OVC #20
Southeast Missouri (14-10, 12-7 OVC) at SIUE (6-18, 3-16 OVC)
 
Game Information
Date: Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021
Tip-off: 1 p.m., CT
Location: Edwardsville, Ill.
Arena: First Community Arena
Series:  SEMO leads 27-20
Last Meeting: SEMO Win 77-62 | Jan. 28, 2021 | Cape Girardeau, Mo. | Show Me Center
Head Coaches: Rekha Patterson (94-83, Sixth Season); Paula Buscher (117-150, Ninth Season)
 
Follow the Redhawks
Video: ESPN+
Radio: Real Rock 99.3 FM (Clint Allen)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Twitter: @OfficialSEMOWBB
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
SIUE (PDF)
 
Redhawks Conclude Regular-Season Saturday at SIUE
Southeast Missouri women's basketball (14-10, 12-7 OVC) wraps up its 2020-21 regular-season Saturday against SIUE (6-18, 3-16 OVC). Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m., CT at the First Community Arena in Edwardsville, Illinois, in SEMO's final game before next week's Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championship. 
 
Follow the Redhawks
Fans can listen to Saturday'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 SIUE, 27-20. The Redhawks won the initial 2020-21 meeting, 77-62, on Jan. 28, 2021. LaTrese Saine notched a career-best 27 points coupled with 15 rebounds and seven blocks in the victory. Saine was 12-for-16 from the field and went to the break with 14 points after an 8-point opening quarter.
 
The Redhawks have won the last seven of their eight meetings against the Cougars.
 
Scouting the Cougars
SIUE fell to Austin Peay, Murray State and Jacksonville State last week. Ajulu Thatha recorded her third double-double of the season with a career-best 17 points and 10 rebounds against Austin Peay. She followed that performance with 12 points at Murray State. Mikia Keith had a career-best 20 points at Murray State. The Cougars most recently fell at UT Martin, 68-52, on Thursday.
 
Eastern Illinois Recap
Three Redhawks finished in double-digits scoring as SEMO fell to Eastern Illinois (11-13, 9-10 OVC), 65-57, Thursday at Lantz Arena. Terri Smith paced SEMO with a career-best 17 points, shooting 5-for-8 including 5-for-6 from 3-point distance. Sophie Bussard and Deanay Watson each chipped in 12 points while Roshala Scott and LaTrese Saine both tallied eight points. Scott added a personal-high seven assists.
 
Approaching the Century Mark
LaTrese Saine has started in all 24 games this season and is one game away from 100 in her career at SEMO. Saine has appeared in 99 games thus far as a Redhawk. She is also one point away from 600 career points
 
About Last Week
SEMO split its final homestand this past week with an 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 853:57 total minutes played. She paces the OVC with 35.58 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 8.7 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. She most recently posted 12 points, shooting 5-for-11 (2-for-4 on 3-pointers) with four rebounds Thursday at EIU.
 
Good Show, Watson
Junior Deanay Watson made her second career start as a Redhawk Thursday at Eastern Illinois. Watson finished with a career-best 12 points, converting 5-for-9 from the field including her first career 3-pointer. The Three Rivers Community College transfer Bradenton, Florida native, also had a team-high nine rebounds and two assists in 32 minutes of action.
 
Watson has finished with nine boards in all three of the last Redhawk contests
 
She tallied eight points and nine boards in her first career start at SEMO against EKU on Feb. 18. Watson was 3-for-4 from the field and 2-for-4 at the charity stripe in 22 minutes of court time.
 
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 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.
 
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 17 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 12 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 81 (3.4 assists/game, sixth). Offensively, Scott is averaging 9.6 points per game in 30.5 minutes per game (727:50 in 2020-21, eighth in the OVC).
 
Smith in the Starting 5
Terri Smith has appeared in the Redhawks starting lineup each of the past 15 games. She has finished in double-figures six times including most recently a career-best 17 at Eastern Illinois on Thursday. Smith shot 5-for-8 including 5-for-6 from 3-point distance.
 
Smith, a Western Kentucky transfer, made her first career SEMO start against Murray State on Jan. 14. She finished with six points in 36 minutes of play.
 
Blocks Queen Leads the OVC
LaTrese Saine leads the conference with 3.88 blocks per game and 93 blocks. Nationally, she ranks second for both statistics. She has finished with five and four in the Redhawks past two games against Morehead State (Feb. 20) and at Eastern Illinois on Thursday.
 
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 (202) and single-game blocks (10 vs. Murray State 1/14/21) along with single-season blocks (93).
 
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 209 and averaging 8.5 per game. She has appeared in 683:30 minutes of court time (18th in the OVC) this season.
 
Board Woman Gets Paid
The Redhawks lead the league with 40.00 rebounds per game and 960 rebounds. SEMO is outrebounding their opponents by 4.0, which is first in the OVC.
 
Thompson in Double-Figures
Tesia Thompson has finished in double-digits scoring in 14 of the past 16 games and posted double-figures for boards eight times this season. She 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 first 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 fifth in the OVC with 749:09 minutes of court time.
  
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.
 
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).
 
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 136 blocked shots and 5.7 blocks per game. The Redhawks also are second in the conference in field-goal percentage defense (37.2).
 
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.