Conceicao adds tournament MVP to her resume

~ Last year's regular-season MVP averaged 26 points in the tourney.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tatiana Conceicao failed to repeat as Ohio Valley Conference player of the year, although she was once again among the leading candidates for that award.

But Southeast Missouri State's senior center got the ultimate reward Saturday -- an NCAA tournament berth for the Redhawks.

And along the way, Conceicao's dominating performance in the OVC tournament gained her most valuable player honors.

Conceicao capped her brilliant tournament run with 28 points and 13 rebounds during a 71-50 romp past Tennessee Tech in the championship game. She averaged 26 points for the three tournament games.

Conceicao scored 27 points in Friday's 59-52 semifinal victory over Samford, and she had 23 points in Tuesday's 80-49 first-round blowout of Murray State.

"What a tournament Tatiana had," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said.

Conceicao won the OVC player of the year award last season, the junior college transfer's first at Southeast, as she helped lead the Redhawks to a second-place conference finish.

Despite averaging more points and rebounds this year -- 19.3 and 6.8 per game, respectively, entering Saturday's contest -- and leading Southeast to a share of its first OVC regular-season title, Conceicao did not win player of the year.

But that mattered little to the team-oriented Conceicao, particularly after Saturday's victory that sends Southeast to the NCAA Division I tournament for the first time.

"I don't care about that other stuff," Conceicao said. "It's more important what the team does."

Tennessee Tech senior center Emily Christian was voted conference player of the year, and it's really hard to argue about that as she averaged more points and rebounds than Conceicao -- 21.1 and 8.8 prior to Saturday -- for a team that also shared the regular-season championship.

Smith no doubt believes Conceicao is the best player in the conference, although he always emphasizes team accomplishments rather than individual ones.

"I don't campaign for player of the year like some coaches do," Smith said. "Not just Tatiana, but I thought we had other players who were deserving of making all-conference that didn't."

Conceicao repeated on the all-OVC first team, but no other Southeast player was honored.

Added a smiling Smith, "I just said let's not worry about that, let's go be team of the year."

That the Redhawks did.

Lyles also honored

Junior backup center Lachelle Lyles joined Conceicao on the all-tournament team.

Lyles came off the bench to contribute nine points and 10 rebounds Saturday, including eight offensive rebounds. She made all four of her field-goal attempts.

Lyles did not score in the semifinals against Samford, but she had eight points and eight rebounds in the first round against Murray State.

A junior college transfer, Lyles has been a virtual rebounding machine for the Redhawks this season. She entered play Saturday ninth in the OVC in rebounding with 6.4 per game despite averaging just 14.9 minutes a contest.

And in conference play, Lyles is Southeast's top rebounder with a 7.5 average, a figure that ranks sixth in the OVC. She averages 16.7 minutes in league games.

"A real key for us defensively was when Lachelle kept getting better and better," Smith said. "We could put her at center and play Tatiana more at the four [power forward]."

Said Lyles following Saturday's performance, "I was just trying to go after every rebound."

Rounding out the all-tournament squad were Christian -- she scored 26 points Saturday after getting 32 in the semifinals against Morehead State -- Samford's Alex Munday and Morehead State's Megen Gearhart.

Plenty of support

Approximately 200 Southeast supporters -- including the university's band, cheerleaders and dance team -- were in attendance at the tournament.

Smith and the Redhawks said the support was greatly appreciated -- and important.

"They were fantastic," Smith said. "I think they really helped us out. They were vocal, and really got behind us."

Added Conceicao, "The crowd was awesome."