Game #1
Southeast Missouri (0-0) at Dayton (0-0)
 
Game Information: 
Date: Tuesday, November 5
Time: 6:00 P.M., CT. 
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Venue: UD Arena 
Series: First Meeting All-Time
 
Head Coaches: 
SEMO: Briley Palmer (0-0 overall, First Season)
Dayton: Tamika Williams-Jeter (19-40, Third Season)
 
Follow the Redhawks: 
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Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: SEMO ESPN 93.5 FM or 1220 AM (Rusty Hendricks)
 
Game Notes (PDF)
Media Guide (PDF)
 
Women's Basketball Begins Briley Palmer Era Tuesday at Dayton
Southeast Missouri Women's Basketball (0-0) will begin the 2024-25 season under new Head Coach, Briley Palmer, on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at Atlantic-10 Conference member, Dayton (0-0). Tip-off is slated for 6:00 P.M., CT. from UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio. 
 
Series History
The matchup between the Redhawks and Flyers will mark the first meeting between the two schools in women's basketball. The matchup with Dayton will be just the fourth school that the Rehawks have faced from the Atlantic-10 Conference. SEMO has faced off against George Mason, Rhode Island and in-state foe Saint Louis from the Atlantic-10 before Tuesday's matchup. 
 
SEMO and George Mason have faced just one time coming in 2017. The Redhawks fell 58-37 against the Patriots in the Preseason WNIT Tournament. In 2022, SEMO faced Rhode Island in the UCF Thanksgiving Classic in a 66-49 loss in the only meeting between the two schools. Saint Louis and SEMO have met 23 times with the Bilikens holding a 15-8 series advantage.
 
Briley Palmer
Head Coach Briley Palmer became the ninth head coach in Southeast Missouri Women's Basketball history back on May 15, 2024. Palmer comes to Cape Girardeau by way of Mineral Area Community College. 
 
At MAC, Palmer compiled an overall record of 77-40 including a 25-5 record in 2023-24, her final season at the school. Palmer led the Lady Cards to a second-place finish in the Missouri Community College Athletic Conference (MCCAC) where they finished 24^th in the country. 
 
Palmer was an assistant at MAC for eight years before being named head coach. She was instrumental in the Lady Cards winning the Region 16 title twice. During the 2014-15 campaign, Palmer helped MAC claim its first-ever Region 16 Championship. The Lady Cards ranked as high as #13 in the NJCAA Poll her first year as an assistant coach.
 
She played at both MAC and Christian Brothers University. Palmer finished a two-year stint with the Lady Cards ranked third in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage. Following her final two seasons of college basketball at CBU, she remained there to be a graduate assistant for one year.
 
Preseason Poll
SEMO was picked to finish 11^th in the 2024-25 Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll, receiving 29 points from the league's head coaches and communicators. Southern Indiana was picked to finish first with 20 first-place votes and 200 points total. Rounding out the top three was UT Martin (2) with 180 points and Eastern Illinois with 145. Tennessee Tech (140), Little Rock (135), and Western Illinois (119) finished fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, followed by Lindenwood (81) and a two-way tie for eighth place with SIUE and Morehead State (61). 
 
Preseason 'Players to Watch'
Newcomer guard Zoe Best and returnee guard Indiya Bowen landed on the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason 'Players to Watch' list. 
 
Bowen, a native of Horn Lake, Mississippi, is one-of-two returners to the squad from a year ago. Last season, she averaged 9.1 points-per-game and shot .319 from three-point range. She averaged 21.3 minutes-per-game and finished the season 89-for-245 from the field (.363). 
 
Zoe Best is a native of Bel-Nor, Missouri and will begin her collegiate career with the Redhawks during the 2024-25 season. In high school, Best never lost a game playing for Incarnate Word Academy with multiple state championships under her belt.
 
New Faces
The Redhawks have 15 players on the 2024-25 squad compiled of 13 newcomers and just two returners from a season ago. Sophomore Indiya Bowen and graduate student Sophie Bussard return from a squad that went 9-20 during the 2023-24 campaign. 
 

