OVC #13
Southeast Missouri (10-7, 8-4 OVC) vs. Jacksonville State (8-5, 5-4 OVC)
 
Game Information
Date: Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021
Tip-off: 1 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.   
Arena: Show Me Center
Series: SEMO leads the All-time series 16-7
Last Meeting: JSU Win 72-51 | Feb. 20, 2020 | Jacksonville, Alabama
Head Coaches: Rekha Patterson (90-80, Sixth Season); Rick Pietri 112-109 (8th Season)
 
Follow the Redhawks
Video: ESPN+ 
Radio: ESPN 93.5 FM & 1220 AM (Erik Sean)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Twitter: @OfficialSEMOWBB
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
Jacksonville State
 
Redhawks Take on Jacksonville State in Saturday Matinee
Southeast Missouri women's basketball (10-7, 8-4 OVC) welcomes Jacksonville State (8-5, 5-4 OVC) to Cape Girardeau for a matinee matchup Saturday at the Show Me Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 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 be televised live on ESPN+. Follow the game on Twitter @OfficialSEMOWBB.
 
Series History 
SEMO leads the all-time series with Jacksonville State, 16-7. The Gamecocks won the lone 2019-20 matchup 72-51 in Jacksonville, Alabama, on Feb. 20, 2020.
 
Scouting the Gamecocks
Jacksonville State most recently fell to UT Martin on Thursday, 60-46, at the Elam Center in Martin, Tennessee. Jacksonville State (8-5, 5-4 OVC) was led by Imari Martin with 12 points. Taylor Hawks and Yamia Johnson each had seven points. Hawks recorded a team-best four assists.
 
Back in the Win Column
SEMO (10-7, 8-4 OVC) held off a late rally by Tennessee Tech (9-6, 7-5 OVC) Thursday at the Show Me Center for its 10th win this season. SEMO edged the visiting Golden Eagles, 59-55. The win by SEMO also halted a two-game losing skid and completed the regular-season sweep of TTU.
 
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 seven contests.
 
Hancock registered a career outing against Tennessee Tech on Thursday. 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.
 
Way to Bounce Back 
Tesia Thompson struggled in the first half Thursday against Tennessee Tech. Thompson paced the Redhawks with 17 points, rebounding from a difficult opening half where she shot 2-for-14. Thompson ended the night 6-for-19, going 4-for-5 in the second half and 5-for-7 from the free-throw line. She also dished out a season-high seven assists.
 
UT Martin Recap
Four Redhawks registered double figures including a career-best 22 from Roshala Scott as SEMO fell to OVC leader UT Martin, 80-70, Monday at the Elam Center. LaTrese Saine registered her seventh double-double of the campaign with 10 points and 11 boards. Tesia Thompson added 14 points with nine rebounds and Terri Smith tallied 12 points.
 
A Career Day for Scott
Roshala Scott led the Redhawks at UT Martin Monday with a career-best outing of 22 points. 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. 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.
 
Scott also dished out four assists at UTM and has divvied out a career-best six twice in the past four games. She is second in the OVC for assists with 59 (3.5 assists/game, fifth). Scott tallied six at Eastern Kentucky (1/23) and against SIUE (1/28). Offensively, Scott is averaging 8.9 points per game.
 
Pick Pocket
Terri Smith registered a career-best seven steals this past Monday at UT Martin. Prior to Monday's contest, Smith had only registered two on three occasions. Offensively, she finished with 12 points for her fourth double-digit game as a Redhawk. Smith knocked down a career-best six field goals against the Skyhawks, shooting 6-for-14 from the floor. 
 
Smith in the Starting 5
Terri Smith has appeared in the Redhawks starting lineup each of the past eight games with the absence of Taelour Pruitt due to injury. She has finished in double figures four times including most recently 12 for the second time this season against UTM (2/1) Monday.
 
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.
 
Double-Doubles for Saine
LaTrese Saine has registered a double-double in four of the last six games. Saine finished Monday with 10 points to complement 11 boards at UT Martin. She has accumulated seven this season, which leads the OVC. Saine is also second in the conference with 151 rebounds, averaging 8.9 per game. 
 
