Lyles brings scrappy style to Southeast

~ The junior college transfer ranks among the conference leaders in rebounds.

Forget the highlight-reel offensive move in the post.

Southeast Missouri State junior center Lachelle Lyles would rather get attention at frustrating opponents by grabbing jaw-dropping rebounds -- especially on the offensive end.

"She'll go get them," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said. "Sometimes you wonder how in the heck she got that one."

Lyles, a junior college transfer, has been a major part of the Redhawks' seven-game winning streak that has lifted them into a first-place Ohio Valley Conference tie.

Despite still averaging just 13.8 minutes per game -- although she has played much more than that during the current winning streak -- Lyles is Southeast's second-leading rebounder with a 6.8 average, and she leads the squad in offensive rebounds with 65.

Lyles, a 6-foot-2 center, ranks seventh in the OVC in rebounding and fourth in offensive rebounds. In conference play only, Lyles is sixth in the league in rebounding with an 8.2 average and leads the way in offensive rebounds with 55.

"That's where my heart is," she said. "I've always been that way, even in high school."

"Lachelle has really played well," Smith said. "It's just been a matter of getting the rust off, and getting her used to this level. She has really come on, and she'd been a big factor in us coming on as a team, especially defensively and on the boards."

Lyles has had plenty of rust to get off in her first season with the Redhawks after transferring from Shelton State (Ala.) Community College, where she played in just one game last year because of an injury.

That led to something of a slow start for Lyles at Southeast, but in recent weeks her playing time has increased significantly and she has come on like gangbusters, giving the Redhawks a major lift off the bench.

Lyles, who has three 11-rebound performances in the past five games, is averaging just five points per contest, but she is shooting a team-leading 57.1 percent from the field -- mostly from a few feet around the basket -- and has increased her offensive production considerably over the past few weeks, including a season-high 12 points Saturday against Murray State.

"I've been working on finishing around the basket," she said.

But Lyles' primary focus has been rebounding and defense in the middle. Smith believes the Redhawks' early struggles this season were due partially to the graduation of center Chandra Brown, who led last year's team in rebounding and was a strong defensive presence inside.

With Lyles' continued improvement, that has allowed Smith to often move leading scorer Tatiana Conceicao -- the reigning OVC player of the year -- to her more natural position of power forward instead of center.

Earlier in the season, Lyles primarily was a substitute for Conceicao. But in recent weeks, the two have spent plenty of time on the court together.

"Tatiana is really a natural 4 [power forward], but we've had to play her at the 5 [center]," Smith said. "Lachelle is a much better post defender, more like Chandra was."

Conceicao is appreciative of the work Lyles has done, not only in allowing the senior to play more at her natural position but also in helping the Redhawks (13-7, 10-3 OVC) overcome their slow start.

"She is really coming on. She is like a whole new player from early in the year," Conceicao said. "She is what we needed."

Lyles also had an impressive rebounding resume at her first college stop, Chicago State, where averaged 9.3 boards -- including an 18-rebound outing against Murray State -- in 10 games during the 2003-04 season before deciding to transfer from that struggling Division I program.

"I wanted to go to a winning program," said Lyles, a Chicago native.

Her next stop was Shelton State Community College, where she was attracting some attention from major Division I programs, including Louisiana Tech -- but those hopes were dashed by a torn ACL suffered in the first game last season.

"After the injury, those big schools backed off," Lyles said.

But she has no regrets and is pleased to be at Southeast -- and also glad to finally have her game rounding into form.

"After I tore my ACL, it took some time to come back from that. I was pretty rusty when I got here," Lyles said. "But I'm glad I'm here."