Starting from the bottom: Redhawks WBB picked last in OVC Preseason Poll

Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach Briley Palmer addresses the crowd during Houckamania on Oct. 11 at Houck Field House.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

With a new roster and a new head coach, the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team is starting from the ground floor, as they were picked to finish 11th in the 2024-25 Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll.

The Redhawks enter the first season under head coach Briley Palmer, who was hired from Mineral Area College this past spring to replace Rekha Patterson, who is now an assistant coach at Central Florida.

While the Redhawks were picked to finish last, no one truly knows where they will go, as this is a completely brand new roster that had to be reassembled upon Palmer's arrival at SEMO. Palmer said her junior college background has prepared her for such a roster turnaround at the Division I level.

"We had two players when we started officially and that was late May," Palmer said. "I think having that junior college background and working with that has helped. We have kids from all the markets; transfer portal to true freshmen to junior college. It's just kind of all spread out and a little bit of everything and I think that's what's gonna make us pretty special."

The Redhawks brought in five players from Division I programs through the transfer portal. Kennedy Claybrooks shot .383 from the field including .333 from the three-point line last year at Texas State. Rain Green averaged 9.7 points, 4.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game last year at Kansas City. Skylar Barnes averaged five points off the bench for Morehead State last year. Briah Hampton (Austin Peay) and Brianna Hill (George Mason) didn't see much playing time at their former schools but most players transfer to SEMO for the opportunity to see the court more often.

Indiya Bowen is one of two returners to this year's squad. She averaged 9.1 points per game with a .319 three-point shooting percentage last year.

The other returning player is Sophie Bussard, who graduated last year but missed her senior season due to injury and has one more year of eligibility left while she takes graduate courses.

Zoe Best headlines the six freshmen brought to SEMO this season. Best played high school ball at Incarnate Word Academy in St. Louis, where she never lost a game and racked up multiple state championships.

"We were all brand new," Palmer said.

Despite the new roster coming together with little time, Bowen said she was impressed with how quickly the team has gelled together.

"These are random people from all over the world," Bowen said. "How we came together so fast, I am still like 'What?'"

The schedule was already in place by the time Palmer arrived, with the season starting at Dayton on Nov. 5. The only addition she made to the schedule is a road game at Texas on Nov. 10.

"I always believed in playing a tough schedule and playing the best and peaking at the end and kind of having that moment where we've been there, done that," Palmer said. "The group we brought in, they were fearless, so it was a no-brainer to take that game."

Southern Indiana was picked to win the conference with 20 first-place votes.