Southeast women secure first road win this season

MURRAY, Ky. -- The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team finally had reason to smile after a road game.

Southeast notched its first road win of the season and broke a 10-game road losing streak dating back to last year with Saturday's 48-44 victory at Murray State.

"Any win is a good win, but on the road definitely," sophomore forward Katie Norman said. "We like the feeling of winning a lot better than losing."

The Redhawks, winners for the first time in eight road games this season, improved to 7-12 overall and 3-6 in Ohio Valley Conference play. They assumed sole possession of seventh place in the 10-team league.

MSU (6-13, 2-7), which had been in a three-way deadlock for seventh along with Southeast, fell into an eighth-place tie.

Harriel (Brittany)

"It's nice to win anywhere, but it's always much tougher to win on the road," Southeast coach John Ishee said. "They were elated in the locker room. They had fun."

The Redhawks' previous road game resulted in a 92-62 OVC loss at Tennessee-Martin on Wednesday.

"I think that helped us for this game," sophomore guard Shelah Fields said. "It showed us if we're not ready to play, it won't be pretty."

Ishee thought the Redhawks bounced back with an especially determined performance, particularly their rebounding and defense.

Southeast entered play as the OVC's worst rebounding team with an average of minus 8.7 per game.

The Redhawks outrebounded the Racers 45-34, led by sophomore forward Brittany Harriel's career-high 13 boards.

"We tried to limit them to one shot," Harriel said.

Southeast, among the OVC's top defensive teams, held MSU to 20 points below its season average. The Racers shot 32.1 percent and had 18 turnovers.

The Redhawks locked down sophomore guard Mariah Robinson, who was averaging 15.1 points and had exploded for nearly a 31-point average in the past three games. Robinson had just nine points Saturday.

"We wanted to keep the ball out of her hands as much as possible," Norman said.

Ishee credited junior guard Bianca Beck, Norman and sophomore guard Erika Lane with defending Robinson.

"Bianca, Katie and Erika all shared in really making her work for everything she got," Ishee said.

Southeast was ahead most of the way. MSU's only leads were a pair of one-point advantages in the first half.

The Redhawks, up 24-21 at the intermission, saw the Racers forge a 26-26 tie early in the second half.

Southeast answered with nine straight points to build its biggest lead of 35-26. The Redhawks spent the rest of the night holding off every MSU charge.

MSU pulled within two points twice, including 46-44 with 1 minute, 21 seconds remaining.

A Southeast turnover with 52 seconds left gave MSU an opening, but the Racers missed two shots.

Junior guard Karley Evans hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 16 seconds left for the final margin.

"Karley was battling the flu and she knocked down two big free throws," Ishee said.

Fields was Southeast's only double-figure scorer with 11 points. She hit 3 of 4 from 3-point range.

Harriel and Norman both added nine points. Harriel had two blocks and two steals to go with her 13 rebounds. Norman recorded six rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Sophomore center Courtney Shiffer was scoreless before putting in six of Southeast's final eight points over the last 6:18. She added five rebounds and three assists. Beck had seven rebounds.

"We just blocked everything out and came ready to play," Fields said of the key to breaking the road losing streak.

Southeast was far from perfect, shooting 26.4 percent and committing 20 turnovers.

But Ishee said there was no doubt the Redhawks earned the victory.

"With 40 seconds left, Brittany called our team together and said we deserved to win," Ishee said. "We were the aggressor, we beat them to loose balls. We got what we deserved."

Southeast begins a two-game OVC homestand Thursday against sixth-place Jacksonville State, which leads the Redhawks by one game.