SEMO's Zoe Best navigates college adversity after high school perfection

Southeast Missouri State guard Zoe Best prepares to put up a shot against Eastern Illinois on Thursday, Dec. 19, at the Show Me Center.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

When Zoe Best was a high school basketball player at the St. Louis all-girls school, Incarnate Word Academy, she never lost a varsity game.

The Red Knights girls basketball team has won 12 state championships since 2010, finished the previous four seasons undefeated, and is currently in a state-record 134-game winning streak.

In Class 6, no less.

"It's just a team full of girls that know what it takes to win, and just really put in all the extra work that it takes," Best said of Incarnate Word. "You just have very high expectations, being on the team, playing with those types of girls."

As a freshman at Southeast Missouri State, Best is feeling the adversity of facing defeat time and time again. After being on top in the high school circuit, she's starting her college career at the bottom with the Redhawks.

"We call ourselves 'misfits' right now, just because we were ranked last in the conference (poll)," Best said.

The Redhawks completely started from scratch, with the only two returners from the previous year, one of whom was out with an injury. The Redhawks' only win during the non-conference portion of the season was a rivalry tilt with Southern Illinois in the home opener.

"We're just a brand new team, new coach, new organization, but we have the pieces," Best said.

As a player with plenty of championship experience at the high school level, Best sees the potential in her new team and is bullish on their chances of turning it around during the conference slate.

"We just have to get everybody on the same path and the same mindset," Best said. "Coming from that background, I have that mentality every game that we have to win this game, but we have to get everybody else on that same mentality."

Best leads the Redhawks in scoring with 12.7 points per game. Her best game was a 25-point introduction in a close 75-70 loss at Dayton on Nov. 5. She scored her second most points on Thursday, Dec. 19, with 19 points in a 71-55 loss against Eastern Illinois.

"We expect that from Zoe all the time," SEMO head coach Briley Palmer said. "Zoe can even shoot better than what you saw [Thursday], and that's what I'm excited about."

Thursday's performance came after a game where she scored only six points and shot 0-of-7 from the three-point line in a 77-49 loss against Missouri State on Monday, Dec. 16.

During the week, Best said she learned that missing consecutive shots puts a damper on confidence, which can be brought back up with contributions from the other side of the court. Best also had two rebounds and three steals against the Panthers.

“I feel like if I miss my first couple shots, I get in my head, and then I get down on myself,” Best said. “Just being able to bounce back and just being a three-level player, like on the defensive end, on the offensive end, being able to score, being able to pass, being able to do whatever my team needs at that time. Tonight, I feel like I did better, if my shot wasn't hitting, to make the right pass, and if my shot was hitting to keep shooting.”

Prior to the start of this week, the Redhawks only played two games at home and played their best during those two games. Although after dominating SIU, SEMO blew its lead against Indiana State.

However, these past two games have been some of their worst game — not counting Texas and Arkansas, which were expected — at a place where the Redhawks are supposed to be at their best. Both games against MSU and EIU started with semi-competitive first quarters but by halftime, the deficit balloons to 20, and any attempt to pick up the pace is moot. The Redhawks outscored the Panthers 26-23 in the fourth quarter, which was more points than the second and third quarters combined.

"We haven't been locked in for a full 40 minutes," Best said. "We're trying to pick it up the second half when we see we're down, but we're not a good team getting down, because then we get down on ourselves, and it's just like a snowball."

The Redhawks' holiday homestand continues on Saturday with a game against a SIUE team that, like SEMO, defeated SIU, beat their non-DI opponent, but lost to everyone else.