Redhawk women staying alive as Southeast squads split road battle in Morehead

Southeast's Indiya Bowen (left) drives against a defender during a February 8, 2024 game between the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks and the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Clay Herrell ~ cherrell@semoball.com

Against two tough Morehead State squads, Southeast got a big split on Thursday, going on the road and grabbing a big win in the Bluegrass State.

The Redhawk women inched closer to securing their spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament while the men officially dropped out of the race with a tough loss.

Rekha Patterson’s Redhawk women (9-19, 6-11 OVC) traded some early leads with Morehead State (14-14, 9-8 OVC) early, but a big surge late got Southeast the 70-63 win going away.

Keeping their postseason aspirations alive, the win put Southeast in a tie for eighth in the conference with Tennessee State.

The Redhawks maintain a head-to-head tiebreaker win over the Tigers, narrowly taking them down in a 48-47 win on Feb. 10 at the Show Me Center.

With huge postseason implications and up just a point early in the fourth quarter, the Redhawks rattled off an 11-2 run down the stretch and powered their way to an impressive road win.

Warding off a 24-point night from Veronica Charles, Southeast got three double-digit scoring performances including a 16-point night from Abbigail Stephens off the bench.

She added another 11 rebounds to that scoring total to will Southeast to the win on a double-double night with 13-point supports from Alecia Doyle and Indiya Bowen.

In critical need of a big win to guarantee a spot in the conference tournament, the Redhawks pick back up with a Saturday game at Southern Indiana.

The Screaming Eagles rank first in the conference with a 16-1 record within the Ohio Valley Conference, so it’ll take a heck of an effort from Southeast to get to prime position.

For the men, facing off against the top team in the conference, the game stayed within reach for a while but they couldn’t work the swings in their favor.

Morehead State (22-8, 13-4 OVC) began the game with a 99 percent chance to win per ESPN’s Basketball Power Index and, despite some early swings, took a dominant 72-50 win over Southeast (8-22, 3-14 OVC) on Thursday.

After jumping out to a quick lead early, Morehead State almost constantly maintained a double-digit lead and iced the game with a big run late.

Redhawks coach Brad Korn harped on the shooting performance of the Redhawks, who finished the game shooting just 13 percent from the 3-point line on a dismal 1-of-8 clip.

Shooting just 36 percent from the field as a team, the offense didn’t take the steps necessary to pull off the upset and, in turn, officially knocked Southeast out of the conference title race.

Rob Martin hit the team’s only triple of the contest, finishing the night with a game-high 22 points but not nearly enough to get the Redhawks the road win.

Morehead State finished with four starters in double-digit scoring, easily cruising by the Redhawks in what’s been a dominant season for the Eagles.

With one last opportunity to make an impression before season’s end, the Redhawks take part in one last road contest at Southern Indiana in a battle of the conference’s cellar dwellers.

For Southern Indiana, a win is necessary to get into the postseason. Naturally, the Redhawks will look to play spoiler to this as they go into a feisty Hoosier State environment looking to end the rough season on a high note.