By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — The good thing about the Ohio Valley Conference schedule is how quickly a team can rebound from a loss.

The usual Thursday night/Saturday afternoon schedule doesn’t allow much time to think about a loss.

Western Illinois’ women’s basketball team made that quick turnaround work, controlling Southeast Missouri State in a 94-66 win on Saturday at Western Hall.

The Leathernecks (10-9 overall, 4-6 conference) were coming off a 65-60 loss to Little Rock on Thursday in which they committed 24 turnovers that led to almost half of the Trojans’ points.

This game was a lot better — Western Illinois led for all but 90 seconds and had as much as a 33-point lead in the second half.

“I think our program has done a good job of bouncing back,” Western Illinois coach JD Gravina said. “If you look at how our games go after kind of a frustrating, tough loss, I think we do pretty well.”

“What we’ve been working on is maintaining our confidence, even through our  struggles, and to come out as strong as we did was pretty big,” said forward Mia Nicastro, who led the Leathernecks with 29 points. “We had huge performances from a lot of people, and I felt like we had the upper hand all game. I’m proud of the team for not only getting to that point, but being able to maintain it for pretty much the entire game.”

“Against Little Rock, we were up, we were down,” said freshman guard Madison Davis, who came off the bench to score 21 points. “Coming back, having a game like this, was really good for us.”

Western Illinois led 27-20 at the end of the first quarter and 46-31 at halftime. The Leathernecks did commit 18 turnovers, but Southeast Missouri State (4-15, 2-8) could only convert them into 14 points. The Redhawks had zero fast-break points.

“We’ve got to take care of the ball, because that limits their points in transition,” Davis said.

“I thought our kids, for the most part, did a good job,” Gravina said. “We made some mistakes, but I really liked how we kept attacking. When we ran the floor and when we did break (the pressure defense), we got layups, we got open 3-pointers, and that’s what you have to do.”

The Leathernecks shot 59.2% for the game, 61.1% in 3-pointers.

Nicastro finished with a season high in points, shooting 10 of 18 from the field. She had 24 second-half points, including a stretch when she scored 11 of the Leathernecks’ 13 points.

“I’ve got some great teammates,” Nicastro said. “Addi Brownfield finds me all of the time. Raegan (McCowan) made some incredible passes. So did Allie Meadows. I’ve got some very unselfish teammates. I’ve been working on just playing a little more freely, and I think that’s what got me going.”

Davis had her season high in points. She was 5 of 7 from the field, including 4 of 5 in 3-pointers.

“It felt really good,” Davis said. “I’m learning every day, getting more confident. Knocking in some shots like that, it makes it easier to keep shooting.”

McCowan, the Leathernecks’ leading scorer this season, had 22 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Meadows had six assists and no turnovers. Brownfield had eight assists.

The Leathernecks open the second half of the season with a home game against OVC leader Eastern Illinois.

“It’s a big statement week for us to show that we really can make a run,” Davis said.

Photo: Madison Davis passes the ball inside during Saturday’s game against Southeast Missouri State. (Photo courtesy of WIU Athletic Communications)