Defending champs up next for Southeast women

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team begins Ohio Valley Conference play today against the two-time defending OVC tournament champion.

Austin Peay (1-6), which has represented the OVC in the past two NCAA tournaments, visits the Show Me Center for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff. Southeast has another 5:30 p.m. OVC home game Saturday, against Tennessee State (3-3).

"It's nice to start conference play on our home court," Southeast coach John Ishee said. "We've got an opportunity to get off on the right foot. We're capable, but we'll have to play well."

Southeast, which has been hit hard by injury for the second straight season, is off to a 2-4 start.

The wins have been over Jackson State and Division II Maryville.

After losing several key players to injury for various amounts of time last year, Southeast already has lost key sophomore forward Patricia Mack to a torn ACL after just two games. She is out for the season.

Additionally, freshman forward Brooke Taylor -- Southeast's top recruit -- has not yet played due to an iron deficiency problem.

Ishee only can hope the Redhawks are able to overcome their current misfortune better than they did a year ago, when Southeast went 7-21 overall and a last-place 4-14 in the 10-team OVC.

"At some point, I'm almost numb to it," Ishee said. "But nobody is going to feel sorry for us and we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We just have to move forward."

Offense, a problem for the Redhawks last season, is a rough area so far this year. Southeast is averaging a league-low 51.2 points per game while also ranking last in field-goal shooting at 32.3 percent.

"We look to shoot the ball better at home," Ishee said.

Austin Peay is off to an extremely slow start with just one win in its first seven games, but Ishee knows early season records can be misleading.

He expects the Governors to be every bit as good as the past two years.

"They'll be plenty tough," Ishee said. "They're better than their record indicates, like a lot of OVC teams. They play a lot of good people."

While Southeast has struggled offensively, Austin Peay is having defensive problems. The Govs are last in the OVC in scoring defense (75.3 points per game) and field-goal percentage defense (46.8).

The Govs, who returned three starters and were picked third in the OVC preseason poll, have been led offensively by 5-foot-8 junior guard Whitney Hanley with an average of 15 points per game. She is the conference's No. 4 scorer.

Jasmine Rayner, a 5-11 junior forward who was a preseason all-OVC selection, is averaging 10.7 points.

"They've got a real good inside, outside game," Ishee said.

Tennessee State, Saturday's opponent, was picked eighth in the OVC preseason poll, two spots ahead of last-place Southeast.

Tracee Wells, the Tigers' coach, will not be on the sidelines Saturday after giving birth to a boy Tuesday.

Wells plans to return from maternity leave around mid-January. Assistant Rasheeda Love will assume coaching duties during her absence.