• The freshman class is made up of four guards and one center. The backcourt will feature Zoe Best, Jariyah Williamson, Tristan Spearman, and Alex McGarrah. In the frontcourt, center Ainaya Williams will roam the paint. 
• Redshirt freshman Brianna Hill is a transfer guard from George Mason. 
• Guard Anjelicia Del Valle and Indiya Bowen make up the sophomore class. 
• Redshirt-Sophomore Briah Hampton is a 6-1 forward transfer from Austin Peay. 
• Juniors Kennedy Claybrooks and Madison Roberts will be in the backcourt and frontcourt, respectively. Claybrooks is a 5-6 guard who transferred from Texas State. 
  • Madison Roberts is a 6-1 forward transfer from Seminole State College. 
• Two seniors and a graduate student round out the roster in guards Lexi McCully (Georgia Southwestern) and Skylar Barnes (Morehead State). Sophie Bussard, the longest-tenured Redhawk, rounds out the squad. 

 
Talented Freshman
Freshman Zoe Best arrives in Cape Girardeau after graduating from Incarnate Word Academy in nearby Bel-Nor, Missouri. Best, who moved to Missouri after two years of high school in Ohio, played two seasons in Bel-Nor having never lost a game. She won back-to-back Missouri State Championships in her time at Incarnate Word. 
 
Coaches
The 2024-25 coaching staff under Briley Palmer are made up of a familiar and new faces to the Redhawks. Mike Geary returns for his fifth season in Cape Girardeau in his second stint on the staff. 
 
Sam Pearson, who played for SEMO Men's Basketball during the 2009-10 campaign, makes his first appearance on the Women's Basketball sideline. Pearson was most recently the head coach of Missouri Baptist Women's Basketball prior to joining the Redhawks staff. 
 
Danielle Sanderlin is in her second season on the sideline for the Redhawks and her first under Coach Palmer. Last season, Sanderlin help coach all-conference selection Alecia Doyle. 
 
Harison Russell is in his first season as an assistant coach and Director of Basketball Operations for the Redhawks in 2024-25. 
 
The Schedule
The 2024-25 schedule begins with Dayton on Tuesday, November 5 and will mark the beginning of four-straight games on the road. 
 
The Redhawks will matchup with Southeastern Conference foe, Texas (Nov. 10) followed by Evansville (Nov. 14), and former Ohio Valley Conference opponent, Eastern Kentucky (Nov. 17). 
 
Texas, who finished 33-5 a season ago, won the Big 12 Conference tournament in their final year of their affiliation with the conference before advancing to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Women's Tournament concluding their season with a loss to NC State. 
 
SEMO will play their first game in the Show-Me Center on Monday, Nov. 25, against rival Southern Illinois at 6:30 p.m. followed by a Saturday matchup with Indiana State (Nov. 30) marking back-to-back matchups with Missouri Valley Conference teams. 
 
A trip to Arkansas on Sunday, Dec. 8, will be the final road matchup before four-straight home games. SEMO will host Missouri State (Dec. 16) before beginning conference play. SEMO opens its 20-game OVC schedule at home prior to Christmas against Eastern Illinois (Dec. 19) and SIU Edwardsville (Dec. 21).
 
The final non-conference matchup will take place on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31) against NAIA-member, William Woods at the Show-Me Center. 
 
For the second-straight year the league membership includes 11 teams (Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, Little Rock, Morehead State, SEMO, SIU Edwardsville, Southern Indiana, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin and Western Illinois).
 
In 2024-25, the Conference schedule switches to a true round-robin slate of 20 games (after being 18 games a season ago). The OVC has also had a 20-game league schedule from 2005-06 through 2007-08 and in 2020-21.
 
Scouting the Opponent
Dayton
The Flyers are coming off a 12-19 campaign in 2023-24 and a 5-13 mark in Atlantic-10 play and enter the third season under head coach Tamika Williams-Jeter. Dayton advanced to the second round of the A-10 Championship Tournament last season, losing to Rhode Island 70-57. 
 
Dayton finished last season having improved their win total by five games from 2022-23. The Flyers will return two key starters from last season in Ivy Wolf and Arianna Smith. Wolf averaged nearly 12 points-per-game (11.9) playing and starting in all 29 games last year. Smith played in 27 games, making 19 starts, where she averaged 9.2 points-per-game and hauled in 10.6 rebounds-per-game.
 
The Flyers brought in two graduate transfers in Rikki Harris and Nicole Stephens. Harris spent last season at Ohio State (B1G) while Stephens transfers in from Ivy League institution, Columbia. 

Looking Ahead
SEMO Women's Basketball will be back in action on Sunday, Nov. 10, when they travel to Austin, Texas to take on #4 Texas of the Southeastern Conference.