Southeast women's basketball team drops third straight, falls on road vs. Murray State

MURRAY, Ky. -- The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team doesn't need a reminder of what its goal is this season. The Redhawks want to be playing in Nashville the first week of March in their first trip to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament since 2009.

But following Southeast's third loss in a row -- an 80-61 defeat to Murray State at the CFSB Center on Saturday night 10 days after the Redhawks had defeated the Racers by 37 points -- first-year coach Rekha Patterson's team needed a refresher in how they'd planned to achieve that goal.

"Winning games on the road is really tough in this conference, and we talked about, 'How do you get to Nashville? You win your home games, and you steal some on the road,'" Patterson said. "You go on the road and play an Eastern Illinois team who sat out for a week and they were sort of primed and ready for a win. Then you go to UT Martin and again, they're tough. Then you play Murray State, and they're probably playing their best basketball of the season so far. So we just have to be happy that we're going home."

Patterson's message was meant to keep any panic from setting in as the Redhawks dropped to 14-12 overall and 7-6 in the OVC.

"I just wanted them to know that the plan that we had at the beginning of the season to get to Nashville hasn't changed and we're still in control of our destiny," Patterson said.

The Racers led by as many as nine points in the first quarter before Southeast used a 12-2 run to take a 21-20 lead with 1 minute, 16 seconds left in the quarter. MSU hit four free throws in the final minute to take a 24-21 advantage into the second and led the rest of the way.

A 3-pointer by Ke'Shunan James six seconds into the second pushed the Racers' lead to six. Southeast got it down to four on a Corneisha Henderson jumper with 6:47 to go in the half, but the Redhawks were outscored 16-4 over the remainder of the half.

The Racers made 9 of 12 treys in the opening 20 minutes, including a banked-in triple from well beyond the arc by Abria Gulledge at the buzzer to put MSU up 47-31 at the break.

"I think they may have gotten a little tight when Murray State made their run, and I told them, 'This is going to be a game of runs; when they make theirs we have to be able to respond and make our own,' and we did not make a run and that's maybe when we got a little tight," Patterson said, "and maybe some when those careless turnovers happened and then they hit 3 after 3 after 3. We know what it feels like to be on the other end of that."

Southeast never got closer than 12 points in the second half. MSU led by as many as 27 with 4:27 remaining after a 3-point play by Gulledge.

The Redhawks committed a season-high 24 turnovers in the loss, which led to 30 points for the Racers.

"They were good looks, it was like we were just rushing, trying to hurry up and get the ball in and score -- home runs," junior guard Bri Mitchell said.

Mitchell led the Redhawks with 20 points. She was 10 of 10 from the charity stripe but just 5 of 15 from the field.

Southeast shot 41.4 percent from the field and 70.6 percent from the charity stripe. Redshirt freshman forward Imani Johnson had the Redhawks' lone 3-pointer as they finished 1 of 9 from beyond the arc.

"I don't think that we're taking what the defense gives us," Patterson said of the turnovers. "We're trying to force some things, and we don't need to. Like, 'If they're giving us a free-throw jumper knock down that free-throw jumper, you do it everyday. Those are the shots that you took in the summer that made you feel confident about the season.' I'd rather us shoot that than just turn it over."

The Racers were 4 of 17 in the second half from 3-point range and finished shooting 44.8 percent. They shot 43.5 percent from the floor in their third consecutive win and improved to 10-14 and 6-7 in the OVC.

"I think that it does come from over-helping sometimes," sophomore forward Deja Jones said of the 3-point defense. "We don't know when not to help, so once we get that together we'll be just fine."

James finished with 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting to lead Murray, 16 of which came in the first half. Six different players knocked down 3s for the Racers, and Patterson said it was her team's inability to guard their dribble penetration that was the biggest issue.

"They spread you out because they can shoot the 3, so you've got to guard them out there deep some of them. And then they also have the ability to put it on the floor," Patterson said, "and if you can't guard your yard, then all of a sudden you're scrambling and chasing. And then they have their feet set, and they're knocking down these 3s."

Senior Erin Bollmann, who scored in double figures for the Redhawks in their previous six games, did not play. She was a coach's decision for breaking team policy.

The Redhawks are idle until 2 p.m. Saturday when they host Eastern Illinois. Their final home game is Feb. 24 against SIU Edwardsville before traveling to play at Austin Peay on Feb. 27 to conclude the regular season.

"We've got two home games left, and I want all of Cape to come to the games," Patterson said. "They are going to be two of the most exciting and most important games we've had all year. ... It would be great to send these two seniors out with a packed crowd, and it would be even better for us to be able to play and use that energy.

"Their energy that they provide us is amazing, and we're going to need it."

MURRAY STATE 80, SOUTHEAST 61

Southeast 21 10 14 16 -- 61

Murray State 24 23 14 19 -- 80

SOUTHEAST (61) -- Bri Mitchell 20, Deja Jones 10, Adrianna Murphy 8, Imani Johnson 7, Ashton Luttrull 4, Hannah Noe 4, Connor King 2, Dolapo Balogun 2, Corneisha Henderson 2, Hilma Mededovic 2. FG 24-58, FT 12-17, F 22. (3-pointers: Johnson 1. Fouled out: None.)

MURRAY STATE (80) -- Ke'Shunan James 18, Abria Gulledge 14, Jasmine Borders 12, Bianca Babic 12, Leasia Wright 8, Kyra Gulledge 8, Jashae Lee 7, Ajee Smith 1. FG 27-62, FT 13-16, F 15. (3-pointers: James 3, A. Gulledge 3, Borders 2, Wright 2, Babic 2, Lee 1. Fouled out: None.)