Problematic start sees Southeast Missouri State women's basketball fall on road to UT Martin

MARTIN, Tenn. -- There were three keys to the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team's game plan for defending Ohio Valley Conference champion and current leader UT Martin on Wednesday night. The Redhawks were supposed to defend the 3, dominate the boards and limit turnovers.

Southeast first-year coach Rekha Patterson's squad didn't accomplish any of those in a first quarter that proved too great to overcome as the Skyhawks handed the Redhawks a 95-65 loss at the Elam Center.

"I don't know why," Patterson said. "I don't know why we did not follow the game plan to start. I don't know why we were tentative to start. But I like the fight in us and I think if we fight and play that hard and follow the game plan for the next four games, great things can happen."

Patterson said her team was prepared to give up 2-point field goals, but each time the Skyhawks drove, Southeast brought defensive help, allowing for an easy kick-out and 3-pointer. UTM hit 6 of 10 in the first quarter and made 9 of its 13 triples in the first half as it built up a 50-30 advantage at the break.

The Redhawks turned the ball over 13 times in the first quarter and were even on the boards at 7 apiece, and were down 31-11 after the first 10 minutes. Several of their turnovers came against UTM's full-court press; Southeast didn't commit any turnovers in the second quarter, and when it broke the press got easy layups.

"So for whatever reason -- again, I don't know, sometimes you don't know what's in the mind of an 18 to 22-year old -- and, again, I think this is a rich tradition here," Patterson later added. "They have been dominant over the last four or five years. So that's Year [7] for them, this is Year 1 for me. You know, hopefully by Year [7] things are a little different."

Southeast trailed 19-11 after a 3-pointer by Ashton Luttrull with 4:16 to go in the first but the Skyhawks closed out the quarter on a 12-0 run.

UTM hit three straight 3s in 58 seconds to start that stretch, including back-to-back 25-footers from forward Haley Howard. They were the only baskets of the game for the team's leading scorer, who left the game with a leg injury midway through the third quarter.

UTM took its largest lead of the first half on a 3-pointer by Chelsea Roberts to make it 39-13 with 7:34 left in the half. The Redhawks got as close as 16 before trailing by 20 at halftime.

"I think it was kind of a chain reaction. You know, we had a couple turnovers and then we keep turning it over and they hit 3s, and then you look up and they're up by 20," Luttrull said. "We'll learn from that and I think we have to come out more ready and really a lot more focused."

Southeast senior forward Erin Bollmann, who spent most of the first half on the bench in foul trouble, opened the third quarter on a personal 9-2 run to cut it to 13 inside the period's first 2 minutes, 28 seconds. Bollmann picked up her fourth foul 2:12 later and went back to the bench with her team down 18.

"We felt like we had an advantage with Erin and being able to throw it up to her," Patterson said. "Hate that she got in foul trouble; that definitely hurt us. But I thought she played like a senior should play. I thought she played like someone who did not want to go out that way as far as just, like, a lack of toughness. Â… She had to score, but we also had to find her and we did a good job of looking for those options. Again, take care of the basketball and good things happen."

Southeast redshirt sophomore guard Luttrull said the team wanted to trim the deficit to 10 by the end of the third, and the Redhawks came close. They went on an 11-3 run -- during which UTM didn't have a field goal -- that was capped by a Luttrull 3-pointer to cut it to 62-52 with 2:58 left in the quarter.

The Skyhawks pushed their lead to 70-55 going to the fourth and the Redhawks never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.

"Our fight's there. That's what happened the second half," sophomore forward Deja Jones said. "The first half we didn't have that dog in us that we normally have, and second half that came alive and we had it and it showed. They're a very, very good team, but we definitely know that we can play with the best."

Southeast shot 44.1 percent from the field, 24 percent from 3-point range and made just 7 of 20 free throws. The Skyhawks shot 59.3 percent, were 13 of 22 from beyond the arc and 18 of 26 from the charity stripe.

UTM's victory was its 10th straight and 23rd consecutive home conference win. The Skyhawks improved to 17-7 and 10-1 in the OVC.

Southeast dropped its second straight and fell to 14-11 and 7-5 in conference.

"If you look at Saturday's game, we didn't play with great effort, so they're disappointed in that," Patterson said. "Then you come out here and you don't follow the game plan to start, so these are things that not other people are doing to us. Like, it's what we're doing to ourselves, which is great because you can fix it, and that's the approach that we're going to take."

The Redhawks travel to Murray, Kentucky, where they face the Murray State Racers at 5 p.m. Saturday. Southeast defeated MSU 96-59 last Wednesday.

"We can't look at what happened the last game and think it's going to happen again," Luttrull said.

"They'll be out to get us. But we can't play scared, either," Patterson said, "If you show the fight that you showed in the second and third quarter the next four games, you can live with that and good things can happen."

UT MARTIN 95, SOUTHEAST 65

Southeast 11 19 25 10 -- 65

UT Martin 31 19 20 25 -- 95

SOUTHEAST (65) -- Bri Mitchell 11, Erin Bollmann 15, Adrianna Murphy 4, Connor King 2, Deja Jones 13, Hannah Noe 2, Corneisha Henderson 5, Dolapo Balogun 1, Ashton Luttrull 8, Imani Johnson 4. FG 26-59, FT 7-20, F 23. (3-pointers: Mitchell 3, Luttrull 2, Henderson 1. Fouled out: Bollmann, Johnson.)

UT Martin (95) -- Emanye Robertson 10, Chelsea Roberts 18, Katie Schubert 21, Jessy Ward 14, Haley Howard 6, Myah Taylor 15, Shy Copney 11. FG 32-54, FT 18-26, F 19. (3-pointers: Ward 4, Roberts 3, Howard 2, Taylor 2, Robertson 1, Schubert 1. Fouled out: Roberts.)