All-important Lindenwood doubleheader on docket for Redhawk basketball

With both teams on two-game losing streaks, the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks are preparing for a fierce doubleheader at Lindenwood on Tuesday night.

Last time out against the Lions, the Show Me Center bore witness to a dominant win for the Redhawk women, routing the visitors en route to their second consecutive conference victory.

But for the men, the sledding was less smooth as Keenon Cole’s 42 points saw the Redhawks unable to rally back, losing 74-68 on their home hardwood to stoop to, then, 1-3 in the OVC.

Hitting the road for a critical clash in St. Charles, Missouri, Southeast Missouri State’s newest conference rival poses an important challenge for it to overcome.

On the women’s side of things, they’ve had two great opportunities to take road conference victories but fallen short in both.

Thankfully, the Redhawks (6-13, 3-5 OVC) have already proved that they’ve got the edge on Lindenwood (4-14, 2-6 OVC), but the story could change largely when you bring the Lions’ homecourt into the mix.

Blowing a second-half lead to UT-Martin last Thursday and another slight edge to start the second half against Little Rock this past weekend, it’s been a story of missed opportunities.

Some excellent efforts from Alecia Doyle and Daejah Richmond off the bench have kept the Redhawks in these two contests, but the wins have eluded them to this point.

Three of the Lions’ four victories this season have come at home, and they’ll look to reverse that earlier result in Tuesday night’s matchup.

Ellie Brueggemann of Lindenwood is averaging 14.4 points per game this season, hitting from 3-point range at a 37.1 percent clip. She’ll be a critical piece of the puzzle for SEMO to solve.

The Owasso, Oklahoma, native scored just eight points in Lindenwood’s 17-point loss to SEMO earlier this month with a 2-of-7 night from range while also blocking a shot.

If the Redhawks can anywhere near replicate their 80-point performance from Jan. 11, they should be able to grab an important conference win to end their losing skid.

For the Redhawk men (7-14, 2-6 OVC), it’s an all-important rematch to decide if Lindenwood’s (7-14, 1-7 OVC) win last time out was overly reliant on the efforts of Cole.

Since the loss to Lindenwood, the Redhawks have gone 1-3 with an important win against SIU-Edwardsville but drawing a blank since.

SEMO set itself up to win with a 33-30 halftime lead at Little Rock but couldn’t hold on, succumbing late in yet another winnable game on Saturday afternoon.

The most points for the visitors in that one came off the bench as TJ Biel scored 13.

Josh Earley, after his six-game streak of scoring in double digits, put in just four points in the loss – zero of which coming in the second half.

If the Redhawks want to leave St. Louis with a victory, it’ll hinge on having a consistent scoring option and not allowing its headliners to go silent down the stretch.

Truthfully, the loss to Lindenwood has aged miserably for the Redhawks. They’re the only win on the Lions’ OVC schedule to this date and one of just two projected wins left on the season.

Ranking as one of the ten worst teams in Division I per KenPom, Southeast Missouri State has seen just three Division I wins this season and missed out on an important one on Jan. 11.

Keenon Cole, fresh off of scoring 42 last time he saw SEMO, ranks in the nation’s top 100 in usage rate this season as well as percentage of shooting possessions.

With a clear dependency on his scoring, the Redhawks need to key in on stopping, or at least limiting, the effects of Cole in the matchup.

If they can do that much, they could head back home with a slightly better feeling about their chances of making the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in March.