Southeast women's basketball team wins third consecutive game

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team found itself in a familiar position late in its game against Detroit in the Glass City Classic in Toledo, Ohio.

The Redhawks trailed by as many as seven points early in the second half before battling back to hold a one-point advantage with 5 minutes, 4 seconds remaining.

Southeast has played in three other games that have remained close in the closing minutes and used that late-game experience to pull ahead for a 61-51 defeat of the Titans on Saturday.

"This game would've been very easy to just pack it in and call it quits," Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler said. "There's 25 people in the stands, it's 12 noon. It would've been very easy to, but we just kept on grinding. Again, I thought our bench came in and did it. The thing I told them at one timeout was we've been through all these games -- we've won some and lost some -- and this is why we're playing these games: it's only going to help us down the stretch. I thought the confidence of winning some here as of late, on the road, and Detroit hasn't -- I thought that was the difference-maker."

Saturday's contest marked the third win in a row for the Redhawks (5-5) as well as their fourth consecutive win on the road.

Detroit held a 28-25 advantage at halftime after the Redhawks led by as many as six points.

The Titans (3-5) extended their lead to 34-27 out of the break, but seven unanswered points by the Redhawks knotted it at 34 with 13:43 remaining.

It took about four and a half minutes for Detroit to regain a six-point lead and just over a minute for Southeast to tie it back up with a 6-0 run that featured a couple of baskets from junior forward Erin Bollmann and a jumper by junior guard Olivia Hackmann.

After a Titans' basket, Southeast freshman forward Kaley Leyhue knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Redhawks a 47-46 lead -- their first of the second half -- with 7:11 to play.

Detroit led just once more before a jumper by sophomore guard Brianna Mitchell with 5:04 left put the Redhawks ahead for good at 49-48.

Southeast led by two after Detroit's Rosanna Reynolds knocked down a 3 with 3:08 to go, but the Redhawks' defense didn't allow another point the rest of the way.

"At halftime I said, 'Guys, it's going to come down to one of those games where we're going to have to grind every possession out. We're going to have to get defensive stops, and someone's going to have to step up and make a few plays. If we do that, we're going to win the game,'" Margenthaler said. "They went a little bit bigger and so we zoned, and I thought when we went to that zone defense for about five, five-and-a-half minutes, I thought that was a difference. I thought it gave our kids a little confidence. Then we went back to man and they really started talking well and switching."

The Redhawks shot 33.3 percent from the field in the contest and made just 4 of 23 attempts from behind the arc. Detroit shot 30.9 percent from the field and was 3 of 21 from 3-point range.

Senior guard Jasmine Robinson led the Redhawks with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Senior guard Allyson Bradshaw chipped in 13 points and six rebounds. She knocked down 2 of 9 3-pointers.

Southeast's bench outscored Detroit's reserves 18-11, including eight points from Mitchell and a career-high six points on 2 3s from Leyhue.

Bollmann had four points and seven rebounds.

"I was really proud of the way we stayed together," Margenthaler said. "It wasn't the prettiest game in the world from both teams, but it came down to, really, our bench I thought. Kaley Leyhue came in and gave us a spark. I thought Brianna Mitchell really did a great job taking over the point guard role for Yelena [Rosado]. Yelena struggled a little bit today. I thought Erin in the second half gave us some offense and gave us some hustle plays that really got us that second and third wind that really got us going."

Margenthaler and the Redhawks were able to watch their next opponent live following their win Saturday.

They face Idaho, who fell to Toledo 80-67 on Saturday, at 11 a.m. today.

The Vandals have reached the NCAA tournament the past two seasons.

"I think it's definitely going to be a tough task, but I'm glad we get the opportunity to do it because it's a team that's going to be in the NCAA tournament," Margenthaler said, "and to be able to play them at this time of year can only help us."