Luttrull's career day lifts Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team to win vs. TSU

Southeast Missouri State sophomore guard Ashton Luttrull has never been the player that waves her arms in the air to get the crowd on its feet or cheering louder during a game.

Luttrull couldn't help herself Saturday afternoon, though, when she saw coach Rekha Patterson doing it.

Patterson stared toward the action on the court while she signaled to the crowd to continue its loud cheers after Luttrull knocked down a pull-up jumper on the left elbow as the final seconds on the shot clock ticked off.

That basket with 2 minutes, 40 seconds remaining was the final one for Luttrull, who set a career-high with 17 points and propelled the Redhawks to a 75-65 victory over visiting Tennessee State (5-9, 0-1 Ohio Valley Conference) at the Show Me Center.

Southeast improved to 9-6 and 2-0 in the OVC. The last time the Redhawks started 2-0 in conference was the 2002-03 season.

"That's awesome," Luttrull said with a laugh about her coach's antics. "I've never done that in my life...and I started doing it. I was like, 'What am I doing?'"

Luttrull, who had two points in six minutes of first-half action, checked in with 6:28 left in the third quarter with the Redhawks trailing by seven.

Southeast Missouri State's Ashton Luttrull looks to pass against Tennessee State's Brianna Lawrence during the first quarter Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016 at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

Luttrull knocked down Southeast's first 3-pointer of the game with 4:09 left in the third to cut it to 45-41.

TSU split a pair of free throws before junior guard Bri Mitchell drove and kicked to Luttrull in the corner near the Redhawks' bench for her second triple to cut the deficit to two.

The Tigers turned it over on their next possession, and Luttrull drained one from the top of the key to put Southeast up 47-46 with 2:44 left in the third.

"Coach always says just, 'Stay ready. Stay ready,' and then it helps to hit your first one and that kind of gets you in a rhythm," Luttrull said before noting that her first 3 came off an offensive rebound from Erin Bollmann and her second from a pass from Mitchell. " *... Really just good passes, wide open shots, and I got to knock them down. It was fun once you get on that rhythm, and then I think we all just fed off of our energy."

The Redhawks maintained the lead and took a 51-50 advantage into the fourth quarter.

"I think it made all the difference, honestly," redshirt freshman forward Imani Johnson said about Luttrull's shooting. "It raised my energy level to a whole new ballgame. I was on the bench and I was just, 'Ahhhh,' yelling like crazy. I think it just changed our energy."

Southeast Missouri State's Erin Bollmann grabs a rebound against Tennessee State during the first quarter Saturday at the Show Me Center. The Redhawks won 75-65. (Fred Lynch)

TSU's Michelle Cox opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to put the Tigers up two, but the Redhawks answered with a 6-0 run to take the lead for good.

The Tigers got within three with 4:31 left, but a Johnson basket was followed by back-to-back jumpers from Luttrull. Southeast closed out the win by making 7 of 8 free throws in the final 1:35.

Luttrull, who's struggled with knee injuries -- she missed her entire senior season of high school with a torn ACL, redshirted at Southeast two years ago and missed the final 10 games last season with knee soreness -- set her new career high on 6-of-9 shooting in 19 minutes off the bench.

"I'm thinking with Ashton you never know what you're going to get as far as what her body can give her, but I know every game she's going to give me everything she has, whether she scores a point or not," Patterson said. "She's going to give me everything she has. I don't think people realize that after our last game, which was what, two days ago? She had to go to the hospital and get an X-ray because she was blocking out. It was physical, and the other girl's foot was in her back and after the game it was hurting, so they had to go check on her, and then for her to come out and do this with a bruised back tonight? God, I wish she had a healthy body -- for her. Not just for me, but for her. I know every night I'm going to get everything that Ashton has. Whatever's in her tank, she's going to empty it."

In addition to Luttrull's strong showing, the Redhawks overcame a 35-31 halftime deficit by getting the ball inside and limiting turnovers.

Southeast had 16 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of the game, and the Tigers, who continuously jumped the passing lanes, scored 15 points off them. The Redhawks turned the ball over six times in the second and TSU scored eight points off turnovers.

"You would almost think that we didn't talk about the fact that they're athletic and they like to steal and we didn't prepare for them -- that's what it sort of looked like that first half," Patterson said with a laugh. "But I thought we played timid and we played too much sideline to sideline. We didn't get enough post touches, and I think that was a difference between the first half and the second half."

Southeast shot 40.7 percent in the game and was just 3 of 11 from beyond the arc, but the Redhawks made 28 of 33 free-throw attempts in the victory.

Johnson finished with a career-high 20 points, knocking down 12 of 13 free throws, and Mitchell had 16 points and was 8 of 8 from the charity stripe.

"When you're having a hard time scoring, you've got to find a way to get some easy baskets," Patterson said, "and I think that the driving lanes helped and I think the fact that like Imani, instead of just catching it and throwing it up there to get a field-goal attempt, she tried to finish, and because she tried to finish and she would bury her defender, she was rewarded with being able to go to the free-throw line."

Southeast takes its three-game winning streak to Morehead State on Thursday and faces Eastern Kentucky on the road Saturday.

"Everybody's good, and now you've got to go on the road," Patterson said. "I told the ladies that when you go on the road you've got to think you're already 15 down, so you've got to go in and you've got to fight and claw from the get-go. Taking care of the basketball and rebounding the basketball are huge."