Southeast women avoid upset

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team received some bad news several hours before it took the court.

At least the Redhawks didn't compound matters by suffering an upset loss.

That appeared possible when Maryville University, in its second year as a Division II program after going 5-21 last season, led with less than eight minutes left Tuesday night.

But the Redhawks finished strong to win 61-48 and break a nine-game home losing streak that was the program's longest since the 1976-77 season.

"We talked about that in pre-game," Southeast coach John Ishee said. "It seemed like it had been an eternity since we'd won here.

Southeast Missouri State's Katie Norman goes up for a shot as Maryville's Abby Deuthman (42) and JoAnn Thompson (left) look on during the first half Tuesday at the Show Me Center. (Kristin Eberts)

"It was a good team win. I thought it was a total team effort."

Southeast, which improved to 2-3 while dropping the Saints from St. Louis to 1-1, ended on a positive note what had been a distressing day.

The Redhawks learned earlier that key sophomore forward Patricia Mack will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL.

Mack injured the knee in the Jackson State game and missed the previous two contests.

"It's a shame, especially for Patricia, but we've got to go on," Ishee said.

The Redhawks have been without another of their anticipated key players, freshman forward Brooke Taylor. She has not yet taken the court due to an iron deficiency problem.

But the Redhawks did receive the best performance of the young season by far from a top player who still is trying to find her form after an injury.

Sophomore guard Jasmine Davis, Southeast's leading scorer last year before suffering a torn ACL that ended her season, had seen only sporadic action in the first four games. She even sat one out.

That partly has been a precautionary measure by Ishee, who did not want Davis to have any setbacks after she said the knee had been bothering her.

"She was miffed at Louisville I didn't play her more," Ishee said of Friday's contest that saw Davis play four minutes. "I told her we're going to turn her loose."

Davis, who was averaging 12 minutes and 4.3 points, played a season-high 29 minutes and scored a season-high 11 points. She added two assists and two steals.

"He told me before the game he was going to give me an opportunity to see what I could do," Davis said. "I was excited.

"It's feeling 10 times better. It's getting stronger."

Junior college transfer guard Karley Evans had the best performance of her young Southeast career with 16 points. She hit 4 of 10 3-pointers while adding four assists and two steals.

"She can shoot it," Ishee said. "She stretches the defense."

Junior point guard Bianca Beck had nine points and three steals. She made 2 of 3 from beyond the arc.

Sophomore forward Brittany Harriel contributed eight points, eight rebounds and two assists. She had six points during Southeast's run that helped turn the game in its favor.

"I had a slow start, but I tried to help out the team as much as I could," Harriel said.

Sophomore forward Bailie Roberts was credited with six of Southeast's 15 steals. Junior college transfer forward Courtney Shiffer had eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.

The contest was tight most of the way. Southeast led 31-26 at halftime, but the Saints rallied to go ahead 41-40.

Sophomore guard Shelah Fields' 3-pointer with 7 minutes, 43 seconds left put Southeast up 43-41 and started the Redhawks on their way.

Harriel's three-point play and 3-pointer made it 49-41, which marked the biggest lead at the time.

Maryville still was hanging around, trailing 52-46 with less than four minutes left, but Evans and Beck drilled consecutive 3-pointers to make it 58-46 and put away the Saints.

"I think we hit shots when we needed to and get stops when we needed to," Harriel said.

Southeast made 10 of 33 3-pointers.

"We hit timely shots," Ishee said.

Southeast visits Texas-Arlington on Saturday.