CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – SIUE women's basketball outscored Southeast Missouri by 22 points in the second period Saturday and cruised to an 89-75 victory at the Show Me Center.
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SIUE improved to 16-12 overall and 11-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference with one game yet to play in the regular season. The Cougars travel to Charleston, Illinois, for a 1 p.m. contest Saturday at Eastern Illinois.
"I am going to keep emphasizing that the most important game is the one in front of us," said SIUE Head Coach Paula Buscher. "I want us to play our style of basketball."
The Cougars pounded Southeast Missouri in the second period, outscoring the Redhawks 27-5 and taking a commanding 53-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.
"That second period was exactly what I want our team to do. We got into the passing lanes and got aggressive," said Buscher. "We stepped up and denied."
CoCo Moore collected five steals for the game and Lauren White added four.
"We have to give effort and never take any possessions for granted," said SIUE's Shronda Butts.
"It all starts with ball pressure," said Buscher. "I thought CoCo Moore did a great job on their point guard and then the denial was behind them."
Butts led all scorers with 26 points. Donshel Beck scored 13 while Gwen Adams and Moore added 11 points each.
"What I saw out there was communication," said Buscher.
Sydney Bauman turned in one of her best performances for the season with nine points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
"I thought what she did today is that she played relaxed," said Buscher. "We're going to need her to step up."
Bauman credited her teammates for her performance.
"Playing in practice with Gwen and Donshel helped me in a night like this," said Bauman.
Erin Bollman led four Southeast Missouri State players in double figures with 14 points. The Redhawks, 15-13 overall and 8-7 in the OVC, fell behind in the first period and shot 41.9 percent from the field (26-62).
SIUE shot 31 of 67 (46.3 percent) from the field and hit 6 of 11 shots from three-point range.
"We could have finished stronger, but I don't have any complaints," Buscher said.
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