Southeast women to face red-hot Murray State in OVC opening round

No. 3-seed Southeast Missouri State (15-10, 13-7 Ohio Valley Conference) begins defense of its 2020 OVC tournament championship as Coach Rekha Patterson’s squad faces no. 6 Murray State (15-10, 12-8) Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in first-round action at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

These two squads – separated by only a game in the conference standings – seem to be going in opposite directions.

SEMO has lost three of its last six games and hasn’t put back-to-back victories together for nearly a month.

The Redhawks are also short-handed with only eight eligible players.

Last year’s OVC Tournament MVP Tesia Thompson and point guard Taelour Pruitt are both nursing knee injuries and are questionable for Southeast.

The Racers, by contrast, have won four in a row and eight of their last 10 behind junior Macey Turley and freshman Kaitlyn Young, both named this week to the OVC’s First Team as were SEMO’s LaTrese Saine, the OVC’s Defensive Player of the Year and Thompson, a first-teamer for the third consecutive season.

Thompson said the stakes are abundantly clear in a single-elimination bracket.

“It’s all or nothing, win or go home and I think we’ll take the win,” said the 5-foot-10 Thompson, who led the OVC with 18.7 points per game.

__Reflection__

Unlike last year’s championship squad, the 2020-21 team has experienced not only nagging injuries to top players Thompson and Pruitt but also the removal from the squad of reserves Kennedi Allen and Nyrobi Pillers.

Despite the adversity, Patterson is reluctant to take any credit for getting SEMO back to a top-three seed this season.

“As a coach, as a competitor, I look back at the games we lost and ask myself what I did wrong (and) how could I put the team into a better position to win,” said the sixth-year coach, whose record at Southeast is 95-83.

Patterson has taken SEMO to the postseason tourney every year during her tenure.

__Fine-tuning__

Leading up to Evansville, Redhawk practices this week have been devoted to three areas.

“We’ve been working on transition defense, on our ball screen defense, and our confidence in shooting the basketball,” Patterson said.

__What 2 Watch 4__

“I know Roshala Scott is a big-time player (for us),” said Patterson, “and nothing else motivates Ro like these (tournament) games and she loves these moments.”

Scott, a sophomore, had 9.7 ppg this season and landed 25 three-pointers for SEMO.

The Redhawks and Racers split the regular-season series, but Patterson acknowledges how strong Murray State finished its season.

“(They’re) probably the hottest team in the league and were just two points away from winning their last eight in a row,” Patterson explained.

If SEMO survives, it will play no. 2 seed Belmont (18-5, 14-3) on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

The Bruins advanced after winning their opening round contest Wednesday in Evansville, 54-50, over no. 7 Austin Peay.