CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- The Missouri State Lady Bears lifted the lid on the 2008-09 season Friday (Nov. 14) evening with a heartbreaking 67-64 setback to Southeast Missouri State at the Show Me Center, as Rachel Blunt’s 18-foot jumper with 1:06 to play put the Redhawks on top to stay. SEMO rallied from a six-point second-half deficit behind Crysta Glenn’s 19-point, 11-rebound performance to claim the victory.
Glenn scored 13 of her 15 second-half points in the final 9:51, including a big three-pointer that knotted the score with 3:39 to play. Rachel Blunt also posted a strong finish for the Redhawks, knocking down three key jumpers in the final three and-a-half minutes to help SEMO overcome a valiant effort by the Lady Bears, who dropped to 0-1 on the season with the defeat.
Freshman Jaleshia Roberson’s 13 points led three Lady Bears who finished in double figures. Tiffany Coppage tallied 12 points and Maggie Dwyer scored all of her 11 points in the second half. Freshman Casey Garrison chipped in seven points to go along with her team-high nine rebounds.
MSU got off to a solid start, reeling off seven unanswered points to grab a 9-6 advantage after SEMO had jumped out to a 6-2 lead. Freshman Jasmine Malone accounted for the final five points of the run, knocking down a pair of free throws before burying a three-pointer from the left wing at the 16:17 mark.
After SEMO drew even at 9-9, the Lady Bears again pulled ahead by scoring 13 of the next 17 points to build a 22-13 margin. Three-point baskets from Coppage and Roxy Stiles, and seven straight points by Roberson highlighted the run that gave MSU its biggest lead of the contest. SEMO responded by outscoring MSU 24-9 over the final eight minutes of the first half to turn a nine-point deficit into a 37-31 halftime lead. Sonya Daugherty tallied eight of her nine first-half points during the stretch to help the Redhawks take the lead into the locker room.
MSU pulled to within 41-37 four minutes into the second half on Dwyer’s second consecutive basket, but a Lauren Sharpe three-point play pushed the SEMO lead back to seven moments later. The Lady Bears came right back with another offensive spurt, scoring the next 13 points to claim a 50-44 lead with 10:31 left on the clock.
But the Redhawks gradually chipped away, starting with four straight points from Glenn. Key to the comeback was Glenn’s critical trey that tied the game at 57-57 on a possession that saw the Redhawks corral three offensive boards.
The Lady Bears recovered to score five of the next seven points to reclaim a three-point lead with just under three minutes to play, but Blunt was able to grab another offensive rebound off of her own miss and convert the second of her three crucial baskets down the stretch. Glenn then converted a pair of free throws with 1:47 left to put SEMO back on top before MSU’s Lacey Boshe scored in the paint to make it a 64-63 game at the 1:33 mark.
Blunt answered with her biggest shot yet to give the Redhawks the lead for good, and a pair of Daugherty free throws with 0:18 left accounted for the final margin.The Lady Bears had one final chance to pull even, but Garrison’s running 25-foot attempt as the clock expired was off the mark.
Daugherty (15 points), Blunt (12 points) and Sharpe (12 points) also finished in double figures for the Redhawks. SEMO enjoyed a strong advantage on the boards, outrebounding MSU by a 43-33 margin that included 15 offensive boards on the night. The Lady Bears forced 21 Redhawk turnovers, but committed 18 of their own and shot only .375 (21-of-56) from the field for the game and just 6-of-24 (.250) from three-point range.
The Lady Bears will be back in action Wednesday (Nov. 19) when they take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
