CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Despite firing up offensively in the second half and outscoring the Redhawks 33-26, Western Illinois women's basketball fell to Southeast Missouri 56-47 on Saturday (Dec. 8) at the Show Me Center. The loss ends the Leathernecks' three-game win streak and gives them an overall mark of 4-5, while Southeast Missouri moves to 5-5 on the season.

The Redhawk offense opened the first half red hot using a layup and a shot from long range to stake an early 5-0 lead that held until Michele Salvatori responded with a jumper to put the Leathernecks on the board.

A 9-0 Southeast Missouri run followed as Western went into a nearly six minute scoring draught before Salvatori could hit a three at the 12:18 mark.

The Redhawks outscored the Leathernecks 15-9 in the remainder of the half. Three of Western's points came from the charity stripe and the rest came in the paint with two layups from Ashley Luke and one from Rachel Evans.

Southeast Missouri looked to run away with the game stretching its lead to 24 after outscoring Western 8-2 in the first seven and a half minutes of the second half, but Michele Maher and Karis Phillips answered the call knocking down back-to-back three-pointers. Charnelle Reed followed by laying one in and hitting a jumper for a 10-0 run.

Another Redhawk scoring drive then ensued giving them a 20-point advantage that the Leathernecks were able to drop down to as low as seven as they took control of the remainder of regulation outdoing Southeast Missouri by 11 points in the final nine minutes of the game.

The Leathernecks shot 28.1 percent from the field to Southeast Missouri's 42.9 percent in the contest.

Western Illinois will return home for a two game series beginning on December 17 against Eastern Illinois and ending on December 21 against Bradley before hitting the road to kick off Summit League conference play. Each contest is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Waste Management Court in Western Hall.

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