Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team falls to OVC leader Eastern Kentucky

~ The Redhawks second-half rally fell short in a 75-56 loss

In the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team's consecutive Ohio Valley Conference wins against SIU Edwardsville and Eastern Illinois, the Redhawks shot poorly in the first half but shot 55 percent or better in the second 20 minutes and knocked down nearly every 3-pointer they shot.

The Redhawks got off to a similar start against OVC East opponent Eastern Kentucky on Saturday but didn't have the lights-out shooting from behind the arc late as they fell 75-56 to the Colonels at the McBrayer Center in Richmond, Ky.

Southeast quickly trailed 9-1, but the Redhawks' first field goal of the game with 15 minutes, 16 seconds left in the half sparked an 11-2 run that gave Southeast a 12-11 lead with 11:20 in the first half.

The teams were tied at 19 with 7:18 in the half before EKU scored 15 unanswered points over a six-minute span. Southeast scored with 41 seconds left in the half, but EKU stole a Southeast inbound pass and scored at the buzzer to take the momentum into halftime. The Redhawks were 8 of 33 (24.2 percent) from the floor.

"I thought in the first half we sped up a little bit and took some quick shots," Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler said, "and I thought we went away from a little bit of our game plan defensively, which was how we were going to defend the pick and roll. But I was really proud in the second half, I thought we came out and really stuck with our game plan and cut it to five."

Southeast came out of the break and went on a 12-2 run to cut it to 38-33 with 16:06 to play. The Redhawks hit five of their first six field goals in the half, and it looked like the second-half shooting of the previous games was back for a third time.

But the Redhawks never got any closer, and 22.2 percent (4 of 18) from behind the arc wasn't a match for the Colonel's nine 3-pointers on 18 attempts.

"I was pleased we got within striking distance, but then I wasn't pleased that it got out of control a little bit late," Margenthaler said. "It's one of those games where I think it came down to not shooting the ball real well and just not doing some of the little things that when you're playing against a really good team you really have to do."

While Margenthaler expected Marie Carpenter, the conference's leading 3-point shooter, to be a big offensive threat for the Colonels it was unexpected that Miranda Maples, who averaged 6.3 ppg and had hit five 3s prior to Saturday's game, would score a career-high 20 points on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc.

"We held everyone else in check. Unfortunately that was our game plan -- we knew their good player was going to score but try to keep everyone to average and if we could do that we had a great chance," Margenthaler said. "But tonight one of their players stepped up and played really big and made some great shots."

Carpenter finished with 19 points and hit 5 of 8 3-pointers.

Southeast's post players carried the Redhawks offensively. Patricia Mack tied her career highs with 17 points and six assists. She also grabbed 13 rebounds.

Kenyada Moore scored a career-high 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting and had six rebounds while Connor King finished with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and seven rebounds. King's points all came during the second half.

"I thought all three of our post players played a great game, so that was really positive," Margenthaler said. "Unfortunately with our guards shooting as poor as they shot it's going to be difficult to win. The shots were there, we just didn't shoot the ball real well."

Southeast shot 32.8 percent from the field overall and only made four 3-pointers. Other than Mack, Moore and King, no Redhawk scored in double-figures.

The loss snaps a two-game winning streak for Southeast. The Redhawks (7-14, 3-5 OVC) are back at home on Monday to face OVC West opponent Austin Peay (8-14, 5-4 OVC) at 11 a.m. EKU, the OVC East leader, improved to 12-7 overall and 6-2 in the OVC.