Women set stage for new win streak

~ The Redhawks bounced back from a rare loss with a 64-46 victory over Tennessee State.

Southeast Missouri State's women had little trouble bouncing back from their first loss in more than a month.

The Redhawks, who had an eight-game winning streak snapped Saturday at Austin Peay, rolled past visiting Tennessee State 64-46 Thursday night at the Show Me Center.

Southeast improved to 12-5 overall and 7-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Redhawks remained in a second-place OVC tie and moved within a half-game of leader Murray State.

"We didn't play to the best of our abilities the last game," Southeast junior forward Missy Whitney said. "We came ready to play tonight."

Although TSU is considerably improved after going winless a year ago, the last-place Tigers (4-13, 1-7) never threatened the Redhawks.

Sophomore guard Sonya Daugherty and senior center Lachelle Lyles did much of the damage against the Tigers.

Daugherty scored a career-high 26 points, mostly on slashing drives to the basket as TSU could not stop her from penetrating.

Daugherty hit 11 of 18 field-goal attempts and four of four free throws. She entered as Southeast's fourth-leading scorer at 10.1 points per game, but in OVC play she is now the Redhawks' No. 1 scorer with 15-point average.

"She's playing with more confidence," Southeast acting head coach John Ishee said.

In her last four games, Daugherty has had her three highest-scoring performances as a collegiate player, including outputs of 23 points and 19 points.

Daugherty, who saw limited action as a freshman last year, said constructive criticism from assistant coach Lisa Pace has helped get her game going.

"Coach Pace has been in my face every day in practice to drive more," said Daugherty, who also had a team-high four steals. "I'd rather drive than shoot [from outside] anyway."

Lyles, the nation's leading rebounder at 16.8 per game, pretty much matched her average Thursday as she pulled down 17 rebounds.

Besides Daugherty, no Southeast player had more than eight points, but 10 Redhawks scored as Ishee was able to find court time for all 11 of his players.

Ishee was particularly pleased with the Redhawks' defense, after Austin Peay had shredded it during the second half of Saturday's game.

TSU shot 28.6 percent from the field (14 of 49) against Southeast.

"I thought we played as good as we've played in a month defensively," Ishee said. "I thought everybody played well defensively, because they competed hard.

"If we don't scratch, claw, dive for loose balls, play with passion and intensity, we won't be very successful because we're not an overpowering team," Ishee said. "We have to do all of those things."

The Redhawks, as is usually the case, controlled the boards with a 43-28 rebounding advantage.

Whitney added eight points and five rebounds for Southeast.

"I think we played really well as a team," Whitney said.

Southeast trailed just once all night, at 4-3 in the opening moments.

The Redhawks then scored 15 straight points to go ahead 18-4 and the margin never dipped under double figures the rest of the way.

Behind 15 first-half points from Daugherty, Southeast led 33-15 at the intermission and the closest TSU got in the second half was 14 points. The Redhawks' biggest advantage was 22 points.

Southeast will host Tennessee Tech at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Eaglettes handed the Redhawks one of their two OVC losses, 59-58 on Dec. 9 in Cookeville, Tenn.

Southeast will raise its banner that night from last year's league championship, won at Tennessee Tech's expense.