WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 89, Ohio 60
@Missouri State 74,
Southeast Missouri 66
MOREHEAD STATE 89, OHIO 60
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Five Eagles scored in double figures, with Valentina Saric and Matilda Soderlund setting new career-highs as Morehead State took down the Ohio Bobcats 89-60 at home Wednesday.
In addition to Saric's 18 and Soderlund's 15, Katie Novik tacked on 15 points, five assists and four steals, while Melissa Secchiaroli added 12 and Blessing King 11.
Morehead State out-rebounded Ohio 42-31 in Wednesday's game, paced by Blessing King's eight boards. The Eagles also collected 17 offensive rebounds and scored 10 second chance points.
Morehead State forced 29 Ohio turnovers in Wednesday's game and turned those takeaways into 33 points on the offensive end of the floor. Novik's four steals led the way for Morehead State.
After falling behind 12-7, Morehead State went on a 6-0 run with 2:36 left in the first quarter to take a 13-12 lead. The Eagles then added three points to that lead by the end of the period and entered the quarter break with an 18-14 advantage. Morehead State capitalized on nine Ohio turnovers in the period, turning them into 11 points on the other end of the floor.
Morehead State kept its first quarter lead intact before going on a 13-0 run starting at the 6:34 mark in the second period, highlighted by a bucket from Hallie Rhodes, to increase its lead to 38-23. The Eagles proceeded to tack on one point to that lead and enjoyed a 43-27 advantage heading into halftime. Morehead State forced seven Ohio turnovers in the period and turned them into seven points.
Following intermission, Morehead State continued to expand its advantage, pushing it to 64-42 before going on a 6-0 run, punctuated by a basket from Novik to expand its lead further to 70-42 with 1:15 to go in the third. The Eagles held onto that lead for the rest of the frame and entered the fourth quarter with a 72-44 edge. Morehead State played well near the basket, scoring 16 of its 29 points in the paint.
Morehead State kept its lead intact before going on an 8-0 run, finished off by Melissa Secchiaroli's three, to grow the lead to 86-54 with 3:14 to go in the contest. The Bobcats narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but the Eagles still cruised the rest of the way for the 89-60 win. Morehead State fired away from deep in the quarter, knocking down four shots to account for 12 of its 17 points.
MISSOURI STATE 74, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 66
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Southeast Missouri Women's Basketball (1-4) fell to in-state opponent Missouri State (2-1) by a final score of 74-66 Wednesday night from Great Southern Bank Arena.
Sophomore Alecia Doyle and Freshman Daejah Richmond were stellar for the Redhawks both finished with double digit points. Doyle finished with 21 points on a 9-15 clip (60%) with one steal and 2-3 from the stripe.
Richmond knocked down six shots and went 4-5 from the line. The freshman from Cordova, Tenn. also played a big part defensively stealing the rock four times and bringing down five rebounds.
The Redhawks largest lead came in the first when they led by nine at one point while MSU's biggest lead was after the third with 14 points.
SEMO only had ten bench points from two people, Indiya Bowen (4) and Julia Sion (6).
Doyle scored first for the team with a pull up jumper to put the Redhawks on the Board. She finished 3-4 in the first and 1-1 from the line.
SEMO took the lead at 5-4 at 6:17 in the quarter and didn't give it up.
The game started off scrappy from both teams as nine free throws were attempted in the first five minutes of game time.
Richmond took two steals coast to coast for the Redhawks to go up 9-5 with 3:01 remaining and at 1:41 to put the Redhawks up 16-7.
The team ended the first quarter on a 7-5 run to end the quarter leading 16-12. MSU came storming back in the second going on a 10-0 run to begin the quarter. Julia Sion knocked down a nice hook shot to tie the game at 25 at 3:00 and drove to the basket on the very next possession for her first four points.
The Redhawks defense forced the shot clock violation and Amiyah Buchanan hit the turnaround jumper to take the lead back at 1:01. After a battle of back and forth basketball the bears outscored SEMO 19 to 13 in the quarter.
Richmond led the Redhawks at the half with nine points going 4-6 from the floor and 1-2 from the line. SEMO shot relatively well at 46.2% from the floor on a 12-26 line but 0-4 from behind the arc.
At the half SEMO trailed 29 to 31.
To begin the second half Doyle was on a roll scoring the first three buckets for the Redhawks.
Then Missouri State got to the charity stripe on nine different occasions making 14 of their 16 shots (87.5) from the line.
Richmond grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back up at 4:32 for her 11th point to keep the game in reach.
Overall the Redhawks were outscored 21-9 in the third.
MSU put the pedal down in the third and fourth and tried to force the Redhawks out of the game but the Rehawks hung on.
Indiya Bowan made an and one layup at 4:51 in the fourth to make it an 8 point game, then Richmond also scores the and one making it a six point game.
As a team SEMO had ten steals compared to Missouri State's nine, but were out-rebounded 41 to 23.
The teams were nearly identical from the floor, SEMO going 23-54 (42.6%) and the Bears finished 22-52 (42.3%). The difference was that SEMO only shot 1-7 (14.3%) from three point land while MSU finished seven of 17 (41.2%).