Southeast can't sustain fast start, falls to UTM

MARTIN, Tenn. -- The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team looked like it would take defending Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament champion Tennessee-Martin to the wire for the second time this year.

A big second-half run by the Skyhawks foiled those plans.

UTM wiped out a six-point deficit early in the second half with a 24-4 burst as the host Skyhawks ran away to a 75-61 victory Saturday.

"It was kind of like the story of a lot of the games this year," senior guard Bailie Roberts said. "It's a 40-minute game. You can't play half the game and expect to win against a team like that."

Southeast (10-16, 4-9) remained 10th in the 12-team OVC with three games left. The top eight make the OVC tournament and the Redhawks are still two games out of eighth place.

"We know it's going to be tough but we've still got a chance," Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler said.

UTM (12-14, 7-5), which beat Southeast for the eighth straight time, needed a game-ending 10-0 run to hold off the Redhawks 82-71 when the squads met on Jan. 16 in Cape Girardeau.

UTM led virtually the entire first half Saturday but Southeast cut a 12-point deficit to 34-32 at the break

"We came out a little flat but we made some changes. We got smaller and we really got it going," Margenthaler said.

Southeast surged ahead 41-35 early in the second half for its biggest advantage of the day -- and then the roof caved in.

The explosive Skyhawks took control, scoring 24 of the next 28 points over about eight minutes as they got hot and Southeast went cold while committing a flurry of turnovers.

UTM built a 59-45 lead with under nine minutes left and the Redhawks got no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

"They turned it on in the second half. We just didn't have enough in the second half," Roberts said.

Southeast, after shooting 52 percent in the opening half, dipped to 34.4 percent in the final period but still finished at a solid 42.1 percent.

What hurt the Redhawks most were turnovers and offensive rebounds.

The Redhawks, who had cut down on their turnovers in recent games, committed 20 Saturday as UTM had a 29-20 advantage in points off turnovers.

UTM had a huge 20-5 edge in second-chance points, thanks to a 17-7 advantage in offensive rebounds. The Skyhawks outrebounded Southeast 45-34 overall after the teams were deadlocked 16-16 on the boards in the first half.

"Second chance points and turnovers," junior forward Patricia Mack said of the keys.

Roberts led Southeast with 18 points, her team-high 16th double-figure performance of the season.

Freshman guards Kara Wright and Olivia Hackmann added 15 and 13 points, respectively, while Mack posted her sixth career double-double and third of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

UTM's spectacular backcourt duo of juniors Heather Butler and Jasmine Newsome, the OVC's top two scorers at more than 21 points per game, combined for 50 points. Newsome led with 27.

Southeast returns to action Saturday at Jacksonville State.