Western Illinois (0-4) vs. Southeast Missouri (1-2) 

Game Information
Date: Friday, December 11, 2020
Tip-off: 6:30 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Arena: Show Me Center 
Series: WIU leads, 7-6
Last Meeting: SEMO 91, WIU 97 | Dec. 17, 2019 | Show Me Center
Head Coaches: Rekha Patterson (81-75, Sixth Season). JD Gravina (148-135, 10th Season).
 
Follow the Redhawks
Video: ESPN+
Radio: ESPN 93.5 FM & 1220 AM (Rusty Hendricks)
Live Stats: GoSoutheast.com
Twitter: @OfficialSEMOWBB

Tipping Off 
Southeast Missouri (1-2) closes out its season-opening four-game home stand when it hosts Western Illinois (0-4) Friday. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m., CT at the Show Me Center.

Follow the Redhawks 
Fans can listen to Friday'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 provided @OfficialSEMOWBB. 

Series History 
Friday marks the 14th meeting between Southerast Missouri and Western Illinois. WIU leads the all-time series by a count of 7-6. Last season, SEMO fell to the Leathernecks, 97-91, in Macomb, Illinois. Tesia Thompson recorded 26 points and five rebounds in that contest.

Scouting the Leathernecks
The Leathernecks are 0-4 and coming off a 78-51 loss at Indiana State. WIU opened the season with a 73-66 loss at Wisconsin and then traveled to the Compass Challenge where they fell to Northern Illinois (79-67) and Eastern Illinois (88-74). Danni Nichols leads WIU with 11.5 points per game, while Evan Zars is averaging a double-double 11 points and 10.3 rebounds per contest rebounds. Zars, a transfer from Saint Louis University, also has 10 blocks this season. 

Saine Shatters Career Blocks Record
Redshirt-senior LaTrese Saine registered five blocks against Eastern Michigan to break SEMO's all-time career blocks record. Saine's career total is now at 118, which surpassed the previous record of 115 blocks held by both Vera Roberts and Pam Iverson. Saine leads the Redhawks with nine blocks in three games this season.

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 16.8 points per contest. She currently has 1,566 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.