Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team downed by unbeaten Missouri

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team dropped to .500 on the season as it fell on the road to undefeated Missouri, 74-32, on Wednesday night in Columbia, Missouri.

The Redhawks (4-4) scored a season-low 15 first-half points and faced a 39-15 deficit to the Tigers (8-0) going into halftime.

"We played a very good Southeastern Conference team tonight," Southeast coach Rekha Patterson said in a news release. "What Coach [Robin] Pingeton has done in her time here is excellent to see. Hopefully we can build a program the way she has. This game does nothing to effect our goals for this season so we need to take some things from it and move forward.

"We fought hard and we didn't quit. My goal as a head coach is to instill confidence in young women and teach them how to deal with adversity. It's hard when your team scores only two points in a third quarter but I think we are doing what we need to do to meet our goals."

SEMO senior Olivia Hackmann stretched her double-digit scoring streak to eight games, finishing with a team-high 12 points. Redhawk senior and Jackson product Connor King finished with eight rebounds and a pair of blocks in 28 minutes. Erin Bollman had six points and four rebounds.

Mizzou was led by star freshman Sophie Cunningham, who had 15 points. Teammate Jordan Frericks added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

It was a bit of a homecoming for Southeast's Hackmann and Ahston Luttrull, who hail from the Columbia area. Luttrull played her prep basketball at Highland in Lewistown, while Hackmann went to Helias in Chamois.

The hosts jumped out to an 18-8 lead over Southeast by the end of the first quarter, with the Redhawks shooting just 2 of 9 from the field. Missouri then out-scored its opponent 21-7 in the second quarter, with the Tigers going into the break on a 14-point run.

Missouri extended that lead to 66-17 after three quarters.

Southeast Missouri will be back on the court Friday at Wichita State. The Redhawks and Shockers will tip off at noon.