Southeast faces a real Bear at home

Southeast Missouri State University's women have not had many opportunities over the years to play a home game against a nationally prominent Division I program.

But that chance will come tonight when Southwest Missouri State visits the Show Me Center for a 7 p.m. tipoff. The Bears have made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances in the past 14 seasons, including two trips to the Final Four.

"It's a great opportunity for people to come out and see women's basketball," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said. "This is probably the best Division I team that's ever come to the Show Me Center.

"We would love to have a great crowd, and we need a big crowd because they generally have a big entourage that follows them to games. I hope we can at least match their fans."

Both squads are 4-4 -- but Smith emphasizes that people shouldn't let the Bears' .500 record fool them.

SMS struggled early without Missouri Valley Conference player of the year Kari Koch, who missed the first six games of the season with a knee injury.

The Bears lost their first two games, then won four straight before dropping a three-point decision at Oklahoma and falling to top-ranked LSU 66-54 on Saturday -- in a game that host SMS led 49-47 with 6:26 remaining.

SMS returned three starters and the top two scorers from last year's team that went 28-4, captured MVC regular-season and tournament titles, and made another appearance in the NCAA tourney. One of the victories last season was an 87-59 rout of Southeast in Springfield.

"They've got the best Division I women's program in the state. They're what we'd like to shoot for some day," said Smith, in his third season at Southeast. "There's not very many programs that can say they've been to the Final Four twice in the last 12 years.

"It's a big opportunity for us. They're obviously one of the better teams in the country. I know they've lost a couple of games in a row, but if they shoot it like they normally do, they probably beat LSU."

The Bears have been led this season by 5-foot-10 senior guard Jenni Lingor, already a two-time all-MVC selection who is averaging 22.6 points per game while shooting 50.8 percent from the field. She ranks second nationally in scoring.

"She's a WNBA player for sure," SMS coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said.

Koch, a 5-8 junior guard who averaged nearly 18 points per game last season, is slowly but surely rounding into form following her knee injury. She has scored a total of 18 points in her two games back.

"She's still trying to find her way back, but she's healthy now," Abrahamson-Henderson said. "She's our point guard and floor general."

The Bears' other double-figure scorer is 5-9 junior guard Sarah Klaassen, who averages 12.1 points per game and is shooting 58.6 percent from 3-point range to rank fifth nationally.

As a team, SMS is third nationally in field-goal shooting (49.1 percent), fourth in free-throw shooting (80 percent) and eighth in 3-point shooting (40.7 percent).

"Lingor is very good. She does so many things to win, and when Koch was hurt, she just carried them, and now Koch is back and she was the MVC player of the year," Smith said. "They have so many weapons. You can't really take one thing away because they have so many people that can hurt you."

Despite a three-game losing streak and a squad consisting primarily of new players, Smith believes Southeast can also do some things to hurt the Bears.

Southeast ranks 12th nationally in scoring at 77.2 points per game, led by 6-foot-2 junior center Tatiana Conceicao's 20.9 point average. The junior college transfer is 14th nationally in scoring.

In order to have a chance at a major upset, Smith said: "We've got to take care of the basketball better than we have, and we've got to be able to guard them somehow. They shoot it so well from the 3-point line, and they attack off the dribble. If you don't control the basketball off the dribble, they'll just eat you alive.

"We're going to have to play well, but I think we can be competitive with them. They have a very good basketball team, but I think if we play well we'll have a chance to win."

Abrahamson-Henderson, in her third season at SMS, doesn't believe the Bears will be without their problems tonight, particularly because of Southeast's relentless pressure defense.

"We really haven't had anybody press us the whole game," Abrahamson-Henderson said. "I think it will be a good challenge for us."