Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team yields first win to Jacksonville State

Southeast Missouri State's chances of qualifying for the Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball tournament were slim to begin with.

The Redhawks needed to win their final three regular-season games and hope the two squads directly ahead of them lost the rest of their contests.

Southeast doesn't have to watch the scoreboard any longer after Saturday night's stunning 60-57 loss at previously winless Jacksonville State.

The defeat mathematically eliminated Southeast from a shot at making the eight-team conference tournament.

Southeast (10-17, 4-10) remained 10th in the 12-team conference after falling to the last-place Gamecocks (1-26, 1-14).

"It's inexcusable what happened tonight," Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler said. "Win or lose, my frustration is that Jacksonville State wanted it more than us. I give a lot of credit to JSU -- they played hard and smart. They outplayed us and made shots when they needed to. You can't have that on the road against anyone.

"I feel sorry for our seniors, they'll go four years without experiencing postseason play. We definitely have a lot of growing to do from here."

Southeast led only once all night Saturday, at 2-0 after freshman guard Kara Wright scored just over a minute into the game.

JSU countered with six straight points.

The Redhawks, down 31-22 at halftime, fell behind 45-33 with a little more than 12 minutes left for their biggest deficit.

Southeast rallied and forged a 57-57 tie with 36 seconds left on a 3-point basket by sophomore guard Allyson Bradshaw.

JSU's Candace Morton drew a foul and made a free throw to snap the tie with 14 seconds left.

Morton's second free throw missed but bounced out of bounds off a Southeast player to give the Gamecocks another possession.

Miranda Cantrell was fouled after the inbound pass and split another pair of free throws, giving Southeast a final possession down 59-57.

After a timeout, Bradshaw had her number called again and drove through traffic but got stripped going to the basket.

Bradshaw led Southeast with 15 points. She hit 4 of 11 from beyond the arc.

Senior forward Brittany Harriel had 14 points and nine rebounds. Wright added 13 points, while junior forward Patricia Mack grabbed 12 rebounds.