SEMO ROUNDUP: Murphy leads women's basketball team to win in exhibition finale

Adrianna Murphy stuffed the stat sheet and the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team pulled away late to pick up a win in its final exhibition game.

A junior, Murphy scored 23 points, had seven assists, seven rebounds and added eight steals as SEMO out-scored Indiana University Southeast by 18 points in the fourth quarter to secure a 76-53 win at the Show Me Center on Friday. Murphy scored 20-plus points in both exhibition contests.

The Redhawks led the entire game, but IU Southeast was within five points at the end of the third quarter. SEMO out-scored the Grenadiers 24-6 in the final period.

Freshman Tesia Thompson chipped in 21 points, six rebounds and five steals, and Rekha Patterson's team held the Grenadiers to 39 percent shooting from the field. The Redhawks also had 20 steals and five blocks and out-rebounded IU Southeast 46-30.

Deja Jones added 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting for SEMO, which opens the regular season against Louisville at 6 p.m. Friday in the preseason WNIT.

Volleyball

Southeast won the first two sets against Murray State but couldn't secure the crucial third set win, falling 3-2 in five sets.

The Racers (17-8 overall, 9-4 Ohio Valley Conference) won 22-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-6 in Murray, Kentucky, to sweep the season series.

Krissa Gearring led Southeast (10-17, 5-8) with her 10th double-double of the season, finishing with 19 kills and 21 digs. She moved to 10th all-time in school history with 1,262 career kills.

Madara Bajare added a career-high 10 kills on a match-high .296 hitting percentage, and Nzingha Clarke chipped in nine kills and five blocks. Clarke is now 10th all-time with 441 blocks as a Redhawk.

In the second set, Southeast had 17 kills with just two errors for a match-high .300 hitting percentage.

The Redhawks then nearly finished the match in three. They were three points away from a straight-set sweep, leading 22-15. Murray State reeled off eight consecutive points to take a 23-22 lead.

While a service error knotted the set at 23-all, the Racers won the next two points to win the game and stay alive.

Murray State then won the fourth by four points to force a decisive fifth set. In that game, SEMO led 2-0 early. Murray State came back to tie it at 3-3 and then finished on a 12-3 run to win the set and the match.

Southeast's Marie Less had a career-high 29 digs plus eight kills and two aces. Keegan Fornoff led the team with 24 assists and added 11 digs, and Allie Henkelman had 22 assists and 11 digs.

Libero Ally Dion compiled a career-high 30 digs.