Southeast women get back on track

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team bounced back from perhaps its most disappointing loss of the season.

Southeast pulled away in the second half to beat visiting Eastern Kentucky 71-54 on Saturday night, two days after never holding the lead during a home defeat against Morehead State.

"It was definitely good to bounce back," senior point guard Tarina Nixon said. "We didn't want to have two home losses [in a row]."

The Redhawks improved to 8-9 overall and 4-3 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Colonels fell to 6-10 and 3-5.

"We needed to win big time," sophomore wing Lauren Sharpe said. "We buckled down and concentrated more."

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.comSoutheast Missouri State's Lauren Sharpe drives to the basket as Eastern Kentucky's Kayla Drake defends in the second half Saturday at the Show Me Center.

Southeast coach John Ishee, who was visibly upset following Thursday's loss, found it easier to smile this time.

"Winning always beats losing," Ishee said. "It was a solid team win, something we can build on."

Nixon led Southeast offensively with 17 points. She needs only four points to became the 16th player in program history to score 1,000 or more career points.

Nixon almost certainly will reach the milestone on the road as Southeast's next two games are away from the Show Me Center.

"I'm going to get it. It would have been nice to get it tonight," she said.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.comSoutheast Missouri State's Tore Fite drives past Eastern Kentucky's Cherie White during the second half Saturday at the Show Me Center.

Sharpe scored a career-high 16 points and the OVC steals leader added four more thefts.

"I try to be all over the place, get deflections and score sometimes," said Sharpe, whose previous career-high point total was 14 earlier this season.

Senior wing Sonya Daugherty, who went over 1,000 career points during Thursday's setback, had 12 points -- all in the first half -- to go along with six rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Daugherty matched her career high by hitting four 3-pointers, all in the opening half as she was 4 of 5 from behind the arc in the period.

Senior forward Rachel Blunt added 10 points for her highest-scoring game since she had 12 in the season opener against Missouri State.

"I was just trying to be more aggressive," said Blunt, who also pulled down seven rebounds.

Daugherty's 12 points helped stake Southeast to a 40-34 lead at the intermission after an opening half that was tight the entire way.

Ishee didn't like the Redhawks' first-half defense that allowed EKU to shoot 50 percent from the field.

Southeast tighened up its defense in the final period, holding the Colonels to 33.3 percent shooting and 20 points.

"I thought our team defense in the second half was the difference in the game," Ishee said.

Southeast shut down EKU freshman guard Kayla Drake, who entered as the OVC's fourth-leading scorer at 16.4 points per game.

The Redhawks held Drake to five points, all in the first half.

"She's fast," Sharpe said. "We switched and tried to shut everybody down."

EKU pulled within 42-41 early in the second half, but Southeast scored eight straight points to take command of the contest.

The Colonels cut a 63-48 deficit to 63-54 with about 4 minutes left, but Southeast put up the game's last eight points to win going away.

"It was kind of ugly at first, but we were able to pull it out," said senior forward Crysta Glenn, who had a game-high 10 rebounds. "It's always good to have a win."

Southeast, which closed out a three-game homestand, plays at Tennessee-Martin on Thursday.