SIUE hands Southeast women's basketball team 12th conference loss

Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach Ty Margenthaler urged his players heading into Wednesday night's road game against SIU Edwardsville not to have any regrets when they stepped off the court at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Illinois.

While the Redhawks, who had already been eliminated from reaching the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, played more relaxed and confident than they have for much of the season, according to Margenthaler, it didn't add up to a victory.

The Cougars (17-11, 12-3 OVC) locked up the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament with a 78-67 win.

"Of course it wasn't the win that we definitely wanted, and it would've been nice to get, but I really am extremely proud of this team," Margenthaler said. "The effort they showed tonight, and quite honestly the effort they've been showing throughout this whole year, I think what this shows is this team is together and they're working and not quitting and they're fighting."

Southeast never trailed by more than five points until the Cougars took a 23-15 lead with 11 minutes, 35 seconds left in the first half on a 3-pointer by junior guard Shronda Butts.

The Redhawks scored seven unanswered over the next three minutes to pull within one, and trailed 36-34 heading into halftime. Southeast shot 46.9 percent in the first half and made 3 of 6 3-point attempts.

"I thought we came out of the gates really well and were shooting the basketball really well," Margenthaler said. "We defended pretty good. Down two at halftime we felt really good going into the locker room. We didn't really make many adjustments. We felt like everything we were doing was on key to get the win."

The Redhawks tied it up three times in the first 7:20 of the second half, and took their first lead of the game when senior guard Jasmine Robinson sank a pair of free throws with 12:40 left that made it 47-46.

SIUE regained a two-point lead 14 seconds later with a 3 by junior guard Erin Kelley, but Southeast junior guard Olivia Hackmann answered with a triple to put the Redhawks up 50-49.

Southeast's lead was short-lived, with Cougars freshman forward Gwen Adams knocking down a 3-pointer on their next possession to give SIUE the lead for good.

The Cougars used a 15-6 run to push their lead to 67-56 with 5:40 remaining.

Southeast pulled within nine points after that, but it was at close as the Redhawks got. SIUE led by as many as 13 in the victory.

"Unfortunately mid-second half SIUE went zone, we got a little stagnant and missed a few shots, and then on the defensive end we had a few miscues," Margenthaler said. "About three times in a row we didn't double the post, and we'd either foul or they'd make a shot. It was kind of a combination of not scoring for a few possessions, not defending for a few possessions and it kind of went from four points to 11, and then it was difficult to get back into it. But for 32, 33 minutes, man, we were right there and played really well."

The Cougars shot 54.9 percent from the field in the game and hit 5 of 8 3-pointers. They were 17 of 22 from the line while Southeast attempted and made just eight free throws.

SIUE outscored the Redhawks 42-22 in the paint. Adams led the Cougars with 21 points and seven rebounds.

Butts had 16 points, and sophomore forward Micah Jones scored 14 points and snagged six rebounds.

"What they have is two very big girls," Margenthaler said. "They have a freshman in Gwen Adams that is just a load and she's very difficult to guard because of her body, and if you foul her she's not going to miss free throws. She's one of the best free-throw shooters in the country.

"Then they've got a tremendous guard in Shronda Butts, and she can really penetrate the basketball and what kind of got them over the hump is they really went inside. They pounded the ball inside, and we fought and fought but we wore down. Their physicality and their size really took a toll on us in the 40 minutes."

Senior guard Allyson Bradshaw led the Redhawks with 15 points while sophomore guard Brianna Mitchell and junior forward Erin Bollmann each had 13 points.

"Brianna Mitchell, I just think she's playing tremendous basketball right now," Margenthaler said. "She's scoring the ball, she's taking care of the ball, and she's really given us a big boost this last month and a half."

Southeast dropped to 10-18 and 3-12 in the OVC with the loss.

"It hasn't been an easy year, but tonight's performance just really shows that togetherness," Margenthaler said.

The Redhawks host Austin Peay on Saturday in its final game of the season.