Women's title defense gets off to rocky start

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team hopes history repeats itself.

Last year, the Redhawks lost at home in their first Ohio Valley Conference game but still won the OVC regular-season title.

On Thursday at the Show Me Center, Austin Peay upset the Redhawks 61-50 in the OVC opener for both squads.

"I'm very disappointed," Southeast coach John Ishee said. "I thought overall we were by far not the best team on the court."

Austin Peay (3-4) finished next-to-last in the OVC a year ago with a 3-17 conference record. The Governors were picked next-to-last in this year's preseason poll.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.comSoutheast Missouri State's Crysta Glenn, left, drives the ball against Austin Peay's Nicole Jamen in the second half of a Southeast loss 61-50 at the Show Me Center Thursday.

But the Govs looked nothing like an OVC bottom-feeder against Southeast (3-3) as they led most of the way and stayed comfortably ahead the entire second half.

"Austin Peay beat us in every facet of the game," Ishee said. "They played together better than we did, they beat us to every loose ball, they beat us on the boards."

Southeast, which suffered its third straight loss, used an 8-0 run to lead 16-13 midway through the first half.

From a 20-20 tie, Austin Peay scored eight straight points to go ahead 28-20 late in the opening period. The Govs remained in control the rest of the way.

Up 28-23 at halftime, Austin Peay scored the first eight points to lead 36-23.

Southeast Missouri State's Bianca Beck drives to the basket against Austin Peay's Ashley Herring during the first half of the Redhawks' 61-50 loss at the Show Me Center Thursday.ELIZABETH DODD edodd @semissourian.com

The margin grew to 50-34 with about 10 minutes left.

Austin Peay kept at least a 10-point lead until a steal and layup by Southeast sophomore wing Lauren Sharpe with 1:16 remaining made it 58-50. The Govs iced the victory with three free throws.

"Not to take anything away from Austin Peay, but I thought we just played so poorly," Ishee said.

Ashley Herring, a 5-foot-9 sophomore wing, paced Austin Peay with 21 points, 16 coming in the second half.

"She had an outstanding game. We didn't have an answer for her," Ishee said.

Herring, who added eight rebounds and three blocked shots, said the Govs are determined to put last year's poor showing behind them.

"We struggled a lot last year, but we've put that in the past," said Herring, who hit 8 of 15 field-goal attempts, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range.

Herring, the sister of Southeast senior forward Jaycen Herring, said it was nice to have a good showing in front of her brother, but that wasn't her primary focus.

"I was just determined to go out and play hard," she said, "but it's nice to get to play in front of my brother. I saw him watching."

Senior point guard Tarina Nixon led Southeast with 16 points. Senior forward Crysta Glenn scored 13 points and Sharpe added 11.

The Redhawks played without senior wing Sonya Daugherty, their second-leading scorer at 13.2 points per game. Daugherty sat out with a knee injury suffered last Friday in a loss to Indiana State.

Ishee did not use Daugherty's absence as an excuse after Austin Peay outshot Southeast 47.9 percent to 36.4 percent and held a 34-27 rebounding advantage.

"They just played a lot better than we did," Ishee said.

Southeast has another OVC home game Saturday against Tennessee State.