University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy vs. Southeast Missouri (0-1)

Game Information
Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Tip-off: 6:30 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Arena: Show Me Center 
Series: First Meeting
Last Meeting: SEMO 91, UHSP 45 | Oct. 30, 2019 (Exhibition) | Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Head Coaches: Rekha Patterson (80-74, Sixth Season). Jeff Reis (0-0, First Season).
 
Follow the Redhawks
Video: ESPN+
Radio: ESPN 93.5 FM & 1220 AM (Erik Sean)
Live Stats: GoSoutheast.com
Twitter: @OfficialSEMOWBB

Tipping Off 
Southeast Missouri (0-1) plays host to the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy Tuesday. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m., CT at the Show Me Center.

Ring Ceremony and Banner Reveal
The Redhawks will have a ring ceremony and banner reveal prior to Tuesday's game to honor its historic 2019-20 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship season. Southeast Missouri went 25-7 overall and 14-4 in OVC play that year.

Follow the Redhawks 
Fans can listen to Tuesday's game live on the radio at ESPN 93.5 FM and 1220 AM. Video can be accessed at ESPN+. Live stats are available at GoSoutheast.com. Twitter updates will be available @OfficialSEMOWBB. 

Series History 
Despite defeating the Eutectics in exhibition last season, Tuesday's game will count toward Southeast Missouri's record in 2020-21. The Redhawks opened the 2019-20 season with a 91-45 exhibition win over the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy on Oct. 30. Taelour Pruitt led the Redhawks with 21 points, five assists and four steals. Tesia Thompson notched 20 points and Sophie Bussard finished with 18. UHSP was previously known as St. Louis College of Pharmacy.

Scouting the Eutectics
The Eutectics have had to cancel three games due to COVID-19. The University of Health Sciences hosted Baptist Bible College in an exhibition contest on Oct. 30th. In that game, the Eutectics had four players score in double-digits. Grace Beyer led the team with 26 points, two rebounds and eight assists. She shot 13-of-15 from the free throw line and had a steal in 34 minutes of play. 

Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Watch List
Her Hoop Stats named Southeast Missouri senior guard Tesia Thompson to the 2021 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Preseason Watch List. Last season, Thompson averaged 19.7 points and 7.7 rebounds in 30.6 minutes per game. She ranked nationally in free throw attempts (14th, 206), free throws made (12th, 160) and points per game (17th, 19.7). Thompson was named to the OVC All-Tournament Team and earned tournament MVP honors after recording 93 points, 30 rebounds and 18 assists in three postseason contests.
 
OVC Preseason Poll
Southeast Missouri was picked third in the 2020-21 Ohio Valley Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Poll. Senior guard Tesia Thompson was named Preseason All-OVC for the third-straight year. SEMO tallied 206 points in the overall voting by the OVC Head Coaches and Communications Directors. The Redhawks also collected two first-place votes. UT Martin was picked this year's preseason favorite after earning 242 points and 22 first-place votes. The Skyhawks went 22-10 overall and 16-2 in the OVC en route to winning their first regular season title since 2015-16.
 
Block Party
Redshirt-senior LaTrese Saine registered 48 blocks last season, landing her second among the school's single-season leaders. Chandra Brown holds the record with 49 blocks in a single season. Saine has 109 blocks in her career, putting her third among SEMO's all-time leaders. Vera Roberts holds the career record with 115 swats. 

1,000 Point Club
Senior Tesia Thompson became just the 10th Redhawk in the Division I era to surpass 1,000 career points. She reached this milestone last season at Ole Miss (Dec. 14) in the first quarter. In her career, Thompson averages 16.9 points per contest. She currently has 1,518 career points, putting her second all-time on the school's career scoring list in the Division I era. 
 
Ohio Valley Conference Tournament
SEMO won its second OVC Tournament Championship in program history and first since 2006-07 this last season. The Redhawks went undefeated at 3-0 in this year's conference tournament winning each of their final two games by double figures against the tourney's top-two seeds. A day after a staggering offensive showcase, #3 Southeast Missouri used a remarkable defensive effort to stomp UT Martin and win the 2020 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title with a 67-47 victory on Mar. 7, 2020. The Redhawks, who claimed the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, were unable to play further into the postseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Additions in Conference Play
To help address issues associated with the delayed start date and be responsive to a desire to provide additional contests within the geographic region, the schedules increased from 18 to 20 conference games for the 2020-21 season. Overall teams will play every OVC team once and nine schools twice. In order to give teams flexibility to complete their non-conference schedules, schools were given discretion to schedule their two games with their "travel partner" separate from the remainder of the conference schedule. UT Martin is the travel partner for SEMO.