Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Women end season, fail to advance to Ohio Valley Conference tourney

Monday, March 10, 2014
The women finished 10th overall in the Ohio Valley Conference. Photo by Alyssa Brewer

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team fell short of reaching its goal this season, which was to advance to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

The Redhawks finished 10th overall in the conference. They had to place eighth to be able to punch their ticket to Nashville, Tenn., where the tournament is held each year.

Southeast had an OVC record of 6-10 won its final regular season game 65-57 against conference opponent Murray State on Senior Day as senior forward Patricia Mack recorded her ninth double-double of the season.

The Redhawks have not had a 10-win season since their 2008-09 campaign when they were above .500 with a 16-15 record. Southeast went 10-19 overall this season under third-year coach Ty Margenthaler.

Mack scored 11 points and notched a game-high 16 rebounds in her last game in a Redhawk uniform to help Southeast get its 10th win of the season.

Sophomore guard Olivia Hackmann helped clinched the Redhawks' season finale victory over the Racers, and she scored a team-high 16 points accompanied with six boards.

Senior guard Jordan Hunter also played in her final game as a Redhawk and she did what she does best and led the team in assists with five.

Hunter led the team in assists this season with 99 and was also third in scoring under Hackmann and Mack with 248 points. She also led the team in assists last season with 115 and started in 29 games for the Redhawks.

Before entering OVC play, the Redhawks had a record of 4-9 and opened up against the Belmont Bruins in an 81-74 loos at home.

Southeast's first conference win would come in its next game against Austin Peay when Hunter scored 19 points and collected six rebounds.

The Redhawks won five more games in OVC play, two of which came against SIU Edwardsville, who qualified for the conference tournament and lost 71-59 to Jacksonville State.

Mack started in a total of 68 games in her career and has led the team in rebounds the last two seasons with more than 250 each season.

"Getting rebounds," Mack said. "That was just my natural ability. But I'll miss the great fan atmosphere and the fans were really dedicated and [we] just didn't know how much they loved [us] until they came up to [us] after the game and talked to you after every single home game. The atmosphere was great, the fans made it all worth it."

This season, Mack recorded a career-high 300 rebounds, breaking her record of 270 rebounds that she recorded in her junior campaign. She got 185 of them in OVC play, which was a conference high.

Mack ranks third all-time in school history for rebounds with 507. She also led the team in scoring by four points of Hackmann's 282 with 286 points.

"I really didn't set out to accomplish anything big," Mack said. "The stuff that I accomplished, I surprised myself. I really didn't come in like, 'This is what I want to do to break a record.' I didn't know what to expect, and I did the unexpected. I surprised myself, and my capabilities of growing as a basketball player."

Hackmann started 20 out of the 29 games this season and is looking to be a major asset on the team in her two remaining years at Southeast.

Hackmann earned her starting role this season as she would come off the bench and have games like she did in the beginning of the year against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Nov. 19. She came off the bench and played for 31 minutes and led the team in scoring with 14, but it wouldn't be enough for a victory as the Hilltoppers would go on to win 90-75.

"I felt like I was playing much better this year and, coming off the bench, I just knew that I had to get in there and basically do what I knew I was capable of," Hackmann said. "It was huge for me."

This year Hackmann led the team in field goals made with 111 and 289 field goals attempted and was the scoring leader for the Redhawks in eight games.

Another returner for Southeast will be junior guard Allyson Bradshaw, who made a team-high 42 3-pointers this season, which led her to be the fourth-highest scorer on the team with 242 points. She ranks third all-time at Southeast for 3-point field goals made with 124 and is on the chase to break the all-time record of 174 held by Julie Meier who played in 1991-95 for Southeast.

Bradshaw has started 39 games for Southeast and will look to be a major factor for the team on and off the court as a captain. She will be going into her final season as a Redhawk in the 2014-15 season.

"We just need to play together, play how we know we are capable of playing," Hackmann said. "I felt like this year we had a lot of ups and downs. We just have to play like we know we can play and really just don't get down when things aren't going our way."

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