The Eastern women’s basketball team played the first place Southeast Missouri State Redhawks close for the first 30 minutes during its 71-56 loss Tuesday night, but in the final 10 minutes the Redhawk full-court pressure defense proved to be too much for the Panthers.

Junior guard Megan Sparks said the Redhawks turned up the tempo and gained control of the contest.

“They had that stretch when they went on that big run and gained a lot of confidence and momentum,” she said. “Basketball is a game of runs and momentum, and they definitely turned it on and turned the game in their favor.”

SEMO came out of a timeout with 9:41 to play and went on a 14-2 run, in which they held the Panthers scoreless for six minutes. The Redhawks forced the Panthers into 35 turnovers on the night and scored 23 of their 71 points directly off Eastern miscues.

Head coach Brady Sallee said the Panthers expected the pressure from the Redhawks and wasn’t all that unhappy with the number of turnovers.

“We knew SEMO was going to pressure us, and the turnovers are going to happen,” he said. “I wanted us to stay aggressive, and the way to do that is defense. We held them to 31 points in the first half because they were missing a lot of shots, and we were making them do that with our defense.”

Despite the turnovers, Sallee said he thinks the Panthers are moving in the right direction.

“I thought we played hard, but SEMO is a good team, and they are on the top of the conference for a reason,” he said.