JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team suffered its first loss in three games on Wednesday afternoon at The Pete as visiting Southeast Missouri claimed a 65-59 road victory.
 
JSU (10-12, 3-7 Ohio Valley Conference) could never quite take control of the game, playing with a slight deficit for most of the afternoon. The Redhawks (10-13, 4-6 OVC) led for 30 of the game's 40 minutes courtesy of a 45 percent shooting day. The Gamecocks broke through for 10 total three-pointers, but shot 35 percent overall for the afternoon.
 
Junior Gretchen Morrison ended her shutout streak from downtown with four triples to match Lacey Buchanon's team-high 12 points. Freshman Morgan Towells had a breakout performance in her first game with multiple three-points as she finished with a career-best 11 points in 17 minutes of action. Tyler Phelion was limited to five points, but stuffed the stat sheet in other areas with 10 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and two assists. Senior Briana Benson finished with eight points after becoming the first Gamecock in program history to reach 200 career three-pointers with her triple at the end of the third quarter to pull JSU with two.
 
After trailing 10-8 after the first quarter, JSU used an 11-3 run to start the second to build a six-point margin However, SEMO responded with a 14-0 run of its own over the next five minutes to take a 27-19 lead with just over a minute to go before the half. The Gamecocks cut it to six by the break.
 
In the third quarter, SEMO extended its lead to as many as nine, 32-23, before JSU fought back to make a two-point contest following Benson's milestone three. With 6:39 remaining in the final period, JSU took its first lead since early in the second at 48-47 as Tasha Magruder took a loose ball from halfcourt all the way to the basket.
 
Tied at 55 with under three minutes to play, SEMO's Ashton Luttrell (14 points) hit one of her four three-pointers to put the Redhawks ahead briefly before Morrison tied things up again with a long-range shot of her own at the other end. JSU trailed by four with 42 seconds to play and got off a couple of decent looks from under the goal, but none fell through. Forced to foul down the stretch, JSU eventually suffered the home setback.
 
Jax State now prepares for Southern Illinois-Edwardsville for Saturday's road matchup. The Cougars entered the day sitting third in the conference standings.