OVC #8
Southeast Missouri (7-5, 5-2 OVC) at Eastern Kentucky (6-7, 5-4 OVC)
 
Game Information
Date: Saturday, January 23, 2021
Tip-off: 12 p.m., CT
Location: Richmond, Ky.
Arena: McBrayer Arena
Series: EKU leads 30-17
Last Meeting: SEMO Win 60-44 | Feb. 1, 2020 in Richmond, Ky.
Head Coaches: Rekha Patterson (87-78, Sixth Season); Samantha Williams (17-25, Second Season)
 
Follow the Redhawks
Video: ESPN+
Radio: ESPN 93.5 FM & 1220 AM (Erik Sean)
Live Stats: SideArm Stats
Twitter: @OfficialSEMOWBB
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
Eastern Kentucky (PDF)
 
Redhawks Close Kentucky Road Trip Saturday at EKU
Southeast Missouri women's basketball (7-5, 5-2 OVC) completes its road trip to Kentucky Saturday with a matchup against Eastern Kentucky (6-7, 5-4 OVC). Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m., CT at McBrayer Arena in Richmond, Kentucky.
 
Follow the Redhawks
Fans can listen to Saturday's game live on the radio at ESPN 93.5 FM & 1220 AM with Erik Sean calling the action. The game will also be streamed live on ESPN+. Follow the game on Twitter @OfficialSEMOWBB.
 
Series History
Eastern Kentucky leads the all-time series with SEMO, 30-17. The Redhawks have won the last four meetings including the last three in Richmond, Kentucky. SEMO most recently upended the Colonels, 60-44, on Feb. 1, 2020 to sweep the season series in 2019-20.
 
Scouting the Colonels
EKU most recently fell, 65-39, at home against UT Martin on Thursday. Jayla Johnson led the way for the Colonels, posting 11 points and three rebounds. Wingler chipped in seven points and five rebounds.
 
This past week, Eastern Kentucky defeated SIUE before falling to Eastern Illinois. The Colonels' five OVC wins match the season total of conference wins from a year ago. Johnson averaged 14.0 points and 4.5 rebounds over the two games. She shot 72 percent from the floor and hit a pair of three-pointers. Kendall Wingler averaged 9.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assist and 2.0 steals last week. She had 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals against SIUE. Wingler dished out a season-high five assists versus Eastern Illinois.
 
Morehead State Recap
SEMO most recently fell to Morehead State, 58-57, Thursday at Johnson Arena. LaTrese Saine nearly registered a triple-double finishing with a career-best 19 points to accompany 14 rebounds and nine blocks. Tesia Thompson compiled 17 points in the contest with eight boards and two steals after a 14-point second half.
 
A Near Triple-Double
LaTrese Saine nearly finished with her second triple-double of the 2020-21 season Thursday at Morehead State. Saine totaled a career-best 19 points to accompany 14 rebounds and nine blocks. Two games ago against Murray State on Jan. 14, she notched a double-double of 10 (career-best) blocks with 16 rebounds and nine points.
 
Saine ranks third in the OVC with four double-doubles this season. She is also fourth in the conference with 8.4 rebounds per game and fifth for boards (101).
 
Blocks Queen
With nine blocks on Thursday at Morehead State, LaTrese Saine now ranks tied for first overall in Redhawks history with 49 blocks in a single season. Saine is currently tied with Chandra Brown (2004-05) for the top spot. If Saine registers a block Saturday at Eastern Kentucky, she will have the outright record for single-season blocks. She ranks first for blocks in a single season, career blocks (158) and single-game blocks (10 vs. Murray State 1/14/21).
 
Saine ranks first in the conference and third nationally for blocked shots. Her 4.08 blocked shots per game leads the OVC and is second in the NCAA.
 
About Last Week
SEMO beat Murray State, 69-53, on Jan. 14 at the Show Me Center and then bested Austin Peay, 74-61, on Jan. 16. Tesia Thompson led the Redhawks this past week with 61 points (30.5ppg) and 14 rebounds (7.0pg) in 74 total minutes as SEMO extended its OVC win-streak to five games. Terri Smith finished the week with 20 points (10.0ppg) and six rebounds (3.0rpg) in her first two career starts at SEMO.
 
SEMO at UT Martin Elevated to ESPNU
SEMO's game set for Monday, Feb. 1 against UT Martin will now be televised live on ESPNU as part of the OVC's 2020-21 ESPN basketball linear television schedule. Tip is set for 4 p.m., CT at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center in Martin, Tennessee.
 
SEMO vs. Morehead State Game Rescheduled
SEMO's game against Morehead State on Friday, Feb. 19 has been rescheduled to Saturday, Feb. 20. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m., CT at the Show Me Center.
 
Season-High For Tesia
Tesia Thompson led all scorers against Austin Peay on Jan. 16 with a season-high 33 points in her 100th career game in a Redhawks uniform. Thompson finished 12-for-21 from the field and was perfect at the charity stripe for the second-straight game (9-9, 17-17 past two games). She also had seven rebounds.
 
