Central Arkansas hands Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team first home loss

The grit that Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach Rekha Patterson had seen in six straight road games from her team didn't find its way back to the Show Me Center on Sunday afternoon.

There were glimpses of that toughness in the fourth-quarter when the Redhawks battled back from a double-digit deficit, but the University of Central Arkansas held them off.

Southeast's 63-54 loss snapped a two-game winning streak and was its first home loss of the season.

"I think you have to give kudos to Central Arkansas because they were the tougher team," Patterson said, "and I think, like [Alabama football coach] Nick Saban says on the football field, 'The tougher team wins,' and I think the same can be said on the basketball court. Obviously disappointed in that -- that we showed toughness on the road and then we came home in front of a really good crowd and weren't able to show our fans that toughness. But proud that we fought back and cut it to a four-point ballgame and put a little pressure on them, so we will get better."

Southeast trailed by as much as 15 points with 7 minutes, 47 seconds remaining in the contest.

The Sugar Bears, who improved to 6-1 and extended their winning streak to five, held a 51-36 advantage before the Redhawks made 7 of 8 free-throw attempts over the next 3:03 to pull within eight points.

Southeast Missouri State's Imani Johnson takes a shot against Central Arkansas Taylor Strickland during the first quarter Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

Bri Mitchell knocked down a pair of free throws and Erin Bollmann scored in transition to cut it to five. UCA took a timeout with six seconds remaining on the shot clock and 2:17 left in the game on its next possession.

Freshman guard Adrianna Murphy deflected the Sugar Bears' inbounds pass near the scorers table, came up with the steal and Mitchell was fouled.

She split a pair of free throws to make it a four-point game with 2:06 to go.

UCA's Maggie Proffitt knocked down a baseline jumper with 1:55 left -- the first field goal for the team since 11 seconds into the fourth quarter -- to make it 54-48.

Southeast pulled within four points twice more but couldn't get a stop. UCA knocked down 7 of 8 free-throw attempts in the final 48 seconds for the final score.

"I think [our lack of toughness was evident] in the first half when they were getting duck-ins in the post and they were scoring at will," Patterson said. "Again, you can always look back to that fourth quarter and moments like that, but I thought they set the tone really early about being a physical basketball team, and I don't think we responded really well to it."

Southeast held an 11-9 lead after the first quarter and took its largest lead of the game at 13-9 in the first minute of the second.

Southeast Missouri State coach Rekha Patterson watches the game with Central Arkansas during the third quarter Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

The Redhawks had a 4:36 drought without a field goal in the second and UCA held a 26-23 advantage at halftime.

"We get down the court but we don't really get into our screen and our offense right away," Murphy said of the offensive struggles. "A big part of that is our tempo and setting screens and just moving off the ball and being active."

Southeast cut the deficit to 29-28 2:08 into the second half on a jumper by Deja Jones. The Redhawks didn't score again until Jones scored on a putback 5:38 later.

The Sugar Bears built up a double-figure lead by that point and held a 47-36 edge going to the fourth.

UCA guard Maggie Proffitt scored 12 of her game-high 22 points in the third quarter.

She made four free throws, a jumper and back-to-back 3-pointers in the third period.

Southeast Missouri State's Corneisha Henderson drives against Central Arkansas Brianna Mullins during the third quarter Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

Proffitt finished the game 6 of 17 from the field and 2 of 5 from beyond the arc. She made 8 of 8 attempts at the charity stripe.

"I thought she did a good job of being more than just a 3-point shooter," Patterson said. "You watch her on film and she can do a lot of different things and she showcased that today. I thought we were not as disciplined defensively. I thought we defended the stagger screen, which is what they've been really good at. We defended that part, but then when she caught it she was a player and she made plays."

The Redhawks were out-rebounded 37-33 in the game, and while they had 15 offensive boards and 14 second-chance points, Patterson was disappointed in the 16 offensive rebounds that UCA got.

"All five didn't box out. That's really what it was," said Jones, who led Southeast with 13 points and 12 rebounds for her second straight double-double.

Southeast shot 34 percent from the floor and was 0 of 7 from 3-point range. The Redhawks kept themselves in the game going 18 of 23 from the free-throw line. Southeast had open looks inside, but struggled to consistently score.

"We knew they were going to play behind in the post and so sometimes that can create a little bit of difficulty about what you should do," Patterson said. "We showed our players on film that whenever you take a shot they're going to be really physical and walk right into you. I didn't want us settling for jumpers or settling for fadeaways. I wanted us finishing at the rim. Really not until Deja or whether it was that post move that Erin [Bollmann] put on at the very end of the game did we do that.

"Obviously we're going to get better and I did like the fact that we did get paint points and post touches. We have to continue to do that, but if we're going to do that again we've got to shoot better than 34 percent."

The Redhawks scored 32 of their 54 points in the paint.

Southeast is idle until Dec. 22, when it hosts regional rival Southern Illinois at noon.