Feb. 19, 2005

Final Stats |  Photo Gallery

MOREHEAD, Ky. - (Saturday, February 19, 2005) The question on the mind of Redhawks Head Coach B.J. Smith was how was his team going to respond to a disheartening loss to Eastern Kentucky on Thursday. The answer was an 82-70 road victory over Morehead State Saturday evening at Ellis T. Johnson Arena for the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team.

The win by the Redhawks (18-7, 12-2 OVC) assured them a home game for the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Championship Tournament and a finish of no worse than third place in the OVC regular season.

The Redhawks used a 21-9 run in the first half to put some distance between themselves and the Lady Eagles as they held a 28-14 advantage with 8:54 in the first.

Back-to-back free throws by Natalie Purcell (Auckland, New Zealand/Hutchinson CC) gave the Redhawks a 35-17 first half lead, their largest of the first half.

The Lady Eagles cut it to a 14 point lead to end the half.

Both teams struggles offensively in the opening half as both teams shot under 37-percent from the field. The difference was the offensive glass as Southeast collected 11 offensive rebounds.

Southeast also converted 11-12 from the free throw line to make up for the lack of made field goals.

In the second half the Lady Eagles were determined to make it a ball game as they managed to cut the Redhawks lead to seven, 47-40 on a Shelly Johnson lay-up at the 13:43 mark.

However everytime it seemed that the Lady Eagles would make a run, the Redhawks countered with quick baskets.

The Redhawks then started working the ball down to their post players to wear down the Lady Eagles interior defense.

Chandra Brown (Louisville, KY/Southeastern Illinois CC) and Tatiana Conceicao (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Western Nebraska CC) took turns down-low, scoring at will as the Redhawks grabbed their biggest lead of the game, 81-61 with 2:31 left.

The Lady Eagles ended the game on a 9-1 run to make the margin of victory closer than it actually seemed.

The Redhawks frontcourt accounted for 57 points led by Conceicao and Brown.

Conceicao finished with game-highs of 23 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes. She was 6-11 from the field and 11-15 from the charity stripe. Five of her nine rebounds were on the offensive end.

Brown finished with 12 points on 6-10 shooting and collected six rebounds, including four offensive.

Brandi Russia (Cincinnati, OH/Northeastern Oklahoma A&M) scored 17 points for the second-straight game. She was 6-13 from the field with three of her baskets coming from behind the arc.

Purcell came off the bench for her second-straight solid game. She scored 11 points going 3-6 from three-point range.

Tiffanne Ryan (Oklahoma City, OK/Westmoore) provided a spark off the bench recording game-highs in assists with four and steals with three.

Freshman Leanne Evans (Port Moody, Canada/Port Moody Secondary) scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds (three offensive).

Despite only shooting 39-percent in the game and allowing the Lady Eagles to shoot 51-percent (including 62-percent in the second half), the Redhawks used second-chance points and free throw shooting.

The Redhawks outscored the Lady Eagles, 24-6 in second chance points. The major season is 20 of Redhawks 37 rebounds came on the offensive end.

The Redhawks also made a season-best 20 free throws on 24 attempts.

The Lady Eagles were led by freshman Anitha Smith-Williams, who scored 17 points. Johnson finished with 16 points (14 in the second half).

The Redhawks close the 2005 regular season with two home games. They take on Murray State on Thursday, February 24 and end the season against Tennessee-Martin on Saturday, February 26. Both games will tip-off at 5:00 p.m. at the Show Me Center.

Join Coach Smith and members of the Redhawks team at Buffalo Wild Wings on Monday at 6:00 in Cape Girardeau as he previews the upcoming game with Redhawks play-by-play announcer Kevin Phillips live on C-106 FM.

NOTES FROM THE HARDCOURT: The 20 offensive boards were a season-high and the second time this season the Redhawks have recorded more offensive rebounds then defensive...The Redhawks extended their three-point streak to 208-straight games with at least one made three-pointer. They now have made 190 three-pointers on the season, 12 short of the school record for treys made in a season set last season...The Tennessee-Martin game will be "Senior Night" for the Redhawks. Seniors Brandi Russia, Chandra Brown and Miah Shelford will be honored before the game.