OVC #10
Southeast Missouri (9-5, 7-2 OVC) vs. Eastern Illinois (7-9, 5-6 OVC)
 
Game Information
Date: Saturday, January 30, 2021
Tip-off: 2 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo. 
Arena: Show Me Center
Series: SEMO leads 28-20
Last Meeting: SEMO Win 72-56 | Feb. 27, 2020 | Cape Girardeau, Mo. 
Head Coaches: Rekha Patterson (89-78, Sixth Season); Matt Bollant (40-65, Fourth Season at EIU)
 
Follow the Redhawks
Video: ESPN+
Radio: ESPN 93.5 FM & 1220 AM (Erik Sean)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Twitter: @OfficialSEMOWBB
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
Eastern Illinois (PDF)
 
Redhawks Close Homestand against Eastern Illinois Saturday
Southeast Missouri women's basketball (9-5, 7-2 OVC) concludes its two-game homestand Saturday against Eastern Illinois (7-9, 5-6 OVC) at the Show Me Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m., CT.
 
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 
SEMO leads the all-time series with Eastern Illinois, 28-20. The Redhawks have won the last seven meetings against the Panthers. SEMO won both matchups in 2020-21 including most recently 72-56 on Feb. 27, 2020 at the Show Me Center. Under Head Coach Rekha Patterson, SEMO is 9-3 against EIU. 
 
Scouting the Panthers
EIU is coming off a 70-50 loss against UT Martin. The team is without top scorer Karle Pace. Abby Wahl has led the charge as the finisher for the Panthers, and Jordyn Hughes stepped up to score 7 points and recorded five steals. Taylor Steele has entered the starting lineup in Pace's absence.
 
Eastern Illinois is leading the OVC in assists, steals, and free-throw percentage. The Panthers have been one of the best passing teams in the nation as they have recorded 247 assists this season and are ranked No. 13 overall. In steals, the Panthers have recorded 132 steals this season and are led in assists (75) and steals (27) by the same player: Kira Arthofer. 
 
Four Redhawks in Double-Figures
Four Redhawks finished in double-figures as SEMO defeated SIUE, 77-62, on Thursday. LaTrese Saine notched a career-best 27 points. Tesia Thompson chipped in 16 for second on the team behind Saine. Sophie Bussard added 13 points and Terri Smith finished with 12 in the win.
 
When SEMO finishes with at least four double-digit scorers, the Redhawks are 7-0 including 5-0 in the OVC (TTU, TSU (2), EKU, SIUE). SEMO also had four double-digit scorers in its wins over Western Illinois on Dec. 11 (67-57) and University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy on Dec. 1 (75-44).
 
About Last Week
SEMO fell at Morehead State before ousting Eastern Kentucky last week. LaTrese Saine recorded a pair of double-doubles last week. She nearly had a triple-double with a career-best 19 points, 14 rebounds and nine blocks against the Eagles. She followed that up with 10 points and 11 boards at EKU. 
 
Double-Doubles for Saine
LaTrese Saine has registered a double-double in all three of SEMO's most recent games. Saine notched her third straight with a career-best 27 points coupled with 15 rebounds and seven blocks.
 
Saine was 12-for-16 from the field and went to the break with 14 points after an 8-point opening quarter. The redshirt-senior from West Memphis, Arkansas, has now registered a double-double in each of the last three Redhawks games.
 
She now has accumulated six this season, which leads the OVC. Saine is also second in the conference with 127 rebounds, averaging 9.1 per game. 
 
Blocks Queen Leads the Nation
LaTrese Saine leads the nation with 4.14 blocks per game (58 blocks, second in the NCAA).
 
Saine registered a pair of blocks at Eastern Kentucky (Jan. 23) to surpass Chandra Brown (2004-05, 49) for first overall in Redhawks history in a single season. In the SEMO record books, Saine also ranks first for career blocks (167) and single-game blocks (10 vs. Murray State 1/14/21) along with single-season blocks (58).
 
Thompson in Double-Figures
Tesia Thompson has finished in double-digits scoring in each of the past six games and posted double-figures for boards three times this season. Thompson came on strong in the second half on Thursday against SIUE, notching 12 of her 16 points during that final 20 minutes of play. 
 
Thompson led the Redhawks this past week with 35 points (17 at Morehead State and 18 at EKU).
 
In the OVC this season, Thompson leads the conference in field goal attempts (225), free throw attempts (92). She also is second in the league with 19.0 points per game (266, third) and has hit 93 field goals this season (third). Rebounding, Thompson is sixth in the league overall with 111 rebounds (7.9rpg, sixth).
 
At the charity stripe, Thompson is 70-for-92 for second in the conference.
 
Smith in the Starting 5
Terri Smith has appeared in the Redhawks starting lineup each of the past five games with the absence of Taelour Pruitt due to injury. She has finished in double figures three times in that span including most recently 12 against SIUE .
 
Smith finished 4-for-6 behind the arc against SIUE on Thursday and hit all three of her attempts in the third quarter.
 
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.
 
Minutes Leader
Sophie Bussard leads the Redhawks and is sixth in the OVC with 479 minutes (34.2 minutes per game) of court time this season. Bussard has competed in 38 minutes each of the past two games. She finished Thursday against SIUE with 13 points, her first double-digit scoring night since Jan. 2 against Tennessee State. 
 
Bussard has also been a factor on the boards, pulling down five in three of the last four games. She notched a season-high of eight on Thursday vs. SIUE.
 
Scott the Facilitator
Roshala Scott is third in the OVC for assists with 51 (3.6 assists/game, fifth). She also ranks seventh in the league with an assist-turnover margin of 1.24. 
 
In the past seven games, Scott has divvied out two or more assists in each contest. She has tallied a career-best six in the past two games at Eastern Kentucky and against SIUE. 
 
Offensively, Scott is averaging 8.4 points per game and compiled a career-best 15 at EKU this past Saturday.
 
SEMO to Play UT Martin on ESPNU
SEMO's game set for Monday, Feb. 1 against UT Martin will 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.
  
Phi-Fi-Fo-Fum
Sophia Hancock, a former walk-on, was surprised with a scholarship during the team's morning film session on Jan. 20. Hancock has come off the bench for SEMO in the past four 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.
 
Board Woman Gets Paid
The Redhawks lead the league with 41.79 rebounds per game and have totaled 585 this season (third 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 95 blocked shots and 6.8 blocks per game. The Redhawks also lead the conference in field-goal percentage defense (35.0) and scoring defense (58.6).
 
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 1,763 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.