Southeast women fall to Wichita State 67-46

~ The Redhawks dropped a second consecutive road game with a loss to the Shockers

Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach Ty Margenthaler knew his team had a difficult task ahead of it on Saturday.

"Going into the game we knew we had our hands full with Wichita State," Margenthaler said. "They were coming off a great win against Kansas State, so we knew the opponent ahead of us was going to be a big challenge for our basketball team.

The Redhawks weren't up to the challenge in a 67-46 loss to the Shockers at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kan.

"Overall it was just one of those ballgames where our team played hard," Margenthaler said. "We had good shots throughout the game, but it was just one of those games where the ball didn't go our way. It kind of got out of hand early, but I thought we did a good job of fighting back in that second half and making some adjustments, so we walked out of there learning something from the ballgame."

The Redhawks scored first, which was the only time they led all game before falling behind by as many as 21 points in the first half.

"Their transition -- they got out and started running in transition and we had a few careless turnovers that really hurt us," Margenthaler said. "They took off and got in there. We got down, I think it was 10-4, and called a quick timeout just to try to get everyone settled. I think from that point on we held our composure, but some of the careless turnovers and their transition baskets really hurt us early in the game."

Southeast outrebounded Wichita State 42-39 in the game but was outscored 32-22 in the paint.

"I thought our rebounding once again was really good," Margenthaler said. "We've been pretty strong at that in the first few games that we've played this season, but we knew Wichita's strength was in the paint. For the ones that didn't watch the game, they don't have post players that score on the block. They have five players that really drive it hard and make it inside the paint, so they're very difficult. We made an adjustment. We went to a 2-3 zone defense, and I thought -- for the first time that we've ran it -- I thought we did a great job running our zone defense, so I was very proud of that."

The loss dropped Southeast to 2-4 this season and came on the heels of a 62-57 loss at Missouri on Thursday.

Margenthaler hopes facing superior opponents on the road early in the season will pay dividents later in the year.

"If you do it the right way -- if the players and the staff handle it the right way -- I believe it definitely can benefit your program," Margenthaler said. "I think definitely the showing we had at Missouri definitely helps our program. I think today, just as a second game of a long weekend, is tough. I think we were definitely a little tired with injuries -- Allyson Bradshaw did not dress, Yelena [Rosado] did not dress. We're very limited in our numbers right now with our team. I think that was a factor for the ballgame."

Part of handling the losses the "right way," is learning from them and becoming a better team as a result, Margenthaler said.

"I think that we learned that we have to play a complete ballgames for 40 minutes, and that you need your bench on the road," Margenthaler said. "We definitely went to that, so I think those are two valuable things that we took out of this weekend."

Brianna Mitchell scored 12 points off the bench for the Redhawks, who were led in scoring by Oliva Hackmann's 14 points. Hackmann made her first start of the season Saturday.

"I was really pleased with Briana Mitchell, our point guard," Margenthaler said. "She came off the bench and had 12 points. She did a nice job. Olivia Hackman scored 14 points in her first starting role of the season, so those two young players, I thought, did a nice job.

Southeast trailed 40-21 at halftime but was outscored by just two points in the second half

"You've got to take something positive out of them," Margenthaler said of his teams back-to-back losses. "Again, I think we really did. Of course we didn't win the two games. ... That's not what we want for our team or our program, but I think it's going to only help us in conference play to be able to play on road against a quality program when we get in the Ohio Valley. We can look back and go from this experience."

The team will travel to Albuquerque, N.M., for the New Mexico tournament next. Southeast faces Arkansas on Friday and either Binghampton or New Mexico on Saturday.

"It's a quick turnaround. We're going to get a few days off here," Margenthaler said. "We've got Sunday and Monday off and then get back at it and head down to New Mexico for a Thanksgiving tournament. Arkansas is undefeated -- a great, great opponent once again. ... Hopefully we'll go in there and play hard and have a chance to win."