ big night was Aquan Smart with 22 points in the loss. Israel Barnes had 20 points, Nate Johnson had 10 points, Josh Earley had 8 points and Dylan Branson had 6 points.

The loss moves the Redhawks to 15-15 overall and 10-7 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

Southeast will wrap up the regular season at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25 when the Redhawks travel to take on SIUE in Edwardsville, Ill.