Whitney leads Southeast to win against Buffalo

~ The Redhawks went on a 13-2 run in the second half to take control of the game.

Southeast coach John Ishee delivered some difficult news for the Redhawks' upcoming opponents.

Ishee claims center Missy Whitney still hasn't recovered completely from a foot injury suffered at Purdue on Dec. 2.

Yikes.

Whitney dominated on both ends Saturday, pouring in 21 points and blocking five shots to lead the Redhawks to a 67-45 victory against Buffalo in Southeast's final nonconference women's basketball game of the season.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com

The 6-foot-2 Whitney went 5-of-8 from the field, including 2-of-3 on 3-pointers.

"It's only when needed, when it's in the flow of the game," she said of the 3-pointers. "In the flow, I'm wide open, I'm guaranteed to hit it when I'm on fire."

Ishee said he doesn't mind Whitney chucking up 3-pointers, as long as she isn't forcing up the long-distance shots.

"To be honest with you, she would almost prefer to do that," Ishee said. "Sometimes she doesn't take as many as she should take. Missy has a post player's body and a forward's mind a lot of times. No, we want her to shoot it off the trail. Missy, Tarina [Nixon] and Sonya [Daugherty], unless I throw up a stop sign, they pretty much have a green light offensively."

Whitney didn't limit her presence to the offensive end as she kept the Buffalo players away from the basket. When they did try to drive, Whitney usually was there to swat away the attempt. She looked like a volleyball player crushing a kill on her fifth block as Stephanie Bennett unsuccessfully tried to get up a shot. Whitney even spent time diving for loose balls to force jump balls.

Southeast Missouri State guard Ashley Lovelady drove the lane early in the game Saturday, December 29, 2007, against Buffalo at the Show Me Center. (Kit Doyle)

"We have to hang our hat on the defensive end," Ishee said. "We're just not going to overpower people."

Southeast (8-5) struggled to pull away for most of the game. Every time the Redhawks would build a sizable lead, the Bulls would surge back into contention. Buffalo (6-6) pulled within four points, 42-38, with just over 13 minutes left in the second half, and had seven chances to cut into the lead even more, but failed to capitalize. Southeast allowed the Bulls to hang around by going 4:52 without scoring.

"We didn't light that fire and get going," Southeast guard Tarina Nixon said. "When they got close to us, we realized we need to put them away or they might come away with it. I wouldn't say we were getting nervous. We've been in that situation before. It really took for us to be like, this is what we got to do. We just have to execute it."

Finally Sonya Daugherty snapped the drought with a 3-pointer, and the Redhawks went to work. Southeast went on a 13-2 run to push the lead to 15, and the Redhawks cruised home from there.

"We actually had a couple possessions where we gave up offensive possessions and they still didn't score," Ishee said of the scoring woes in the second half. "I think after we came down and hit a 3 or two, I think that just broke the ice and it was better flow from there."

Southeast clamped down on defense in the second half after allowing the Bulls to shoot 48 percent (11-of-23) in the first half. Buffalo only managed to shoot 29 percent (8-of-28) in the second half. Heather Turner led the Bulls with 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

"She had to earn them all," Ishee said. "She got one off a high-low lob, but after that, we made her earn her baskets."

Whitney spent a good portion of Saturday's game defending Turner, the Bulls' 6-0 husky center. Whitney said she had to be careful guarding her to make sure Turner didn't get easy baskets.

"I try not to let her burn me down on the block so she can get an easy field goal," Whitney said. "It's hard because she's a little bigger than me. But I was trying to keep her out of the paint."

Whitney then used her quickness to capitalize on offense against Turner.

"I knew I could beat her off the dribble with my speed," Whitney said.

Southeast returns to action Saturday when it travels to Ohio Valley Conference leader Eastern Illinois. The Redhawks can move into a tie for first place in the conference with a win in Charleston, Ill.