Redhawk men, women to face tough doubleheader test in Martin

SEMO's Braxton Stacker surveys the offense during a 52-47 win over SIUE on Saturday, Jan. 20, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

Clay Herrell ~ cherrell@semoball.com

With two win streaks on the line, the Southeast Missouri State Redhawk basketball teams are gearing up for a critical doubleheader at Tennessee-Martin on Thursday night with big Ohio Valley Conference implications.

Once again facing a conference doubleheader, the women’s 5:30 p.m. game followed by a men’s 7:30 p.m. game see both teams’ one-game winning streaks on the line.

The women came up with a big 86-72 victory against SIU-Edwardsville on Saturday, while the men eeked out a 52-47 triumph against the Cougars later in the afternoon to sweep the doubleheader.

But against the Skyhawks of Tennessee-Martin, both clubs will encounter some tough tests as the tale of conference play is starting to unfold.

On the women’s side of things, the 3-3 conference record of the Redhawks has a chance to draw north as they take on the Skyhawks and Southeast Missouri natives Lexi and Tori Rubel.

Lexi Rubel, averaging 8.8 points per game, ranks fourth on the squad while Kenley McCarn’s and Anaya Brown’s 15.7 and 13.3 points per game both provide significant scoring threats.

Norah Clark, averaging 9.4 points per game, is shooting 45.9 percent from 3-point land on the season for the Skyhawks. She’ll be a critical cog to jam if the Redhawks want to emerge victorious.

While Southeast Missouri State is off to a solid start in conference, Tennessee-Martin has an identical overall and conference record so far.

With a two-game losing streak heading in, the Skyhawks will look to right the ship against the Redhawks.

It’ll be a battle, but Rekha Patterson and the Redhawks have a great shot at taking a tough road victory in conference play to draw over .500 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The men’s game forecasts to be less of an equal matchup on paper, with the Skyhawk men coming in at 10-9 on the season with a .500 conference record at 3-3 on the year.

Jordan Sears, Jacob Crews and Issa Muhammad all average north of 10 points per game for the Skyhawks, with the former two averaging 19.4 and 17.6 per contest respectively.

Luckily for Southeast Missouri State, it’s been a rough go at it lately for Tennessee-Martin’s men’s team as the Skyhawks have dropped 3 of their past 4 conference matchups.

Coming off of an impressive victory against SIU-Edwardsville on Saturday, there’s reason to believe that Thursday’s contest could be a cornerstone outing for the men.

They’ll look to grab a critical dub in Martin, Tennessee and move one game below .500 as the chase for the Ohio Valley Conference crown begins to take shape.