Southeast women lose big lead in WNIT loss to Evansville

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Southeast Missouri State's terrible second half was worse than Evansville's horrendous first half.

Or the Redhawks' red-hot first half wasn't as sharp as Evansville's sizzling second half.

Either way you look at it, Southeast fell short 60-58 in a Women's NIT first-round game played at the University of Southern Indiana's PAC Arena on Thursday night.

Evansville (21-11), which finished in a three-way tie for the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title, moved on to a second-round game at Kansas on Monday night.

Southeast, which has won three straight Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles, ended its season 23-9 despite owning a 17-point halftime lead and a 19-point edge just 2 minutes into the second half.

"When they hit us in the face, so to speak, we weren't able to get back off the ground," Southeast junior Rachel Blunt said. "They were a lot more aggressive going to the basket and a lot more aggressive trying to post up. They weren't just settling for the 3s they were settling for in the first half."

The Purple Aces weren't hitting those 3s in the first half, firing up 12 and converting just two. They finished the half shooting 23.1 percent. They were below 50 percent at the free throw line, making five of 11.

Southeast, meanwhile, was 50 percent from the field in the first half, hitting five of 10 3-pointers as well. The Redhawks also had an edge on the boards (21-16) and had five steals.

The Redhawks closed the half with a 26-4 run over the last 10 minutes, including a 13-0 spree in the final 4 minutes to claim a 36-19 lead.

"It's one of those things that in the first half they would run the shot clock down on us and we were still managing to get the ball to fall on tough shots," Blunt said. "It felt pretty good because we were playing hard and stuff was going in and clicking."

But playing on the road in the first women's postseason game played in Evansville, Southeast second-year coach John Ishee knew the second half would provide a challenge.

"I told them we had to establish ourselves the first four minutes of the second half," Ishee said. "We started the half with a turnover, which didn't help us."

The Redhawks also managed to rack up four fouls in the first 71 seconds of the second half.

"It's just hard to beat a good team on the road," Ishee said.

It took the Redhawks nearly 13 minutes to compile more points than fouls in the second half, but they still remained in the game. Ashley Lovelady's baseline jumper with 7:24 to play answered a 3-pointer by Evansville's Ashley Austin and pulled Southeast back within 47-46.

Southeast knotted the score 49-49 but Evansville went on a 7-1 run. The capper was a post-up basket by all-MVC guard Rebekah Parker.

"That was probably the biggest play of the game," Ishee said. "That was the play that really made the difference in the game. They posted 33 up a lot in the second half, and we knew that and talked about it but they executed it better than we defended it."

Parker, a 5-foot-10 senior, scored nine of her team-high 15 points in the second half on the strength of three post-up baskets and three free throws.

"I thought the guards or whoever passed it down there made great passes away from the defense and they did it at a time when the double-team wasn't able to get there in time," Parker said, "and I was able to get the shot off."

Missy Whitney's basket brought Southeast within 58-54, though she missed a free throw as Southeast was 6-for-15 from the line in the second half. She scored on a rebound to make the score 58-56 with 1:30 to play.

After Ashlee Barrett hit one of two free throws with 1:08 to play, Southeast misfired on two shots to tie. Lovelady missed a 3-pointer with 51 seconds to play. After a good defensive stand that led to a turnover scooped up by Lauren Sharpe, Whitney missed on a 3-pointer with 9 seconds remaining.

Parker hit one free throw to create a four-point cushion, and Southeast managed only a putback by Whitney as time expired.

Whitney, a senior all-OVC forward, finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Redhawks. She came off the bench in both halves as Ishee was able to avoid any early foul trouble that would affect her aggressiveness.

But the Redhawks' second half ended with a 36.4 percentage from the field, including 0-for-4 on 3-pointers. Blunt, who missed just one shot in the first half, was 0-for-3 in the second half and finished with 10 points.

"I had a lot of open looks at the start of the game," Blunt said. "In the second half, as soon as I caught it, I felt like I was pretty well covered. I wasn't getting as many wide-open, nobody-around-me looks.

"I think they really matched the hard-nosed way we were playing. They matched that in the second half, and we failed to match that as a team."

The Aces had the second-half edge in steals (5-3) and turnovers -- Southeast had 11 to Evansville's four.

"I saw a lot of positives," Ishee said. "I thought Lauren Sharpe had a solid game for a true freshman playing on the road. I thought Missy Whitney was a warrior, and it was Ashley Lovelady's best game as a point guard, and she's not really a point guard."

Sharpe finished with 11 points. Lovelady, Southeast's only other senior, scored six points and had five rebounds and four steals while playing 37 minutes as Tarina Nixon played a little less due to an injury.

"I couldn't be prouder of my team," Ishee added. "We battled, we scrapped, we clawed, they just made a couple more plays than we did. We just came up empty on too many possessions in the second half."