Semo women's basketball struggles continue with ninth straight loss to Tennessee State

The Southeast Missouri State women’s basketball team fell to the Tennessee State Tigers 70-62 on Saturday, Feb. 1, at the Show Me Center.

The Redhawks (4-17, 2-10 OVC) have lost nine straight games since their Jan. 2 win over the Tigers. SEMO head coach Briley Palmer said she is disappointed with the loss and the inconsistency her team has been playing with.

“I think that it’s really hard as a coach to coach inconsistency. That’s why you’ve seen so many different lineups and things like that. It’s hard to get in the rhythm of things,” Palmer said. “At the end of the day, I get to coach what I see every day, and sometimes they don’t see it. It’s hard because we have to catch ourselves on a good day.”

The Redhawks shot 21 of 63 from the field (33%), 7 of 28 from the 3-point line (25%) and 13 of 16 (81%) from the free-throw line.

The Tigers shot 26 of 60 from the field (43%), 9 of 23 from 3-point range (39%), and 9 of 14 (64%) from the free-throw line.

Lexi McCully led the Redhawks with 16 points and four assists, while Ainaya Williams had eight rebounds and four blocks. McCully said she tries to work hard every game and outwork the other team for 40 minutes.

“I do whatever I can. I just try to, obviously not keep everybody happy, but I just kind of play the game,” McCully said. “I see the defense but, then again, I don’t, I get to where I really want to go and try to make something happen. That’s what we’ve been trying to work on.”

With the loss, SEMO is now in a four-way tie for eighth place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. At some point, one of these four teams (SIU Edwardsville, Tennessee State, SEMO and Morehead State) will either backdoor its way into the OVC Tournament, while one will wallow in the conference cellar.

The Redhawks face a three-game road trip with two of those games coming against top-five Ohio Valley Conference opponents. Palmer said a lot of things need to change to win those games.

“Just probably kids locking in like, ‘Hey for 40 minutes, we’re gonna listen, we’re gonna listen to the game plan, and we’re gonna try it, if it fails, we’ll change something,’” Palmer said. “But we haven’t had 40 minutes of doing what we want, what we’ve been preaching, so that’s gotta change. I’m not going to cave our standards of excellence because we’re not winning.”

SEMO will play Morehead State at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, and look to steal a game on the road.