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SEMO WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: Hosting the party, trusting Tesia Thompson and Kaley Leyhue's lift
The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team stands as the alma mater is played after their 69-34 win over Missouri Valley on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017 at the Show Me Center. The Redhawks are playing at home on Thanksgiving for the first time in coach Rekha Patterson's three-year tenure.
Fred Lynch ~ Southeast Missourian
On Thursday, Southeast Missouri State women’s basketball coach Rekha Patterson did something she’d never done before as a head coach.
She hosted a Thanksgiving meal.
To be clear, her parents did all the cooking, but Patterson’s home played host to family, friends and Redhawks. That’s a far cry from what has been tradition — finding the nearest Cracker Barrel or Golden Corral to wherever the team was.
“I always like to see family, so to have them here and actually have, like, a Thanksgiving instead of going out to Cracker Barrel — getting a home meal — it’s going to be nice,” Southeast junior Adrianna Murphy said. “I’m really looking forward to being with my family and, of course, my teammates.”
Each of the past two seasons, the Redhawks have used the Thanksgiving holiday to hit the road and play in one of the many college basketball tournaments played around the country — to NCAA hoops fans, it’s a stretch known as “Feast Week.”
Last year, Southeast spent Thanksgiving in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, playing in the Southern Miss Tournament; the year before that it was El Paso, Texas, for the UTEP Thanksgiving Classic.
This year, the program is the one throwing the holiday party.
For just the third time in the school’s Division I era and the first time since 2005, Southeast is hosting its own Turkey Day event: the SEMO Thanksgiving Classic.
The two-day Classic begins Friday and features the hosts, Evangel, Bradley and Nicholls State.
“I know that I appreciate that these three teams chose to come and play in our Thanksgiving Classic and chose to come to Cape, because it’s hard to get teams to come and play in a tournament when you’re not in a destination location,” Patterson said. “So I’m grateful and thankful for that. I’m grateful that our administration had a Thanksgiving Classic. Most people want to go home for the holidays and relax, but they’re going to come here and help us put together a really nice Classic.”
Southeast has a 3:15 p.m. tipoff both days, facing Evangel Friday and Bradley on Saturday.
Bradley, of the Missouri Valley Conference, and Nicholls State, a Southland Conference squad from Louisiana, play at 1 p.m.
The 1 p.m. game on Day 2 will feature Evangel and Nicholls State.
“I’m excited to be able to finally be here in front of our fans,” Southeast senior Kaley Leyhue said. “ … We’ve traveled every year, so being able to have our families be close, not having to fly or drive really far, it’s nice to be able to get some more home wins.”
Thompson time
A look at the SEMO stat leaders tells much of the story — freshman Tesia Thompson leads the team in both points per game (11.6) and rebounds per game (7.4).
But what you can’t see from the stat sheet is that the Redhawks are already relying on the first-year player at important moments. That has played out all season, and did so yet again in a 79-74 overtime loss to Southern Illinois on Wednesday, when Thompson was often the one with the ball in her hand during a deadlocked fourth quarter and overtime.
FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com
Southeast Missouri State's Tesia Thompson drives against Southern Illinois' Kylie Giebelhausen during the fourth quarter Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 at the Show Me Center.
Fred Lynch
It hasn’t all been perfect — Thompson twice split free throws in the waning seconds of regulation against SIU when those shots could have been difference makers, and she’s shooting 38 percent from the field — but it’s clear she’s quickly growing into a critical role.
Those numbers don’t even reveal full truths. Thompson’s comfort scoring off the bounce has seen her earn more trips to the free-throw line than any other Redhawk, and if you remove her two worst shooting performances — both with legitimate caveats — she is actually hitting 45.2 percent of her shots from the field.
Her deepest struggles came in the season opener — here college debut — against a top-10 team in Louisville and against George Mason, a game in which Patterson said she “wasn’t herself” just 24 hours after injuring both her hamstring and her ankle in a game against St. Francis.
In fact, Thompson’s status was uncertain heading into Wednesday’s game against SIU; she started and played 30 minutes.
“Wasn’t sure if we were going to have her today. Then she comes out and she sort of does what she does,” Patterson said after Thompson had 15 points, six rebounds and a pair of steals against the Salukis. “ … But she is a player that likes moments like that and she understands that our team needs for her to make plays and we trust that she can make them. I think it’s pretty awesome she’s a freshman and she wants to do that and is capable of doing that.”
There were moments Thompson looked slightly affected by her injuries — both to the same leg — but during crunch time, it was hardly noticeable.
“She’s tough. Very tough,” Murphy said. “ … We realize that she’s hurt. We’re going to ask her to get healthy but at the same time do what she can do. She takes that upon herself and gives us everything she can.”
For the Redhawks, that’s valuable in its own right.
“ … I think you can see it sometimes, like when she should be jumping higher and she doesn’t,” Patterson said. “I think that’s where she doesn’t have the firepower from her hamstring and she doesn’t have the stability from her ankle to help her elevate. But she’s giving me what she has, and I’ll take it.”
Leyhue lifts off
Southeast ultimately lost to Southern Illinois, but its valiant comeback was largely sparked by the efforts of Leyhue, who found her shooting touch from outside the 3-point arc in the second half.
Scoreless midway through the game, she scored 17 points during the final two quarters, setting a career-high mark and reaching double digits for the third time in five games this season. She had scored in double figures just four times in her first three seasons combined.
The Southeast Missouri State bench celebrates as Kaley Leyhue (15) sinks a 3-pointer during a women's college basketball exhibition game against McKendree on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017. SEMO won 61-34.
Josh Mlot ~ Southeast Missourian
“Being a senior, it’s my last year, so I just want to give everything I have,” Leyhue said. “My role right now is just to make open shots, communicate on defense and just be a leader, so that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to get better and go out with a bang my last year.”
Wednesday showed how valuable her skillset is to the current squad. Last year’s team had a bevy of 3-point shooters, but that’s changed this season, leaving Leyhue as one of only a couple of players likely to be a threat from deep.
Against the Salukis, that skill sparked a team that trailed by as many as 12 points in the third quarter.
“When somebody hits a wide-open shot or hits a 3 or hits two in a row, you can’t help but get energized by that, and Kaley hitting those shots energized our team, energized our defense, energized our fans,” Patterson said.
Leyhue hit her first 3 — her first points of the game — with 4 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the third, her team trailing by 11. Thirty-six seconds later she hit another. And less than 2 minutes after that she hit a third, pulling the Redhawks within a point.
She scored the first four 3s she took and finished the day 5 of 7 from long range.
“After she hit two … I was like, ‘OK, what do you guys want to run?’ and Adri (Murphy) was like, ‘She just hit two, let’s run this action for her,’” Patterson said. “And we do and she hits another one. It’s like, ‘OK.’ Then you try to figure out do you go back to the well or do you go somewhere else and then go back to her? But I thought our team did a good job of finding her. I thought she was confident and she did a good job of putting us on her back.”
The coach was excited to see Leyhue bounce back after going scoreless in the previous game against George Mason, going 0 of 4 from the field, all from 3-point range.
Wednesday showed, though, she has a key role to play if SEMO wants to be successful.
“I’ve got to give a shout out to my teammates, because they’re the ones giving me the ball,” Leyhue said. “I’m a rhythm player, so once I see one go in it feels good. Then when they keep running things for me, that just allows me to get the shots off. But I have to give them credit to get me those shots.”
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