Western Kentucky defeats Southeast Missouri State women 90-75

Western Kentucky's Alexis Govan was voted the preseason Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in late October.

Govan showed the talent that warranted that honor Tuesday night at the Show Me Center.

The junior guard netted a game-high 21 points, 17 in the first half, to lead the hot-shooting Hilltoppers (3-1) to a 90-75 victory over Southeast Missouri State (2-2).

"She's long," Redhawks coach Ty Margenthaler said. "She's got a tremendous touch. She did have her way; she's skilled. She's one of the best players in their league for sure."

Govan and fellow preseason first-team Sun Belt Conference choice Chastity Gooch played the lead roles in the offensive barrage the Hilltoppers brought to Southeast.

Southeast Missouri State guard Yelena Rosado hits a layup over Western Kentucky center Ruta Savickaite during the second half Tuesday at the Show Me Center. The Hilltoppers won 90-75. (Adam Vogler)

Gooch, averaging a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds a game, added 18 points and eight boards.

Western Kentucky came in shooting 38 percent from the field in their first three contests of the season, but the Hilltoppers shot 63 percent against the Redhawks, including a 70 percent clip in the second half.

"I think it was more us," Redhawks senior Patricia Mack said. "We weren't there. We didn't bring the energy; people played timid. I think it was, just we let them have the game basically."

Southeast certainly looked sluggish in the first half.

The Redhawks netted the game's first basket before Western Kentucky rattled off nine straight points.

Southeast Missouri State coach Ty Margenthaler gives instructions to his team during the second half.

The Hilltoppers continued to stretch their lead in the opening half, thanks in large part to Govan and the Redhawks' inability to stop the drive.

"Just really disappointed in our effort, and as the head basketball coach of this program I'll take full responsibility," Margenthaler said. "We had two days to prepare, I felt really good about our prep work, I felt really good about how we were going to defend them and what we needed to do to keep this game close and give ourselves an opportunity, but anything that we tried tonight was just a struggle."

Southeast managed to find some energy for a brief stretch in the second half to make things interesting.

The Redhawks trailed 43-27 at the half, and that lead was stretched to 51-32 with just under 18 minutes left before they started their comeback.

Southeast cut the deficit to 56-46 on an Olivia Hackmann layup. The Redhawks took advantage of a turnover on the Hilltoppers' next possession when Hackmann buried a 3-pointer to cut the lead to seven.

"We struggled a little bit in the beginning," Hackmann said. "I mean coming in I knew we had to attack more. In the second half I definitely did that; in the first I kind of lacked a little bit."

The Redhawks then missed an opportunity to pull closer.

Western Kentucky's Kendall Noble missed a jumper on the ensuing possession, but Gooch corralled the loose rebound and kicked it out to a wide open Micah Jones, who buried a 3-pointer to re-establish a double-digit lead at 59-49.

"It was just one of those nights," Margenthaler said. "We could never get over the hump. That was big ... that was a dagger, when they made that three. I thought our team was feeling pretty good, but then they kicked it back out and they hit that three and I think it just kind of really sunk us."

Hackmann and Mack were the bright spots for the Redhawks on offense.

Mack recorded her first double-double of the season with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Hackmann added 14 points off the bench.

"One thing about Olivia, she's playing starter minutes," Margenthaler said. "She's a great basketball player. She's given us a lot. She's very consistent, being a 14-[to]-16-point scorer. We're going to need that."

Kara Wright added 10 points, and Hillary Lively contributed 10 points off the bench for Southeast.

Ultimately the lack of defense doomed the Redhawks.

"We have to learn from this game," Margenthaler said. "I think the biggest thing we'll take out of this, I hope, and we're going to talk more about this tomorrow -- we have to be ready to compete for 40 minutes. We have to be ready right away. I thought we started slow. We didn't have a lot of energy."

It will be a quick turnaround for Southeast.

The Redhawks travel to face Missouri on Thursday night before taking on Wichita State on the road Saturday afternoon.