Streak reaches 11 as McCully’s 30 not enough to send Redhawks WBB over USI

In the second of three road games in a six-day span, Southeast Missouri State women’s basketball dropped its 11th consecutive matchup in a Saturday night loss at Southern Indiana, losing 67-56 and making it 37 days since its last victory.

Separated by a double-digit lead, or nearly that, for most of the matchup, the hosting Screaming Eagles built up their first 10-point lead early in the second quarter and continued to hold the Redhawks off the rest of the way.

Even with a competitive third from Southeast, cutting the lead down to 7 on numerous occasions, a big rally from USI late helped it mount a 14-point edge going into the fourth, never relinquishing that sound edge in the final 10 minutes.

Lexi McMully led the way for Southeast, scoring 30 points on 5-for-10 3-point shooting in the loss while no other Redhawk reached double figures.

Vanessa Shafford’s 24 points and 9 rebounds led Southern Indiana to victory on Saturday night, with Meredith Raley’s 15 points pacing her on 63 percent shooting.

USI won the rebounding battle by 10, and even with a 1-point loss in the turnover margin department, an impressive 9 blocks and 8 fewer fouls committed than Southeast plugged that gap quite well.

The Screaming Eagles only mustered up a 41 percent clip from the field, but when SEMO comes up north shooting 32 percent, it could certainly be a lot worse as USI’s comfortable 11-point win gave it a ninth this league year.

The win improves the Screaming Eagles to 9-5 in conference play, 17-8 overall, while Southeast Missouri’s streak continues, dropping it to 2-12 in the OVC and 4-19 for the season.

Once 2-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference, winning Jan. 2 over Tennessee State on the road to get over the .500 mark in league play, Southeast has lost 11 consecutive games and sits in last place.

In dire straits of missing a second consecutive OVC Tournament after another flat year in 2024, the Redhawks’ clinching hopes continue to get worse by the day.

Southeast is tied with SIU-Edwardsville between 10th and 11th, with the two scheduled to play Thursday, Feb. 27 in Edwardsville, Illinois, with neither in an ideal position to sneak into the league’s championship tournament in March.

The Redhawks return to action Tuesday, ending a three-game road trip in Arkansas’ capital city, taking on OVC No. 4 Little Rock in a midweek tilt between a conference-hopeful Trojans squad and a streaking, in the wrong way, SEMO squad.

That game tips off at 5 p.m. on Tuesday in Little Rock, Arkansas, ending a three-game road trip before the Redhawks return home for a Saturday doubleheader with Tennessee Tech.