Desperate Redhawks hope to find fast answers

~ An inconsistent Southeast team brings a 3-3 OVC record into tonight's game against Racers.

Southeast Missouri State senior guard Tiffanne Ryan still believes the Redhawks will have a strong season and challenge for the Ohio Valley Conference championship.

But Ryan also knows the Redhawks can't wait much longer before they start getting their act together.

"We still have a lot of the season left, but we can't wait too long," Ryan said. "We have to get it going, starting with our next game."

That next game is today, as the Redhawks (6-7, 3-3 OVC) visit Murray State (4-9, 3-3) for a 5:15 p.m. tipoff.

"We really need to win," Ryan said.

These are unusually desperate times for the Redhawks, who have already lost more regular-season conference games than they did all of last year, when they finished second at 14-2. The Redhawks are also just one defeat shy of matching last season's total, when they went 22-8.

"If I had the answers, I'd fix it," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said following Thursday's 70-61 loss at Eastern Illinois. "It's really frustrating, but all you can do is keep working. There's still a lot of the season left."

The Redhawks have 14 OVC games remaining, and Smith knows if they can get on a roll, they can still challenge for the regular-season title -- which most people expected them to do when the campaign started.

But Smith also knows the Redhawks have to become more consistent in a hurry. They have had only one winning streak all season, and that was just two victories in a row.

"We're just not playing the way we're capable," he said.

A glaring problem for the Redhawks has been their defense. After allowing just 61.5 points per game last year, they are giving up 73.5 points per contest this season.

"We're definitely not playing up to our potential," Ryan said. "Everybody is gunning for us, but they were last year, too. We just stepped up."

Southeast figures to receive a test today from the Racers, who appear improved over last year, when they won just five OVC games. Southeast and Murray State are in a four-way tie for fifth place in the 11-team OVC.

The Racers have received a lift from Northern Illinois transfer Joi Scott, a 6-foot junior forward who sat out last season under NCAA transfer rules and also missed the first seven games of this season because of a minor NCAA rules infraction.

In the six games since Scott became eligible, she is averaging 22.3 points and 10 rebounds. Scott was the Mid-American Conference freshman of the year in 2002-03, and in 2003-04 she led Northern Illinois in scoring (11.4 ppg).