Southeast women's basketball team falls to UT-Martin

MARTIN, Tenn. -- It was a matter of picking a battle wisely for the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team against the Ohio Valley Conference's lone unbeaten UT-Martin.

The Redhawks could either try to slow down the conference's leading scorer, sophomore forward Ashia Jones, or try to slow down the Skyhawks' potent outside shooting.

Unfortunately for Southeast, the four-time defending OVC tournament champion Skyhawks weren't stoppable either way on Saturday night at the Elam Center and defeated the Redhawks 96-55.

"I think we had to get a little out of our box against Martin, so we tried a 3-2 [zone], because they have such great shooters. We wanted to take away something," Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler said. "We knew down low would be a difficult task for our posts because they are big and physical. But the unfortunate thing for tonight [was] we didn't take away their 3-point shooting, and we didn't take away their inside game, so it was kind of a bust, quite honestly, on that end."

UTM (11-9, 7-0 OVC) shot 59.7 percent in the contest and 55.6 percent from beyond the arc, and all nine Skyhawks scored.

Jones led the way with 30 points. Tiara Caldwell chipped in 12 points and 11 rebounds, Katie Schubert and Karisma Tyson each had 11 points and Chelsea Roberts finished with 10.

"She has a killer right hand. When we would shade to her right so she'd go left she wouldn't even move," Southeast junior forward Erin Bollmann said of Jones. "She knows how to finish. She knows how to drive, and she was really getting us. She was only getting me, honestly, but I think she's a great player as a post."

The Skyhawks jumped out to a 12-2 advantage. A jumper by Southeast junior guard Olivia Hackmann with 14 minutes, 22 seconds left in the first half cut it to an eight-point game, which was as close as the Redhawks got.

Southeast Missouri State's Allyson Bradshaw drives to the basket against UT Martin during the second half Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015 in Martin, Tenn. (Fred Lynch)

UTM led by as many as 26 points in the first half and held a 48-28 lead at halftime.

"I told them, 'Nobody wants to get beat as bad as we got beaten, but I did think we continued to play. We continued to pass the ball. I thought our bench was still active,'" Margenthaler said. "But the one thing, we know Martin, they're just very dominant and they're tough, and they make shots and they make the game look really simple."

The Redhawks were out-rebounded 45-20 and were outscored 18-6 on second-chance points.

"Well, I think in the first half they shot 63 percent from the field, so they weren't missing a lot of shots for us to rebound, but on the defensive boards we could've done a lot better," Bollmann said. "I know I missed a lot of rebounds where they had and-1s."

Southeast (8-13, 1-7 OVC) shot 45.1 percent in the game, but made just 4 of 17 free-throw attempts.

Bollmann scored a career-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting along with five rebounds and five steals, and said the team "stayed together" throughout the lopsided loss.

"You could just see spurts of that on the court sometimes. Like the only reason I got most of my points was because my teammates passed it to me because they were looking for me," Bollmann said. "If they weren't looking for me, if we weren't coming together, we probably would've had a bigger loss than this, so I think sticking together is a big deal for us."

Southeast travels to Clarksville, Tennessee, to face Austin Peay at 4:30 p.m. next Saturday.

"I just told them in the locker room, it's a tough situation we're in. We've got to continue to work," Margenthaler said. "There's a lot of basketball left and we've just got to stay together and be positive. If we can do that we can salvage the season."