Box Score EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The second-seeded Belmont Bruins fell to the No. 3 seed Southeast Missouri Redhawks, 114-99, in the OVC Tournament semifinal Friday afternoon at the Ford Center. The matchup featured the most combined points (213) of any tournament game in OVC history.
POSTGAME INTERVIEWS
Senior Ellie Harmeyer poured in a team-high 25 points and seven rebounds for the Bruins (22-9), as sophomore Jamilyn Kinney recorded a career-high 20 points and dished out seven assists. The sophomore duo of Conley Chinn (15 points) and Maddie Cook (12 points) also finished in double-figure scoring. Cook tied her career-high in scoring in 26 minutes on the court.
Belmont recorded a season-high 99 points, which marks the highest-ever point total in a conference tournament game in school history. The Bruins tallied season-bests in 3-pointers made (15), 3-point field goal percentage (48.4) and field goals made (33).
The Redhawks (24-7) were fueled by the trio of junior Tesia Thompson, senior Carrie Shephard and sophomore Taelour Pruitt, who combined for 89 points on the night. Southeast Missouri logged a 65.2 percent clip from the field and an 82.4 percent 3-point percentage.
The Redhawks shot out to a quick 13-3 run in the first three minutes of the first quarter, but Belmont cut the deficit to six points at the 4:59 mark. A pull-up jumper from Cook two minutes narrowed the Southeast Missouri advantage, 15-11. A step back 3-pointer from Harmeyer knotted the contest up at 15-15 with 2:24 remaining in the first period. Chinn nailed a pair of 3-pointers to finish the quarter, but the Bruins still trailed 24-21 after 10 minutes of play.
Cook narrowed the Redhawk lead to one possession early in the second period with a jumper at the 9:17 mark. Belmont took its first lead of the afternoon at the 5:50 mark, courtesy of a 3-pointer from Chinn. The teams traded shots for the remainder of the quarter, as Southeast Missouri caught fire in the final two minutes to take a 45-41 advantage into the halftime break.
At the half, the trio of Chinn, Harmeyer and Cook led the Bruins with nine points apiece, as Kinney tallied four assists. Belmont hit 44 percent of its shots in the first half and went a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line. In total, the game was tied six times and there were three lead changes in the first two periods.
The Bruins fell behind eight points to start the second half, as a pair of free throws from the Redhawks at the 6:05 marked boosted their lead to 59-49. From there, Southeast Missouri rode a 15-6 run to take a 19-point advantage with 2:32 left. A pair of 3-pointers from Harmeyer to round out the third quarter cut down the Redhawk lead, 80-65, going into the final quarter. Southeast Missouri shot a scorching 76 percent from the field in the third period and hit all five of its 3-point attempts.
Kinney knocked down back-to-back shots from deep range to begin the fourth quarter and shave the Redhawk lead to 84-71 at the 8:52 mark. Kinney went on to hit another pair of 3-pointers minutes later, as Belmont only trailed by 12 points with six minutes remaining in regulation. Muensterman and Kinney hit consecutive 3-pointers to cut down the deficit to 12 points again, but the Redhawks answered with transition points. Despite Kinney's impeccable six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, Southeast Missouri kept the Bruins at bay to log a 114-99 victory.
Overall, Kinney set career-high in 3-pointers and field goals made, as Belmont outrebounded the Redhawks by a 33-31 margin and recorded 18 second-chance points. The Bruins tallied 30 points in the paint and hit an 18-for-21 clip from the free throw line. Belmont doubled Southeast Missouri's offensive rebound total (12) and scored 58 points in the second half.
ONE OF THE GREATS: With seven rebounds against the Redhawks, Ellie Harmeyer became one of two players in Belmont women's basketball history to record over 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds. Harmeyer now also holds the sixth-most points (596) and most rebounds (304) in a single-season in school history.
CATCHING FIRE FROM DEEP: The Bruins hit 15 3-pointers on Friday, which marks their highest total since Feb. 21, 2019 against Eastern Illinois.
SCORING CLINIC: Belmont tabbed its first 90-point game since March 2, 2019, when they posted 92 points against Southeast Missouri.
TEAM EFFORT: The Bruins received a season-high 31 points from the bench against the Redhawks on Friday. They have posted 20-plus bench points in each of their last four matchups.
