Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team loses to OVC-leading EIU

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team hung with powerhouse Eastern Illinois most of the first half.

But the Ohio Valley Conference's first-place squad eventually ran away from the Redhawks for the second time this season.

EIU posted a 74-48 victory Wednesday night in Charleston, Ill., as the Panthers improved to 18-4 overall and 9-0 in OVC play.

The Panthers, who have won 11 consecutive games, beat Southeast 73-46 in Cape Girardeau on Jan. 14.

Southeast (5-18, 2-8) remained ninth in the 11-team league. The top eight finishers qualify for the conference tournament.

But Southeast is eighth for tournament purposes because third-place SIU Edwardsville is ineligible for the event during its first year as a conference member.

"I was happy in spurts with the team's effort," Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler said. "We executed some nice sets in the motion and played good defense at points early. The thing that hurt was we got into foul trouble early, and it caught up with us in the second half."

Southeast led most of the first half, including 21-17. EIU closed the period on a 17-3 run to go ahead 34-24 at the break.

The Redhawks cut the deficit to 36-31 early in the second half, but an 11-0 EIU burst made it 47-31 and the Panthers stayed in control the rest of the way.

Junior center Courtney Shiffer paced Southeast with 13 points.

Junior forwards Bailie Roberts and Brittany Harriel added 11 points apiece for the Redhawks. Bailey led in rebounds with eight.

All-OVC junior guard Ta'Kenya Nixon scored a game-high 24 points for EIU.

EIU shot 46.7 percent in the second half to finish at 41.7 percent. Southeast countered with 40-percent shooting.

The Panthers held a 43-29 rebounding advantage and made 22 of 26 free throws (84.6 percent). Southeast was 6 of 16 (37.5 percent) at the line.

Southeast returns to action Saturday, hosting eighth-place Tennessee State (8-15, 4-7) at 5:30 p.m.