Southeast women's basketball team eases past Alabama A&M in season opener

Nine minutes into the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team's season opener Friday night, the Redhawks held just a 2-point advantage over the visiting Bulldogs from Alabama A&M.

Then something -- or several things -- clicked for Southeast and it busted the game wide open, cruising to a 66-38 victory at the Show Me Center

"We were more patient," Southeast Missouri State assistant Heather Ezell said. "We started getting one or two reversals and then things widened up for us. O [Olivia Hackmann] started to get hot, started to knock some shots down, and that spread the defense out. We started getting some easy buckets in transition, and that's just getting defensive stops and we were able to push the ball. I think the biggest thing is our defense led to offense there for a little bit."

Ezell, who served as the team's head coach in place of Ty Margenthaler while he completed a two-game suspension for self-reported NCAA recruiting violations by the program, was referring to the 10-0 run the Redhawks to extend the 11-9 lead that they held with 11 minutes, 2 seconds left in the first half.

The Redhawks (1-0), who never trailed in the game, led by double digits the remainder of the game except at 25-17 with 5:10 left in the opening half.

They took a 35-22 lead into the break.

Ezell and the players credited Southeast's early switch to zone defense as the reason the Redhawks were able to create some separation.

Senior guard Jasmine Robinson said, "that zone killed them," while junior guard Olivia Hackmann noted, "they didn't really know what to do against it."

The Bulldogs shot just 22.2 percent (14 of 63) in the game and were 1 for 18 from behind the arc.

"We realized pretty quickly that were really attacking us both inside and off the dribble, and we switched to the zone and I thought our players did a great job," Ezell said. "They knew the positioning, knew where they needed to be, really clogged it up in the middle and made them take contested jumpers, which is what we wanted and we rebounded really well out of it, so that helps."

The 38 points that Alabama A&M scored was the fewest the Redhawks have held an opponent to since 2010.

The Bulldogs scored just eight points over the first 13:58 of the second half.

Southeast freshman guard and Dexter graduate Hannah Noe and Hackmann knocked down back-to-back 3s to extend the lead to 27 points before a 3-pointer by A&M's Brittney Strickland made it 57-33 with 6:02 remaining.

The Redhawks held a 30-point lead with about a minute remaining, and the Bulldogs (0-1) scored with 26 seconds left for the final score.

"We did a really good job of pushing when we needed to push and being smart with it when we needed to be, making the right passes, making the right decisions and not trying to over-force anything," Ezell said.

Hackmann finished with a career-high 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting to lead all scorers. She hit 2 of 5 3-pointers, collected eight rebounds, had four steals, a block and didn't turn the ball over.

"She just kind of let the game come to her," Ezell said. "She didn't force anything, she took shots when she was open, she did all the right things -- just being able to spot up from 3, from the inside, attacking when she needed to. I thought she just played a very smart game, a very balanced game. We moved her from a forward to a guard back and forth, and I thought she made that kind of transition really well and was able to do some good things."

Junior transfer and Meadow Heights graduate Erin Bollmann finished with 10 points (5 of 9) and 13 rebounds.

"I thought Erin had all the effort in the world," Ezell said. "She went after rebounds. She didn't just think, 'Hey, is it going to come to me?' She went and got it, and that's what good rebounders do, and that's why I think she's going to be a great rebounder for us this year because she has such a nose for the ball."

Junior forward and Jackson graduate Connor King chipped in 10 rebounds.

"We just had a good cohesive unit out there, and it showed in the final score," Ezell said.

The Redhawks return to action against Missouri on Monday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from Columbia, Missouri.