THURSDAY’S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 71, IUPUI 60 (OT)
@Missouri 80,
Southeast Missouri 51
@Murray State 63, Ball State 53
MISSOURI 80, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 51
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Southeast Missouri women's basketball team found itself within two points late in the first half, but Missouri hit 13 three-pointers to send the Redhawks to an 80-51 loss at Mizzou Arena on Thursday night.
The Redhawks fall to 3-4 on the season while the Tigers improve to 5-2.
Mizzou outscored Southeast 15-0 in the first six minutes, forcing two early Redhawk timeouts. An Olivia Hackmann jumper put the Redhawks on the board with 13:57 left in the first, but Sydney Crafton followed with a three-pointer to make it an 18-2 game.
Southeast followed suit by outscoring Missouri 18-4 over the next 10 minutes. A 6-0 Redhawks spurt cut the Tigers' lead to 18-8 with nine and a half remaining. Hackmann hit a baseline jumper, Courtney Shiffer got to the hoop for a layup and Connor King scored in the low block and forced a Missouri timeout.
After a Bri Kulas basket put Mizzou up 12, Bailie Roberts and Jordan Hunter nailed three-pointers on consecutive possessions, making it a 20-14 game with just over eight minutes to play in the opening stanza. The Tigers got another basket from Crafton, but King and Roberts each scored buckets and King made two free throws to pull within 22-20 with 4:09 to play in the half.
The Tigers caught fire from long range at the end of the half, hitting four three-pointers and outscoring the Redhawks 14-6 in the last four minutes to take a 36-26 advantage into the locker room.
Mizzou opened with a Liene Priede jumper, but Allyson Bradshaw connected on a three-pointer to cut the gap to 38-29. The next run went to the Tigers, a 16-2 spurt that gave them their largest lead of the game at that point, 54-31 with 12:38 to go. The Tigers' lead grew as large as 31 points with three and a half minutes left.
The Tigers shot 45.7 percent from the field and held the Redhawks to 29 percent shooting. Mizzou also hit 13-of-37 (35.1 percent) three-pointers against Southeast's 6-of-20 (30 percent) mark. The Tigers also held a 47-44 advantage in rebounding and forced 14 Redhawk turnovers against nine of their own.
King scored a season-high 11 points to lead Southeast. Patricia Mack finished with a game-high 12 rebounds. Missouri's Sydney Crafton led all players with 26 points.
The Redhawks return home against UIC on Saturday for their first game at the Show Me Center since Nov. 9. Opening tip is at 2 p.m.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 71, IUPUI 60
CHARLESTON,Ill. - The Panther women’s basketball team outscored IUPUI 13-2 in overtime to take a 71-60 victory inside Lantz Arena on Thursday night. EIU improves to 3-3 on the year.
EIU went 2-for-2 from the floor and 9-for-10 from the charity stripe in the extra stanza to end the Jaguars (4-3) three-game winning streak. The Panther defense held IUPUI to a 9.1 field-goal percentage in overtime (1-for-11).
With the Jaguars leading by 11 points (42-31) with 11:26 left in the game, the Panthers went on a 17-4 run on 6-for-8 shooting to take a 48-46 advantage with just under six minutes remaining on the clock. The Jaguars led 58-54 with 1:48 left in the contest, but back-to-back baskets by Mariah King down the stretch would send the game into the Panthers first overtime period of the season.
King and Sabina Oroszova led the Panthers with their first double-doubles of the year. King scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds while Oroszova added 15 points and 11 rebounds. Ta’Kenya Nixon added 17 points, six rebounds and a game-high six assists and five steals.
Both squads pulled down 48 rebounds in the contest. EIU recorded 12 steals and forced 22 turnovers, leading to 25 points off the miscues.
Three Jaguar players scored in double figures led by Kerah Nelson’s game-high 24 points on 10-for-19 shooting. Katie Comello and DeAirra Goss both added 12 points in the loss. Nelson also led the Jaguars on the glass with nine rebounds.
The Panthers continue their homestand on Tuesday, Dec. 4 when they play host to Evansville at 7 p.m. inside Lantz Arena.
MURRAY STATE 63, BALL STATE 53
MURRAY, Ky. - Freshman Erika Sisk scored a career-high 26 points to help lead the Murray State women’s basketball to a fourth straight win on Thursday night by taking down Ball State, 63-53, at the CFSB Center.
The first half was back and forth. While the Racers (4-3) led for a little over 18 minutes of the first half, Ball State (2-5) kept it close and trailed by just one at the third media timeout. However from that point on, the Racers exploded offensively and outscored the Cardinals 14-4 over the last 6:56 of the half.
Sisk led MSU at the half with nine points, while the team as a whole shot 38.2 percent in the opening frame. The Racers were able to take an 11 point lead into the locker room at the break, marking just the third time this season they have led at the half.
In the second half, Murray State was able to hold off a pesky Ball State squad that outscored them 31-30 in the stanza, largely due to the play of Sisk. Sisk went 6-for-6 from the floor in the half and 5-for-6 from the free throw line to finish with 17 points in the bottom frame. For the game, the reigning OVC Freshman of the Week went 10-for-14 overall and 6-for-8 from the line for 26 total points.
Junior Erica Burgess followed Sisk with 10 points, while senior Mariah turned in a well-rounded performance with eight points, a team-high eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. Freshman Bianca Babic also notched a career-high with six points by way of two timely first-half 3-pointers, while classmate Kelsey Dirks scored just two points but had five rebounds and a career-high five blocks.
Dirks’ five blocks on the night marked just the 14th time in school history that a Racer notched five or more in a game and she became the first person to accomplish the feat since teammate Jessica Holder had five at Morehead State on Feb. 25, 2010. The victory marked the second in four meetings with Ball State, but the first in Murray, and moved MSU’s record to 12-7 against teams from the Mid-America Conference.
On Saturday, the Racers will look to keep their winning ways alive when they host Southern Illinois at the CFSB Center for their third game in six days. The game will be the fourth of a six-game home stand for Murray State and is set to tip-off at 7 p.m.