Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team drops 62-55 decision against Tennessee State

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team knew exactly what to expect against Tennessee State on Saturday night at the Gentry Center.

The Redhawks also knew exactly the reason they weren't able to complete a comeback against the Tigers in their 62-55 defeat to fall to 7-8 overall and 0-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

"We told them they were going to do what they were doing to us, and I thought we'd handle it a little bit better being that we're a little more experienced in the backcourt," Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler said. "Unfortunately we didn't, and so getting the 18 turnovers and getting down 11 was a big factor."

Southeast's 18 turnovers in the first half not only led to 13 points for the Tigers (4-8, 1-0 OVC) but also to missed opportunities on the offensive end for the Redhawks.

The Redhawks held a 13-10 lead after a jumper by junior guard Olivia Hackmann with 12 minutes, 34 seconds left in the first half but failed to score over the next five minutes.

"We was turning the ball over constantly," senior guard Jasmine Robinson said. "We were getting rattled, we weren't getting shots. We weren't even getting attempts at the basket because we were turning the ball over."

The Tigers outscored Southeast 20-6 over the final 12:34 of the first half to take a 30-19 lead into halftime.

"I don't think we necessarily were lost. I just think they executed their game plan game plan better than we did," junior forward Connor King said. "We knew they were going to hedge. We knew they were going to pressure. We knew exactly what they were going to do. We just got caught up, and we let them speed us up. And I think we did a better job of controlling our tempo in the second half."

TSU extended its lead to as much as 15 at 48-33 with 12:42 remaining in the contest, but Southeast, which had just seven turnovers in the second half, gradually whittled the Tigers' lead away.

After Southeast cut it to 55-46 on a layup by senior guard Yelena Rosado with 6:34 left, TSU never got its lead back to double figures.

"I just thought that it's like any other team -- we score, we feel a little bit better on the defensive end," Margenthaler said of his team getting stops on defense midway through the second half. "I think that's what happened, and one thing we did -- they're not a great shooting basketball team, so we told [Robinson] her player percentage-wise is not a good shooter, so every time it goes in, go in and help. I thought we did a good job."

The Redhawks got easy layups -- one from Rosado and a pair from Robinson -- on their next three possessions following a timeout with 5:13 left, and then Robinson made 3 of 4 free throws to knot it at 55-all with 2:03 remaining.

"We really got to the rim and got layups. Tooty [Robinson] did a great job, Yelena did a great job of getting to the rim, finishing, and I think that was [what helped] the comeback," King said. "We just did things better."

A 3-point play by TSU forward Chelsea Hudson with 1:46 left gave the Tigers the lead for good, and they hit 4 of 6 free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

"That could have been a situation where we had 18 turnovers, we're going against a very athletic, physical team," Margenthaler said. "We could've just said, 'OK' and stopped. But we did fight, so that does show me that we're into it."

The Redhawks continue OVC play against Morehead State on Thursday and Eastern Kentucky on Saturday at the Show Me Center.

"We know we're going to be alright," King said. "We're not hanging out heads, we're not crying, we're not mad, because it's not like we just lost a game and we don't get to go to the conference tournament. We have 14 games left. We're going to be just fine."