Southeast women open season finale strong but end with 77-60 loss

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team came out strong Saturday.

That fast start could not come close to preventing the Redhawks from ending one of the worst seasons in program history on a nine-game losing streak.

Southeast scored the first seven points but wound up being routed by visiting Austin Peay 77-60.

The Redhawks already had been assured of finishing last in the 10-team Ohio Valley Conference and missing the OVC tournament for the first time since the 1996-1997 season.

Southeast (7-21, 4-14) tied the school record for losses in a season, matching the 1996-1997 squad that went 5-21.

Defending OVC tournament champion Austin Peay (12-17, 11-7) already had locked up third place.

"I've never had this bad a season in my life," said sophomore point guard Bianca Beck, a graduate of perennial powerhouse Incarnate Word Academy in suburban St. Louis. "It makes me appreciate winning."

Southeast coach John Ishee entered the campaign anticipating plenty of growing pains since the Redhawks had nine freshmen and only one senior on their 13-player roster.

After a slow start, Ishee thought Southeast had turned the corner. The Redhawks won their first two OVC home games in early January to even their conference record at 2-2 and improve their overall mark to 5-8.

But freshman guard Jasmine Davis and junior forward Lauren Sharpe never took the court again because of injuries.

Sharpe was Southeast's top returning player while Davis was the Redhawks' leading scorer. Another top player, freshman forward Bailie Roberts, missed six games with an injury.

"I thought by January, by the [tough] nonconference schedule we played, we'd be fine," Ishee said. "When we had all the pieces to our puzzle, we were 2-2 in the OVC and nobody [in the league] had beaten us at home."

Without Davis and Sharpe, and with Roberts missing extensive time, Southeast lost 12 of its final 14 OVC games and 13 of its last 15 overall.

Ishee said he believes the Redhawks will rebound next season and his players feel the same way.

"We knew we would have struggles just because we were young," Roberts said. "But it taught us a lot of lessons that will help us next year. We got a lot of experience that will help us in the future."

Said Beck: "It was definitely a learning experience for everyone. I think next year we'll be extremely better."

As for Saturday's game, Southeast led 7-0, 9-2 and 11-6. The Redhawks then went scoreless for nearly seven minutes during a 19-0 run by the Govs that broke things open at 25-11.

The margin dipped into single figures only once the rest of the way, at 64-55 with a little more than six minutes left.

But Southeast got no closer as Austin Peay pulled away again.

"We did come out strong," Beck said. "Everybody gave 100 percent effort. Sometimes it's not enough."

Freshman forward Katie Norman led Southeast with 12 points and three steals.

Roberts had nine points, five rebounds and three assists. Freshman forward Brittany Harriel led in rebounding with eight while adding seven points.

Junior guard/forward Ashley Herring paced Austin Peay with 16 points and 15 rebounds as the Govs held a whopping 51-28 edge on the boards.

Austin Peay shot 45.3 percent from the field compared to 33.3 percent for Southeast. The Govs made 9 of 15 3-pointers (60 percent) while the Redhawks hit 4 of 22 (18.2 percent).

"They're an experienced team that won the conference tournament last year," Ishee said.

The Redhawks hope added experience next year helps them avoid a repeat of this season.