Eastern Michigan (2-1) vs. Southeast Missouri (1-1)

Game Information
Date: Sunday, December 6, 2020
Tip-off: 2 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Arena: Show Me Center 
Series: SEMO trails, 0-1
Last Meeting: SEMO 64, EMU 69 | Oct. 30, 2019 | Show Me Center
Head Coaches: Rekha Patterson (81-74, Sixth Season). Fred Castro (49-78, Fifth 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 (1-1) plays host to Eastern Michigan (2-1) Sunday. Tip-off is set for 2p.m., CT at the Show Me Center.

Follow the Redhawks 
Fans can listen to Sunday'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 
The Redhawks trail their all-time series Eastern Michigan, 1-0. Last season, SEMO made the trip to Ypsilanti, Michigan, but fell, 69-64, in the final seconds of that contest. Carrie Shephard posted a career-high 31-points to lead the Redhawks. Despite outrebounding the Eagles 50-40, SEMO came up short when EMU drained four free throws in the final 26 seconds. EMU handed the Redhawks their first loss of the 2019-20 campaign. It was one of only three losses in non-conference play for SEMO. 

Scouting the Eagles
The Eagles are 2-1 and fresh off a 77-58 win at fellow Mid-American Conference member Ball State. EMU defeated Southern Illinois, 65-52, in its season-opener and then fell to Illinois-Chicago, 66-62. Areanna Combs scored 26 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and collected six steals against Ball State. For the season, Combs averages 21 points and seven boards. Ce'Nara Skanes follows close behind with an average of 20.3 points and 9.3 rebounds. 

Saine Approaches Career Blocks Record
Redshirt-senior LaTrese Saine is just three blocks away from breaking SEMO's all-time career record in blocked shots. Saine registered 48 swats last season and leads the team with four this year. She presently has 113 blocks and ranks third behind both Vera Roberts and Pam Iverson who share the career record with 115 blocks. 

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 Skyhawk's went 22-10 overall and 16-2 in the OVC en route to winning their first regular season title since 2015-16.
 
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 1,536 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.

Ring Ceremony and Banner Reveal
The Redhawks brought back the members of their historic 2019-20 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship team for a ring ceremony and banner reveal prior to their game against University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy (Dec. 1). SEMO capped the 2019-20 season with an overall record of 25-7 and 14-4 mark in OVC play. The Redhawks put together three record-breaking performances at the OVC Tournament to capture the crown and secure the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 
 
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.