The second quarter proved to be the difference for the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team on Wednesday night.

The Redhawks held Alabama A&M to just two field goals and two free throws and had their most productive scoring of the game, allowing them to pull away for good in a 69-58 victory in Huntsville, Alabama.

"I don't even know what happened," Southeast coach Rekha Patterson said with a laugh about the impressive second quarter. "I think maybe it just started clicking offensively for us."

Southeast led 14-7 with 3 minutes, 9 seconds remaining in the first quarter before the Bulldogs rattled off seven unanswered points to close out the period and even it at 14-all.

The Redhawks shot 8 of 15 from the field in the second quarter and led the rest of the way once they went up 18-17 3:55 into the second quarter on an Olivia Hackmann free throw.

Southeast held a 34-20 lead at halftime and had a 45-31 advantage after three quarters.

The Redhawks took their largest lead of the night on a jumper by freshman point guard Adrianna Murphy with 3:52 to play that made it a 21-point game.

Patterson subbed in her other freshman in the closing minutes of the game. The Bulldogs went on a 15-4 run after facing the 21-point deficit, but Southeast's lead was never in any real danger.

"I wanted to get some of our younger players in, but then I also wanted to save [some of our players]," Patterson said. "I know it wasn't much, but we have a quick turnaround again for our Friday game. We wanted to get some of those freshmen some playing time and didn't finish the way we wanted to, but we'll watch some film and get better."

Patterson wanted to give a "shoutout" to freshman forward Hilma Mededovic, who got in the game early after sophomore guard Kaley Leyhue injured herself during pregame warmups.

Sophomore guard Hannah Noe made her first collegiate start in place of Leyhue. Mededovic scored her first collegiate points on a layup midway through the third quarter.

Senior forward Connor King also reached a milestone. Her sixth rebound of the night -- she finished with seven -- early in the third quarter was the 500th of her career.

For the second straight game, Southeast outrebounded its opponent by one, snagging 33 to A&M's 32.

Southeast shot 49.1 percent in the game and was 11 of 21 from the free-throw line.

Senior forward Erin Bollmann led the team with 19 points and eight rebounds off the bench. She also had three steals.

Junior guard Bri Mitchell added 18 points and senior guard Olivia Hackmann finished with 14.

"Bri's ability to penetrate and get in the paint and make stuff happen that way was really good," Patterson said. "Erin, the way she plays defense, man, she was all over the place. Her rebounding the ball, running the floor, providing great leadership for our team was good."

It's the second straight win for the Redhawks, who are now 2-1 on the season.

"Tough environment," Patterson said. "Great college basketball atmosphere. We knew we had to rebound the ball. We knew we had to defend without fouling, and I thought we came on the road, had the right mentality. And we did that."

Southeast hosts Missouri-Kansas City on Friday. The start time has been moved up to 6 p.m. from the Show Me Center. It's the team's last home game until Dec. 13.