Southeast women tighten grip on first place

~ Southeast women use defense to thwart second-place Eastern Illinois, 46-41.

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team makes no bones about the fact it is a defense-first unit.

After all, that style of play has gotten the Redhawks to the top of the Ohio Valley Conference, despite ranking toward the bottom of the league in the major offensive statistical categories.

"What do you do when you're not scoring?" senior guard Ashley Lovelady said. "You can always play good defense."

The Redhawks' latest defensive masterpiece came Thursday night in a showdown for the OVC lead.

Southeast's Sonya Daugherty took a shot over Eastern Illinois' Megan Edwards during the first half Thursday at the Show Me Center. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Southeast beat visiting Eastern Illinois 46-41, holding the Panthers 29 points below their season scoring average in conference play.

The Redhawks also held EIU to its lowest point total in an OVC game since the school joined the league 12 years ago. EIU had scored 41 points two times before Thursday.

"We hang our hat on team defense," said Southeast coach John Ishee, whose squad entered the contest allowing less than 59 points per game. "I thought we defended well."

Depending on your point of view, Southeast and EIU both sparkled defensively or struggled offensively, as the teams combined to shoot less than 34 percent, go 3-of-28 from 3-point range and commit 44 turnovers.

"The biggest thing is, you have those nights when the shots aren't falling," junior forward Rachel Blunt said. "You can still play defense."

Southeast's Tarina Nixon goes up for a shot against Eastern Illinois' Megan Edwards during the first half on Thursday, February 14, 2008. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Ishee demands it, Lovelady said.

"He stresses it every day," she said.

Regardless of how the Redhawks get the job done, they are on quite a roll as they chase their third straight OVC championship. Southeast (18-6, 13-2) has won nine straight and 14 of its last 15.

The Redhawks lead the OVC by one game over Samford, while EIU (14-11, 13-4) fell two games back in the loss column.

"It's a huge win. It's winding down," Ishee said of the OVC schedule, which features five more games for the Redhawks. "We approach every game as a championship game, and there's still a lot of big games left."

Southeast's Crysta Glenn found herself squeezed between Eastern Illinois' Megan Edwards and Rachel Galligan during the second half.

A first half that featured six lead changes, four ties and no advantage larger than four points ended with Southeast ahead 20-17.

The Redhawks never relinquished the lead in the second half, and built a pair of nine-point margins, the last at 33-24 with under 8 minutes left.

Southeast never could shake the Panthers, but the Redhawks withstood every challenge.

"I think you've got to give SEMO a lot of credit," EIU coach Brady Sallee said. "They win games by playing defense."

EIU made it 35-33, but Southeast held the Panthers scoreless for five minutes.

Leading 40-35, the Redhawks closed things out by hitting 6-of-8 free throws in the final 31 seconds.

"We work good under pressure," Lovelady said.

For the game, Southeast was 17-of-21 from the line and forced 27 turnovers, which offset the Redhawks' 30.4-percent shooting, their 1-of-16 performance from 3-point range (6.3 percent) and their 17 turnovers.

"You're talking about two really good teams in our conference, and there are no secrets. You know what each other is going to do," Ishee said. "It could have gone either way. We just made a few more plays, and we hit our free throws."

Junior guard Sonya Daugherty was Southeast's only double-figure scorer with 11 points.

Lovelady had nine points, as did senior center Missy Whitney, who returned after missing the previous two games with an elbow injury.

Blunt added eight points, including a team-high seven first-half points.

Southeast plays its final OVC road game Saturday at Tennessee-Martin, then the Redhawks finish with four straight home contests.