Saine notched her third straight double-double game with a career-best 27 points coupled with 15 rebounds and seven blocks against SIUE on Jan. 28. Saine was 12-for-16 from the field and went to the break with 14 points after an 8-point opening quarter. 
 
Rebounding, Saine has finished in double-digits in five of the last six contests with 14 at Morehead State (1/21), 11 at EKU (1/23), 15 vs. SIUE (1/28), 10 vs. EIU (1/30) and 11 at UTM. 
 
Blocks Queen Leads the OVC
LaTrese Saine leads the conference with 3.94 blocks per game and 67 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 (176) and single-game blocks (10 vs. Murray State 1/14/21) along with single-season blocks (67).
 
Thompson in Double-Figures
Tesia Thompson has finished in double-digits scoring in each of the past nine games and posted double-figures for boards four times this season. She now has 92 double-figure point games in her career as a Redhawk. She registered her first double-double since Jan. 9, 2021 at Tennessee State this past Saturday (1/30) against Eastern Illinois, finishing with a team-high 17 points and 12 rebounds.
 
In the OVC this season, Thompson leads the conference in field goal attempts (271), free throw makes and attempts (88-for-115). She also is second in the league with 18.5 points per game and 314 points. She is second in the OVC with 108 field goals made this season. Rebounding, Thompson is fourth in the league overall with 8.0 boards per game (136).
 
Minutes Leader
Sophie Bussard leads the Redhawks and is first in the OVC with 35:24 minutes per game and 599:01 total minutes played.
 
Bussard has competed in all 40 minutes four times this season including the past three games. 
 
Bussard is averaging 8.5 points per game and has totaled nine or more points in each of the past four games. She finished Thursday against Tennessee Tech with 11 points. 
 
Board Woman Gets Paid
The Redhawks lead the league with 41.12 rebounds per game and 699 rebounds. SEMO is outrebounding their opponents by an OVC-best margin of 5.2.
 
The Redhawks have finished with a positive double-digit margin over their opponents twice in the past seven games, at Morehead State (50-38) on Jan. 21 and against Eastern Illinois on Jan. 30 (46-32). SEMO also finished with a positive margin of nine this past Monday at UTM.
 
Four Redhawks in Double-Figures
When SEMO finishes with at least four double-digit scorers, the Redhawks are 7-1 including 5-1 in the OVC (wins on TTU, TSU (2), EKU, SIUE). SEMO most recently fell to OVC leader UT Martin for its first loss while registering the feat of four Redhawks in double-digits scoring. 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).
 
Thompson Named OVC Player of the Week
Tesia Thompson was named the OVC Player of the Week, the league announced Tuesday. Thompson, a senior guard from Memphis, Tennessee, totaled 33 points (16.5ppg) and 20 boards (10rpg) this past week as SEMO split its pair of home games with SIUE (1/28) and Eastern Illinois (1/30). 
 
Thompson opened the week with a 16-point outing against SIUE, finishing 6-for-16 from the field. She also tallied eight rebounds in the victory. Thompson followed up that performance with a double-double of 17 points and 12 boards against EIU. She was 9-for-10 from the charity stripe and hit 4-for 15 from the field with two steals. Thompson finished the week with a field goal percentage of .323 (10-31) along with six assists and two steals. She hit 80 percent from the charity stripe.
 
The laurel marked the fifth career weekly conference honor for Thompson.
 
About Last Week
SEMO split its pair of home OVC games with SIUE and Eastern Illinois last week. The Redhawks defeated SIUE, 77-62, on Jan. 28 at the Show Me Center before dropping a tight contest to EIU, 51-49, on Jan. 30. 
 
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 (at) TSU (1/9), Murray State (1/14), Austin Peay (1/16), Eastern Kentucky (1/23) and SIUE (1/28).
 
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 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 107 blocked shots and 6.3 blocks per game. The Redhawks also lead the conference in field-goal percentage defense (36.0). SEMO ranks second in the OVC for scoring defense (59.2).
 
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 1,811 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.