Three-point woes plague Redhawks in defeat to Missouri State 

Southeast Missouri State's Indiya Bowen puts up a shot against Missouri State on Monday, Dec. 16, at the Show Me Center.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

Southeast Missouri State unleashed the deafening screech of elementary school children across the area during their Monday morning matinee with in-state rival, Missouri State.

The advantage from the atmosphere wasn’t enough as the Redhawks fell to Bears 77-49 on Dec. 16, at the Show Me Center.

As strategic tradition, college basketball teams will play one game before noon and invite school children to come during a school day as a field trip to fill the otherwise empty gym with engaged fans.

The Show Me Center has never been as loud as when Jariyah Williamson sunk a buzzer-beating three point basket at the end of the second quarter.

"The atmosphere was over the top," said SEMO guard Indiya Bowen. "The atmosphere, besides having them there, is good, but just to have them there to add that spice, it kind of amped everybody up, got everybody going. Even the parents in the crowd and the regular fans that are there, I feel like everybody was just high intensity."

Bowen led the Redhawks with a season high 19 points after being held without a basket in 15 minutes last week at Arkansas.

"I felt like me coming off that game (at Arkansas), I didn't feel like I was able to do enough for my team," Bowen said. "I'm more of a score last, be more helpful in other places than worry about how many I have.

"I feel like I get started off of defense intensity," she said. "I'm more defense first, offense second."

The sophomore has scored double digits in three of SEMO’s last four games.

"Indy is very easy to find in the open court and have play calls for and things like that, because she does a good job of of getting downhill and being able to use her length, not only on offense, but on defense," SEMO head coach Briley Palmer said.

Cady Pauley led the Bears with 17 points while Kaemyn Bekemeier scored 16 points to bring her season average to slightly above 10 points per game. Kyrah Daniels added 13 points of her own.

Three-point shooting led to SEMO’s undoing. The Redhawks shot 4-of-23 from the arc, including a 0-7 clip from freshman Zoe Best. Meanwhile, Missouri State shot 8-of-16 from three-point range.

"I think not seeing the ball go in made them a little discouraged," Bowen said.

The Bears also shot 10 more free throws than the Redhawks, making 17-of-21 while SEMO shot 9-of-11.

"We did have 11 attempts, so that was way more than we have had in the past couple games," Palmer said. "We're going away from contact right now, and that's just something that we've got to emphasize and practice and get back to finishing with pressure and understanding that we're not going into them right now. We're on the sides of them and kind of going away from the contact and to get foul calls and and-ones you've got to go into the contact. And so I think that's just part of having that youth and experience and something that we'll have to coach them up on."

Kiley Bess’ three-pointer set the tone early for the Bears as the first basket of the game, leading to an early 11-2 run to start the first quarter.

The Redhawks responded by outscoring the Bears 7-3 through the remainder of the opening period but still trailed 14-9.

After Anjelicia Del Valle made a free throw to start the second quarter to pull the Redhawks within four points, the Bears went on a 9-2 run to lead 23-12 with six minutes left in the half.

Half of those points came from Bekemeier hitting a layup and three-pointer in succession. She made two more free throws to put the Bears up by 14 before Williamson’s buzzer-beater. She led the Bears with nine points in the first half.

The Bears started the second half much like the first, with a 10-2 run sparked by back-to-back layups from Sarah Linthacum.

Deep in the hole with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Redhawks staged a mini rally, outscoring the Bears 8-2 with four free throws and two jumpers in two minutes to pull within 13 points at 43-30.

Their progress was instantly negated as the Bears scored six unanswered points to end the third quarter leading 49-30. Missouri State later saw its lead reach 20 points after a layup from Pauley with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.

The Bears maintained their pace throughout the final period, growing their lead to 30 points after a pair of free throws by Bekemeier with seven seconds left in the game.

A pair of last-second free throws by Tristan Spearman saved SEMO from losing by exactly 30 points.

The Redhawks will host Eastern Illinois on Thursday and SIUE on Saturday to begin the Ohio Valley Conference slate.