NEW ALBANY, Ind. – The IU Southeast women's basketball team fell to IU Kokomo 77-64 in the conference opener on Saturday.
 
IU Southeast took a 5-2 lead on a three by Linzie Wernert. With the teams tied at 7-7, Jesse Ledgerwood connected on a three to give IU Southeast a 10-7 edge. IU Kokomo answered with a 5-0 run to take a 12-10 lead, but IU Southeast used another three by Linzie Wernert to take a 13-12 advantage.
 
IU Kokomo hit a three to swing the lead back in their favor at 15-13. IU Southeast answered with a 5-0 run by Taylor Treat to take an 18-15 lead into the second quarter.  
 
IU Kokomo opened the second quarter with five straight points to take a 20-18 lead. The Cougars extended their lead to five at 25-20. IU Kokomo led by six at 28-22. An IU Southeast layup made it 28-24, but a 5-0 IU Kokomo run made it 33-24 Cougars.
 
IU Southeast answered with a 5-0 run of their own to cut the lead to four at 33-29, which would go on to be the halftime score.
 
IU Kokomo opened the third quarter on a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 11 at 42-31. Leading 42-33, IU Kokomo used a 10-3 run to take a 16-point lead at 52-36. IU Kokomo led 54-39 after three quarters.
 
IU Kokomo led by as many as 19 in the fourth and would go on to win 77-64.
 
"I thought we played very hard today," IU Southeast interim head coach Derek Sims said. "I think we need to play smarter. We definitely played out of character again. We need to be more consistent from all facets of the game. It starts in practice. Kokomo has been playing well and they continued that today."
 
Linzie Wernert led IU Southeast with 16 points and added five rebounds. Taylor Treat had 14 points and led the team with four steals and three assists. Makenna Wilson had nine points and a team-high six rebounds. Lexi Starr also added nine points, and Jesse Ledgerwood had eight.
 
IU Southeast returns to action on Tuesday for a non-conference road contest against Campbellsville-Harrodsburg.