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SportsJanuary 26, 2024

Matching up with two tough Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks teams on the road, both the Southeast Missouri State men and women came up short in a Thursday night doubleheader. With a chance for both teams to make a statement, neither could come up with the firepower...

Southeast Missouri State women's guard Alecia Doyle rises for a jumper in a Thursday, January 11, 2024 game against Lindenwood at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Southeast Missouri State women's guard Alecia Doyle rises for a jumper in a Thursday, January 11, 2024 game against Lindenwood at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

Matching up with two tough Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks teams on the road, both the Southeast Missouri State men and women came up short in a Thursday night doubleheader.

With a chance for both teams to make a statement, neither could come up with the firepower.

While the Skyhawk women eked out the win in the first game, the men blew by the visitors with an 84-point performance to easily re-enter the win column.

The Redhawk women (6-12, 3-4 OVC) kept up in a tight 52-44 loss against the Skyhawks (7-11, 4-3 OVC), taking a sizeable lead into the locker room at halftime but blew a gasket in the second half.

Down 24-18 at halftime, UT-Martin outscored Southeast Missouri State 17-8 in the third quarter, 17-12 in the fourth and won the second half by 14 points to sling back in front and put away the Redhawks on home turf.

Jaliyah Green finished as the only starter in double-digit scoring for SEMO, dropping 14 points and reeling in five boards while freshman guard and Tennessee native Daejah Richmond poured in 11 points off the bench with eight boards of her own.

Three Skyhawks finished in double-digit scoring, led by the unbelievable double-double efforts of sophomore forward Anaya Brown. Her 14-point, 20-rebound performance included a whopping nine offensive boards, cleaning the glass with ease.

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Behind her, Kenley McCarn had 13 while Cape Girardeau native Lexi Rubel’s 11 points and 10 rebounds, a double-double in her own right, worked to seal the deal as 52 proved all that Tennessee-Martin needed to ice the victory.

As for the SEMO men (7-13, 2-5 OVC), Tennessee-Martin’s (11-9, 4-3 OVC) relentless offense gave no heed to the Redhawks in an 84-58 rout.

It didn’t take long for one side to pull away as the Skyhawks took a 44-22 lead by halftime, going on a 29-5 run late in the first half to mount an insurmountable lead.

For the Redhawks, Josh Earley continued his hot streak with 14 points and five boards to lead the team in scoring with another 10 points from Rob Martin behind him.

Three players matched or surpassed Earley’s scoring mark for the Skyhawks, with Jordan Sears (20), Jacob Crews (19) and Issa Muhammad (14) all putting up big scoring nights.

In total, no Redhawk passed Earley’s mark of five rebounds. For the Skyhawks, three players finished with greater rebounding numbers, Muhammad hauling in 11 rebounds for the game’s lone double-double as UT-Martin out-rebounded the Redhawks 44-31 on the night.

The men shot just 15.8 percent from the 3-point line and 36.9 percent from the field, and while UT-Martin struggled from range itself, the Skyhawks’ 49.2 percent clip from the field easily cleaned up the mess.

Both teams have a two-day turnaround window as the Redhawk women are next in action on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Little Rock as part of another Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader with the Southeast Missouri State men to follow.

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