Game 29
Southeast Missouri (6-22, 4-15 OVC) at Eastern Illinois (17-11, 14-5 OVC)
 
Game Information: 
Date: Saturday, March 1, 2025
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Charleston, Illinois
Venue: Groniger Arena
Series: SEMO leads 29-27
 
Head Coaches: 
SEMO: Briley Palmer (5-22, 4-15 OVC | First Season)
EIU: Marqus McGlothan (17-11, 14-5 OVC | First Season)
 
Follow the Redhawks: 
X: @OfficialSEMOWBB
Live Stats: eiupanthers.com
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Real Rock 99.3 FM (Erik Sean)
 
Game Notes (PDF)
Media Guide (PDF)
 
Redhawks Face Eastern Illinois in Regular Season Finale
Southeast Missouri Women's Basketball (6-22, 4-15 OVC) will wrap-up the regular season on the road at Eastern Illinois (17-11, 14-5 OVC) on Saturday, March 1 in Charleston, Illinois. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m., CT. from Groniger Arena. 
 
Series History
The Redhawks and Panthers will meet for the 57^th time on the hardwood in Saturday's match and for the second time during the 2024-25 season. Earlier this year, EIU defeated SEMO in Cape Girardeau by a final score of 71-55 from the Show Me Center. The Redhawks own a 29-27 series advantage over Eastern Illinois. 
 
What's At Stake
The Redhawks, who are still alive in the hunt for the 2024-25 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, are in a must win situation on Saturday. SEMO needs to defeat EIU and have both Tennessee State and Morehead State lose to cinch a tournament berth. SEMO last made the tournament during the 2022-23 campaign. 
 
Last Time Out
SEMO Women's Basketball picked up a huge road win on Thursday evening in Edwardsville, Illinois by defeating SIUE by a final score of 71-66. Lexi McCully and Zoe Best paced the offense with 24 points apiece, scoring 48-of-SEMO's-71 points in the contest. Center Ainaya Williams scored 10 second half points after being held scoreless in the first 20-minutes as the Redhawks earned their fourth OVC victory of the season. 
 
Season Sweep
With Thursday's victory, head coach Briley Palmer picked up her first sweep of an OVC opponent in her career with the victory over SIUE. This season, the Redhawks defeated SIUE at home, 67-61 (12/21), before returning to Edwardsville on Thursday night. SEMO is now on a five-game winning streak in the series with SIUE. 
 
Points
Coming into Thursday's matchup, the Redhawks were averaging just 61.1 points-per-game through 27 games this season. Against SIUE, SEMO finished with 71 points scoring 10 more points than their season average en route to the victory. That bumped up their PPG average by nearly a point as the Redhawks enter Saturday's matchup with a 61.8 PPG average. 
 
Holy McCully
Guard Lexi McCully scored her second-highest point total of the season on Thursday evening dropping 24 points against SIUE. McCully did most of her damage in the first half as she headed into the locker room with 19 points after the first 20-minutes. She finished the game shooting 55.6-percent from the field (10-18) and an impressive 50.0-percent from three-point range (3-6). 
 
Back in the 20s
Freshman Zoe Best eclipsed the 20-point mark for the first time in 11 games dropping 24 points against SIUE on Thursday night. Best is the leading scorer for the Redhawks this season, averaging 13.9 PPG after Thursday's performance. She was a near-perfect 90-percent at the foul line (9-10) including the final point of the game to seal the deal. Best played all 40-minutes in Thursday's victory over SIUE. 
 
What a Second Half
Ainaya Williams exploded in the second half after missing a majority of the first half due to foul trouble on Thursday night. Williams dumped in 10 points in just 22 minutes of action to help hold off SIUE. Winning 64-56 late in the second half, Williams snagged a crucial offensive rebound and her putback would go to regain a 10-point advantage for the Redhawks. She finished the game with seven rebounds. 
 
Ice 
Freshman guard Jariyah Williamson had arguably the biggest two points of the game on Thursday night as the freshman was fouled and put on the free throw line with the Redhawks winning 68-65 in the dying seconds of the contest. Williamson drained both free throws for her only points of the night, but SEMO up by two possessions to halt any sort of comeback from SIUE. 
 
Oh, the Assist
Lexi McCully was all over the stat sheet in Thursday's contest as she dished out a team-high six assists in 38 minutes of action. McCully is now averaging a team-high 2.8 assists-per-game and has seven games of 5 or more assists this season. 
 
Eyeing 400
Zoe Best is the leading scorer for the Redhawks this season and after her 24-point performance against SIUE, she now has 390 points on the season. With just 10 more points against EIU, Best will eclipse the 400-point mark for the season. 
 
300 Point Club
Lexi McCully joined Best as the only other Redhawks to have surpassed 300 points this season after her 24-point performance on Thursday night. McCully has scored 314 points this season in 28 games for an 11.2 PPG average. 
 
2^nd All-Time
Center Ainaya Williams recorded five blocks against SIUE and now has 52 blocks in just her first season as a Redhawk. With one game to play in the regular season, Williams ranks second in program history for single season blocks in a season. She is averaging 2.1 blocks-per-game and ranks first in the OVC for that category. 
 
Scouting the Opponent
Panthers
Eastern Illinois is led by first year head coach Marqus McGlothan and enter the regular season finale with a 17-11 overall record and a 14-5 mark in OVC play. EIU is a perfect 12-0 this season in Charleston. 
 
EIU is averaging just 0.4 PPG less than the Redhawks with a 61.4 PPG average but allow just 60.7 PPG to their opponents. The Panthers' offense runs through Macy McGlone who is averaging 17.4 PPG and has scored 487 points in 28 games this season. 
 
McGlone also dominates the glass for the Panthers averaging 11.3 rebounds-per-game having hauled in 316 rebounds on the season. Sydney-James Desroches is the next closest Panther with 112 rebounds on the year for a 4.0 RPG average. 
 
Former Redhawk and current EIU Panther Kiyley Flowers leads EIU in steals with 69 on the season. She is averaging 2.8 steals-per-game in just 25 games played this year.