OVC #19
Southeast Missouri (14-9, 12-6 OVC) at Eastern Illinois (10-13, 8-10 OVC)
 
Game Information
Date: Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021
Tip-off: 4:30 p.m., CT
Location: Charleston, Ill.
Arena: Lantz Arena
Series:  SEMO leads 28-21
Last Meeting: Eastern Illinois Win 51-49 | Jan. 30, 2021 | Cape Girardeau, Mo. | Show Me Center 
Head Coaches: Rekha Patterson (94-82, Sixth Season); Matt Bollant (42-69, Fourth Season)
 
Follow the Redhawks
Video: ESPN+ 
Radio: Real Rock 99.3 FM (Clint Allen)
Live Stats: SideArm Stats
Twitter: @OfficialSEMOWBB
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
Eastern Illinois (PDF)
 
Redhawks Head to the Land of Lincoln to Open Final Road Trip against EIU Thursday 
Southeast Missouri women's basketball (14-9, 12-6 OVC) will face Eastern Illinois (10-13, 8-10 OVC) Thursday to start SEMO's final regular-season road trip. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m., at the Lantz Arena in Charleston, Illinois. 
 
Follow the Redhawks 
Fans can listen to Thursday's game live on the radio at Real Rock 99.3 FM with Clint Allen calling the action. The game will also be televised live on ESPN+. Follow the game on Twitter @OfficialSEMOWBB.
 
Series History 
SEMO leads the all-time series with Eastern Illinois, 28-21.
 
The Panthers won the initial 2020-21 meeting, 51-49, on Jan. 30, 2021 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, at the Show Me Center. Kira Arthofer hit a jumper with 16 seconds left in regulation to push EIU past SEMO in the game. Tesia Thompson tallied a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds. LaTrese Saine chipped in 10 boards to complement seven points and four blocks. 
 
Under Head Coach Rekha Patterson, SEMO is 9-4 against EIU.
 
Scouting the Panthers
Eastern Illinois fell to Murray State and defeated Austin Peay this past week. Abby Wahl nearly averaged a double-double over the two games with 13.5 points and 8.5 rebounds. She led the team with 18 points and nine boards in the win over Austin Peay. 
 
About Last Week
SEMO split it final homestand this past week with a 82-72 loss to Eastern Kentucky (2/18) before a 61-52 victory over Morehead State (2/20) on Senior Day at the Show Me Center. 
 
Tesia Thompson registered a double-double of 31 points and 11 rebounds in the game with EKU. Roshala Scott concluded the game with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists. 
 
Taelour Pruitt paced SEMO with 17 points and three assists in the contest with Morehead State. Terri Smith chipped in 12 points on a 4-for-11 day and 3-for-3 on free throws. Sophie Bussard added 11 points, shooting 4-for-10.
 
Iron Lady
Sophie Bussard leads the Redhawks and is first in the NCAA with 818:59 total minutes played. She paces the OVC with 35.61 minutes per game.
 
Bussard has competed in all 40 minutes five times this season, most recently against Morehead State on Feb. 20. She is averaging 8.6 points per game. Bussard finished with 11 points, four steals and three rebounds against the Eagles on Feb. 20, shooting 4-for-10 from the field and 3-for-4 at the charity stripe.
 
Good Show, Watson
Junior Deanay Watson finished with a career-high eight points and nine boards in her first career start at SEMO against EKU on Feb. 18. The Three Rivers Community College transfer from Bradenton, Florida, was 3-for-4 from the field and 2-for-4 at the charity stripe in 22 minutes of court time. 
 
She chipped in five points and nine rebounds in a personal-best 29 minutes of court time against Morehead State on Feb. 20.  
 
Pruitt Back in the Starting Five
Taelour Pruitt made her first start since Jan. 9, 2021 at Tennessee State, against Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 18. Pruitt tallied three points and three assists in 27 minutes of action. 
 
Pruitt most recently led the Redhawks with 17 points off the bench against Morehead State on Feb. 20, finishing 6-for-16 from the field and 4-for-4 at the charity stripe. She has finished in double-figures in two of the last three SEMO games. 
 
Thompson in Double-Figures
Tesia Thompson has finished in double-digits scoring in 14 of the past 15 games and posted double-figures for boards eight times this season. She now has 97 double-figure point games in her career as a Redhawk. Her seven double-doubles this season (25 in her career) put her just behind teammate LaTrese Saine's eight in the OVC.
 
Thompson has registered consecutive 20 or more point outings in three of the past four Redhawk contests. She has accumulated six 20-point games and three 30-point games this season. Thompson came off the bench to finish with 31 points and 11 rebounds in 36 minutes of court time against Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 18. She shot .444 from the floor and was 7-for-8 on free throws. 
 
Thompson tallied 21 points with 11 boards at Murray State on Feb. 12 before dropping 20 points and eight boards in the overtime victory over Austin Peay on Feb. 13. 
 
