Box Score

RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky’s women’s basketball team shot 25.9 percent and only scored 16 points in the second half in a 43-41 loss to Southeast Missouri State on Saturday at McBrayer Arena. The Lady Colonels had two shots in the final six seconds to tie the game but couldn’t convert on either one.

Freshman Shakeyia Colyer led EKU (8-9, 5-3 OVC) with 10 points. Freshman Alex Jones had nine rebounds and three assists but made just 1-of-7 attempts from the field and finished with four points. After registering Eastern’s first four points of the game, she did not score again.

Monica Miller led the Redhawks (6-10, 3-4 OVC) with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Eastern Kentucky committed 23 turnovers. After shooting 41.7 percent in the first half, EKU made just 7-of-27 attempts (25.9 percent) in the second half.

Southeast Missouri edged out to a six-point lead, 35-29, on a lay-up by Patricia Mack with 14:44 left in the game. The Redhawks went more than five and a half minutes without scoring, but the best Eastern could do is take a 37-35 lead after a three-pointer by Sarah Fraser-Jones with 9:15 remaining.

Following the trey by Fraser-Jones, EKU suffered through its own scoring drought. SEMO ran off six straight to go up by four, 41-37, before the Lady Colonels scored at the 2:28 mark. Colyer’s jumper snapped Eastern’s scoreless streak and cut the deficit to two.

Another basket by Colyer, with 1:01 left in the game, kept the margin at two, 43-41. Colyer forced a turnover on the other end, but Kleist missed on a three-point attempt with 30 seconds remaining. Southeast allowed Eastern another chance when Bianca Beck missed the front end of a one-and-one. Jones rebounded the miss and head coach Chrissy Roberts called a time out with 11 seconds on the clock.

Jones just missed on a jumper in the paint with six seconds to go and Kleist couldn’t convert the follow-up after an offensive rebound with two seconds left.

Colette Cole and Michaelea Kleist each had six points and eight rebounds for Eastern Kentucky, which out-rebounded SEMO 38-32.

The game got off to a sluggish start. Eastern Kentucky turned the ball over seven times in the first six and a half minutes and Southeast Missouri made just one of its first 14 attempts from the field.

A bucket by Kleist at the 11:47 mark tied the game at 6-6 and began an 11-0 run for the Lady Colonels. The freshman scored six points during the run. Cole’s wide-open three-pointer from the top of the key capped it off and put the home squad on top 15-6 with 8:33 to play before intermission.

Southeast Missouri answered EKU’s run with one of its own. The Redhawks scored eight unanswered to climb with one, 15-14, with 6:23 remaining in the first half. Monica Miller scored six of the eight points.

The game remained close the rest of the half. A lay-up by Beck with three seconds left sent Southeast Missouri to the locker room in front 26-25.

EKU shot 41.7 percent in the first half and held SEMO to 28 percent shooting, but the Lady Colonels turned the ball over 14 times and sent the Redhawks to the free throw line 14 times, where they made 11.

The Lady Colonels will play future OVC member Southern Illinois Edwardsville on Wednesday. Tip-off at McBrayer Arena is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Notes
EKU leads the all-time series with Southeast Missouri 25-13, but SEMO has won nine straight in the series.

Eastern Kentucky dropped to 2-7 this season when trailing at halftime.

The game was a match-up of EKU’s second ranked OVC defense (60.8 ppg) and SEMO’s ninth ranked OVC scoring offense (54.3 ppg).

Southeast Missouri State entered the game 0-8 this season on the road and 0-4 in OVC road games. The Redhawks had lost 11 straight road games dating back to last season. SEMO’s last road win was at EKU on Feb. 12, 2009.

The Eastern Kentucky bench has out-scored its opponents’ bench in 10 straight games.