Thompson has finished in double-digits scoring in the past four games and posted double-figures for boards three times this season.
 
In the OVC this season, Thompson leads the conference in field goal attempts (193), free throw attempts (80) and free throws made (62). She also is second in the league with 232 total points (19.3ppg) and field goals made (81). Thompson is fifth overall with 97 rebounds.
 
Smith Earns First Two Redhawk Starts
Terri Smith made her first two career starts as a Redhawk with the absence of Taelour Pruitt due to injury this past week. She has now started in three-straight games after Thursday at Morehead State. Smith, a Western Kentucky transfer, chipped in a career-best 14 points in 39 minutes of action against Austin Peay on Jan. 16. Smith was 5-for-10 from the field and knocked down 50 percent from three (4-8) and tallied five boards. She made her first career SEMO start against Murray State on Jan. 14, finishing with six points in 36 minutes of play.
 
Phi-Fi-Fo-Fum
Sophia Hancock has come off the bench for SEMO in the past three contests. Hancock registered a career outing against Austin Peay on Jan. 16. The Puxico, Missouri native, played in 16 minutes of action and tallied four points with three rebounds. She shot 2-for-3 from the field.
 
Hancock, a former walk-on, was surprised with a scholarship during Wednesday morning's film session.
 
Pillers of this Team
Nyrobi Pillers finished Jan. 16's game against Austin Peay with seven points to go along with five rebounds and a block in nine minutes of court time. At the charity stripe, she was 5-for-6.
 
Boards for Bussard
Sophie Bussard has four or more rebounds in each of the past six games. Bussard notched five to go-along with eight points at Morehead State on Thursday and has posted five in each of the past three games.
 
Charity Stripe
SEMO knocked down a season-best 19 free throws on 24 attempts (79.2 percent) against Austin Peay on Jan. 16.
 
Board Woman Gets Paid
The Redhawks lead the league with 42.17 rebounds per game and have totaled 506 this season (fourth in the OVC). SEMO is outrebounding their opponents by an OVC-best margin of 4.9.
 
Block Party!!
The Redhawks notched single-game records for blocks in SEMO's victory over Murray State on Jan. 14. LaTrese Saine swatted away a career-best 10 to improve upon her previous Redhawk single-game blocks record (6 at Morehead State, 2/8/18). As a team the Redhawks finished with 13, which surpassed the previous mark of 10 set on Feb. 14, 2007 at EIU.
 
SEMO is second in the OVC with 81 blocked shots and 6.8 blocks per game. The Redhawks also lead the conference in field-goal percentage defense (34.6).
 
Three Ball
SEMO knocked down a season-high 50 percent from beyond the arc in its victory over Murray State on Jan. 14. The Redhawks were 6-for-12 on treys and were led by Tesia Thompson (2-4). Terri Smith (1-4), LaTrese Saine (1-2), Roshala Scott (1-1) and Sophie Bussard (1-1) each had a trifecta in the game. It marked the second OVC game this season that SEMO had hit 6-for-12.
 
Go off Tesia!!
Tesia Thompson led the Redhawks on Jan. 14 against Murray State with a game-high 28 points including 17 in the final quarter of play. In the fourth alone, Thompson was 5-for-8 on field goals. Overall, she was 9-for-18 and 2-for-4 from behind the arc. Thompson was also perfect at the charity stripe, knocking down all eight attempts.
 
50 Conference Wins
With SEMO's victory over Murray State on Jan. 14, head coach Rekha Patterson has now totaled 50 career Ohio Valley Conference wins.
 
Non-Conference Slate
SEMO posted a 2-3 mark during the non-conference portion of it 2020-21 schedule. The Redhawks opened the season with a 74-53 loss to #5 Louisville on Nov. 25 before earning their first victory of the campaign over the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy (75-44) on Dec. 1. SEMO dropped a 63-49 decision to Eastern Michigan on Dec. 6. The Redhawks notched their second win of the season over Western Illinois, 67-57. SEMO then fell to regional rival, Southern Illinois, 67-51, in Carbondale, Illinois, on Dec. 18.
 
In five non-conference games, Tesia Thompson paced the team with 93 points (18.6 ppg) and 29 rebounds (5.8 per game). Taelour Pruitt (48 points) and LaTrese Saine (47 points) averaged just under 10 points per game during the non-conference slate. Saine also posted 33 boards (6.6 per game) with 14 blocks (2.8 per game).
 
OVC Preseason Poll
SEMO was picked third in the 2020-21 Ohio Valley Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Poll. Tesia Thompson was named to the Preseason All-OVC Team 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.
 
1,000 Point Club
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, 2019) in the first quarter. She currently has 1,729 career points, putting her second all-time on the school's career scoring list in the Division I era.
 
OVC Tournament Champions
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.