In the OVC this season, Thompson leads the conference in field goal attempts (373), field goals made (153), free throw makes and attempts (112-for-145). She also tops the conference with 430 points and is second in the league with 18.7 points per game. Rebounding, Thompson is third in the league overall with 195 boards (8.5rpg, fourth in the OVC). Lastly, she is fourth in the OVC with 749:09 minutes of court time. 
 
Welcome Back TP!! 
Taelour Pruitt led the Redhawks with a career-best 25 points on Feb. 13 as the Redhawks overcame Austin Peay in overtime, 73-68.
 
Pruitt shot 6-for-8 from the field in her fourth game back from injury. The junior from Arlington, Texas, finished 4-for-6 on treys and 9-for-10 at the charity stripe. She also dished out four assists and tallied four steals in the victory.
 
Pruitt also had seven points at Belmont on Feb. 9 and an eight-point outing at Murray State on Feb. 12. 
 
Pruitt missed eight games from Jan. 14 to Feb. 4 with an injury before making her return against Jacksonville State on Feb. 6. She tallied three steals, two assists, two points and a board in 19 minutes of action in the contest with the Gamecocks.
 
Rely on Your Upperclassmen
Junior Taelour Pruitt registered a personal-high 25 points and combined with seniors Tesia Thompson (20) and LaTrese Saine (15) for 60 points as SEMO outlasted Austin Peay, 73-68, in overtime on Feb. 13 at the Winfield Dunn Center.
 
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 16 games this season.
 
Hancock registered a career outing against Tennessee Tech on Feb. 4. The Puxico, Missouri, native registered a career-best four steals to lead the Redhawks. She also notched personal-bests with six points and five boards in 27 minutes of court time.
 
Mayfield Off the Bench
Freshman Michaela Mayfield tallied a personal-high six points at Murray State on Feb. 12. The freshman from Gurdon, Arkansas, was 3-for-5 from the field with four rebounds in 14 minutes of court time. Mayfield has appeared in 11 games this season. 
 
Redhawks Debut
Briana Johns made her Redhawks debut in the road contest at Belmont on Feb. 9. The freshman from Alexandria, Virginia, saw four minutes of action in the second quarter. Johns then competed in five minutes at Murray State on Feb. 12 and against Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 18. 
 
A Career Day for Scott
Roshala Scott has tallied a career-best 22 points twice in the past eight games. She led the Redhawks at UT Martin on Feb. 1 and most recently posted 22 at Murray State on Feb. 12. 
 
Scott went to the break with 15 points and finished the contest 8-for-10 from the field in a career-high 37 minutes of court time at UTM. The Earle, Arkansas native, was 4-for-6 from behind the arc and also tied a season-high seven rebounds. Scott hit a personal-best eight field goals and four 3-pointers.
 
At Murray State, she was 10-for-14 from the floor and 2-for-5 from three. 
 
Scott also dished out four assists at UTM. She is fifth in the OVC for assists with 74 (3.2 assists/game). Scott tallied six at Eastern Kentucky (1/23) and against SIUE (1/28). Offensively, Scott is averaging 9.7 points per game in 30.3 minutes per game (695:58 in 2020-21, seventh in the OVC).
  
Smith in the Starting 5
Terri Smith has appeared in the Redhawks starting lineup each of the past 14 games. She has finished in double-figures five times including most recently 12 for the third time this season against Morehead State on Feb. 20.
 
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.
 
Blocks Queen Leads the OVC
LaTrese Saine leads the conference with 3.87 blocks per game and 89 blocks. Nationally, she ranks second for both statistics.
 
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 (198) and single-game blocks (10 vs. Murray State 1/14/21) along with single-season blocks (89).
 
She ranks first in the OVC with eight double-doubles this season, most recently notching the feat with 15 points and 14 boards at Austin Peay on Feb. 13. Saine is also second in the OVC for rebounds with 202 and averaging 8.8 per game. She has appeared in 658:42 minutes of court time (17th in the OVC) this season. 
 
Board Woman Gets Paid
The Redhawks lead the league with 40.17 rebounds per game and 924 rebounds. SEMO is outrebounding their opponents by 4.1, which is first in the OVC. 
 
The Redhawks finished with a positive double-digit rebound margin of 15 at Belmont on Feb. 9, outrebounding the Bruins, 44-29. SEMO also outrebounded EKU, 38-28, on Feb. 18. 
 
Starting January 2021 on a High Note
SEMO registered a 6-2 mark in the first month of 2021. The Redhawks rang in the New Year with an 84-50 win over Tennessee State on Jan. 2 which started a four-game win streak in January and bridged a five-game win streak from Dec. 30, 2020 through Jan. 16, 2021.  SEMO also picked up wins on TSU (1/9), Murray State (1/14), Austin Peay (1/16), Eastern Kentucky (1/23) and SIUE (1/28).
  
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 vs. Murray State and Austin Peay). She also had seven rebounds.
  
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 132 blocked shots and 5.7 blocks per game. The Redhawks also are second in the conference in field-goal percentage defense (41.1).
 
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 1,927 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.