Southeast women drop to 0-2 in OVC

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team is in an early Ohio Valley Conference hole.

It's unfamiliar territory for the Redhawks.

Southeast suffered its second straight loss to begin OVC play as visiting Tennessee State rallied for a 59-55 win Saturday.

That came after unheralded Austin Peay upset the Redhawks by 11 points in Thursday's OVC opener at the Show Me Center.

"It's a little rough right now," senior forward Rachel Blunt said. "But the [OVC] schedule is 18 games long. You don't want to lose early, but you'd much rather struggle early than late."

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.comSoutheast Missouri State's Tarina Nixon shoots as Tennessee State's Tiffany Jackson defends during the first half Saturday.

Southeast fell to 3-4 overall with its fourth straight loss, while TSU improved to 3-5 overall and 1-1 in the OVC.

"We're not used to losing our first two conference games," senior forward Crysta Glenn said. "But it's just two games off our conference schedule."

John Ishee, who led Southeast to OVC regular-season titles in his first two years as coach, said he felt better about the Redhawks' performance Saturday than against Austin Peay.

"I thought we played much better basketball tonight than Thursday," Ishee said. "It just wasn't good enough to win.

"We let it get away from us. Tennessee State had a lot to do with it."

Southeast Missouri State's Crysta Glenn drives against Tennessee State's Tiffany Jackson during the second half.

Southeast led most of the way, although never by a comfortable margin.

The Redhawks opened up their biggest advantage at 48-39 with six minutes left.

TSU drilled two 3-pointers within 30 seconds to make it 48-45 and no more than five points separated the squads the rest of the way.

"They hit those two 3s real quick and that was big," Ishee said.

The Tigers kept coming and took the lead for good at 55-52 on a 3-pointer by all-OVC senior guard Kendra Appling with 1:29 left.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.comSoutheast Missouri State's Amber Holmes passes the ball away from Tennessee State's Kierra Goodwin in the second half Saturday at the Show Me Center.

Appling, who scored TSU's final seven points, put the Tigers up 57-52 on a layup with 57 seconds remaining.

TSU gave Southeast chances by missing two straight front ends of 1-and-1 free-throw opportunities, and the Redhawks made it 57-55 on two foul shots by senior guard Tarina Nixon with 12 seconds to play.

Appling hit 1 of 2 free throws with 6 seconds left to leave the door open, but Southeast turned the ball over. Appling's free throw with 1 second left iced things.

"They hit some big shots," Nixon said. "That's all it takes is a few big shots in a close game."

Appling led all scorers with 22 points, 17 in the second half.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.comSoutheast Missouri State's Szandra Pal looks to pass away from Tennessee State's Meredith Stafford during the first half Saturday at the Show Me Center.

"She's a heck of a one-on-one player and she got hot," Ishee said.

Nixon paced Southeast with 20 points and Glenn added 11.

The Redhawks received a lift from 6-foot-1 junior college transfer Trevonna Cannon.

Seeing by far the most extensive action of her young Southeast career, Cannon delivered eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds in 23 minutes.

In Southeast's first six games, Cannon had totaled 10 points and eight rebounds in 34 minutes.

"She looked more like the player we recruited her for," Ishee said.

Southeast, which had been struggling on the boards, held a 40-23 rebounding advantage. But the Redhawks had 24 turnovers.

"We have a lot of talent. We just have to get it to mesh," Blunt said.

Added Nixon: "We're not down at all. We're going to take these losses and learn from them. We'll be fine."

Noteworthy

• The Redhawks played their second straight game without senior wing Sonya Daugherty, their No. 2 scorer with a 13.2 average. Daugherty has a knee injury.
• Southeast, which doesn't play another OVC game until Jan. 3, hosts NAIA Bethel College on Wednesday night.