Southeast women's basketball team falls to Western Illinois 79-62

It was all about youth at the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team's Classroom on the Court game on Wednesday morning.

A crowd of 1,692 fans, which included more than 1,200 students from local grade schools, cheered on the Redhawks, but they saw a 79-62 loss to the visiting Leathernecks at the Show Me Center.

"I think we're just pretty disappointed because that was one we came into it really thinking, 'We need that win,'" Southeast senior guard Allyson Bradshaw said. "Especially because it was a home game, so I think we're all just kind of bummed. Kind of disappointed in ourselves."

Southeast never led in the contest, and only scored two points in the first 5 minutes, 16 seconds as WIU jumped out to a 13-2 lead.

"I don't feel like we lacked energy," Southeast junior forward Connor King said. "I just feel like we came out and we missed some easy shots and we kind of got frustrated. They hit some tough shots, and it all just kind of gathered together and we kind of just fell apart there for a little bit. But we came back and made a run. At first I think we just got in our own heads a little bit and got frustrated."

Sophomore guard Brianna Mitchell sparked an 8-2 run with a jumper with 14:44 remaining in the half.

Southeast fans watch from their seats in the first half of the Redhawks home game against Western Illinois, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014, at the Show Me Center. (Laura Simon)

A minute later a layup by Bradshaw pulled the Redhawks within 15-10, which was as close as they'd come.

The Leathernecks scored seven unanswered points to take their largest lead of the half at 14 points with 10:38 left.

WIU held a 41-28 advantage at halftime. Southeast was 13 of 35 from the field in the first 20 minutes and 0 of 3 from 3-point range. The Redhawks were just 2 of 5 from the free-throw line in the half.

Margenthaler's message to his team began with the fact that it was capable of making a comeback like it had shown in its last-second loss at the buzzer Ole Miss.

"The second thing was just getting back on the same page on the offensive and the defensive end," Margenthaler said of his halftime message. "Taking better shots, working together, not forcing things, and again, I think some of the easier baskets that we missed ... Jasmine [Robinson] had great looks in there. She probably had four or five 5-footers, just in and out. I know we missed a wide-open layup by Bri [Mitchell] that she normally makes and a couple buckets inside. Just trying to get them back on the same page on both ends, getting that energy, trying to get our crowd involved in the game and behind us. I thought we made a really nice run, but we quickly got back down by defensive lapses."

WIU scored the first four points of the second half to extend its lead to 17 points. A couple of 3s by Bradshaw -- Southeast's only made 3s out of 14 attempts -- made it 47-36 with 15:45 remaining. Bradshaw finished with 15 points to lead Southeast.

Southeast sophomore Hillary Lively tries for two-points in the first half of the Redhawks home game against Western Illinois, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014, at the Show Me Center. (Laura Simon)

The Leathernecks maintained a double-digit margin over the Redhawks and led by as many as 18 at 63-45 with 8:21 to play.

Southeast then used an 11-0 run to pull back within single digits for the first time in the second half.

Mitchell and senior guard Jasmine Robinson each knocked down jumpers in transition while junior forward Erin Bollmann and King had putbacks during the spurt that cut WIU's lead to 63-56 with 6:06 remaining.

"I just think our transition really got us going," Margenthaler said. "When we got into the half-court game they were policing our ball screen, and that definitely hurt our screen action, so that's something we've got to work on continuously to get better that. I thought transition offense got us back in, but our defense just let us down today."

The Redhawks remained within single digits of the Leathernecks with a couple of free throws with 4:42 left by King, who finished with nine points and a career-high 13 rebounds in the game, but Liz Skotowski hit back-to-back 3-pointers that made it a 15-point ballgame and Southeast never recovered.

"The biggest thing was our communication," Margenthaler said. "This team has been really decent at communicating on the court and today it was a struggle the whole game to get them to communicate. I think you could tell that on defense. There were times in transition -- Western's very good at transition. They shoot their 3s in transition, and we know that, we talked about that. They got a couple leakouts and got some open looks. Even the half-court set, they just had a couple curl cuts and we didn't have help there, and they got some easy shots."

WIU (4-3) shot 48.4 percent in the game and were 7 of 18 (38.9 percent) from behind the arc. They were 12 of 14 (85.7 percent) from the charity strip.

Forward Ashley Luke led the Leathernecks with 24 points and six rebounds. Michelle Farrow and Michelle Maher finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

"One thing I did think is I've got to give credit to our posts," Margenthaler said. "I thought we did a really nice job on Ashley Luke. She scored 24, but every shot she took was very tough, and I thought Connor did a really good job on her."

Southeast (2-5) begins a four-game road swing on Saturday against Central Arkansas. The Redhawks return home on Dec. 21.

"I know we've been through a tough stretch, but this team needs to stay together and be positive and keep working," Margenthaler said. "As a coaching staff we need to come in and really emphasize the defensive end, being a little bit sharper on the offensive end and just getting ready to go on the road. We're not home again until, I believe, 18 more days, so we are the road warriors, for sure. We'll just take our job and hit the road, and hopefully we can come out with some wins."