Southeast women go 0-2 in exhibition play

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team is fortunate the exhibition season doesn't count on its record.

Southeast was unimpressive during the two exhibition games, dropping both against NAIA opponents.

At least the Redhawks were competitive during Thursday's five-point loss to Missouri Baptist.

That wasn't the case Monday night as Bethel (Tenn.) ran Southeast out of the Show Me Center with a 66-37 romp.

The Wildcats, ranked 19th nationally and already 3-0 in regular-season play, were ahead 41-21 at halftime. They scored the first eight points of the second half and four times led by 32 points.

"I'm embarrassed," Southeast coach John Ishee said.

Ishee, whose squad endured one of the worst seasons in program history last year, looked fairly stunned as he scanned the box score.

Bethel had a statistical edge in virtually every category.

"We just got beat in every facet, every way you cut it," said Ishee, whose team went 7-21 a year ago and finished last in the Ohio Valley Conference. "Their guards were taking the ball from our post players. ... you name it."

Bethel shot 57.1 percent from the field after Missouri Baptist connected on nearly 56 percent.

The Wildcats held a 31-19 rebounding advantage and had a 28-11 edge in points off turnovers. Southeast committed 24 turnovers and had only six assists.

"We have our good moments but we have to put it together," sophomore forward Patricia Mack said. "They're a pretty good team. They played smarter and we couldn't convert.

"We had way too many turnovers."

There were five lead changes and four ties in the early going before Bethel took control with a 20-0 run that made it 38-15 with under three minutes left in the first half.

Southeast was held scoreless for more than eight minutes as the contest transformed into a blowout.

Things got no better for the Redhawks in the second half. They scored one point over the first 9:31 of the period as the 41-21 halftime lead ballooned to 53-22.

"I thought the effort was there until we got behind double figures," Ishee said.

Southeast had one field goal over a period of more than 20 minutes that spanned the final 11:02 of the first half and the first 9:31 of the final period.

Sophomore guard Shelah Fields was Southeast's top scorer with eight points. The Redhawks shot 34.3 percent from the field and made only 1 of 7 from 3-point range.

Freshman guard Molly Wallsmith paced Bethel with 18 points and six assists. She missed just one of four 3-point attempts as the Wildcats made 8 of 18 from long range (44.4 percent).

"If you want it to happen, you want it to happen now," Ishee said of playing poorly in the exhibition games as opposed to the season.

Southeast will have to improve its performance in a hurry because Friday the games start to count.

The Redhawks tip off the campaign against Sam Houston State in the four-team Ole Miss Classic in Oxford, Miss.

Southeast then takes on either host Mississippi or Jackson State Saturday.

"We've got to get better in every area. The main area, we have to get mentally tougher," Ishee said. "We're going to find people that want to compete."