Post players bring variety to Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team

The six post players on the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team each brings a variety of abilities into coach Rekha Patterson's first season at the helm.

From their athleticism and physicality to their leadership and knowledge, no two interior players are the exact same.

Patterson hopes as this season progresses they feed off each other's talents and learn something to add to their own individual arsenal.

Two forwards with starting experience return from last year's team in seniors Connor King and Erin Bollmann.

Deja Jones is back for her sophomore season while Imani Johnson redshirted as a freshman at Southeast last year.

Newcomers are freshmen Dolapo Balogun and Katia Polk.

King, who has played in all 29 games each of the past two seasons and started all but five, is the undeniable leader of the entire team.

King, a Jackson graduate, averaged 5.6 points and led the team with 8.2 rebounds per game last year. She shot 50.8 percent from the floor and had 21 blocks during her junior campaign.

"She has the ability. Just her knowledge of the game, her heart, her desire to do her best, her ability to shoot the 3, her ability to score in the post, her ability to pass and see things, definitely going to use that," Patterson said of the 6-foot-2 King. "She's somewhat of a stabilizing force for you."

Johnson shares similarities with King in that they're both capable of scoring inside and can also draw defenses out with the ability to knock down 3s.

"But she's young whereas Connor is seasoned, and you can see the difference in them," Patterson said. "I think Imani can learn a lot from Connor, and I think Connor can learn from Imani just to be free and play, don't worry about all the other stuff, so I think it would be good for both of them to learn from each other."

Johnson scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go along with nine rebounds in Southeast's first exhibition game on Nov. 1. She scored 14, knocking down a pair of 3s, and grabbed six rebounds in the Redhawks' second exhibition on Nov. 4.

Jones, a 5-11 sophomore, saw action in 10 games last season, averaging 5.1 minutes off the bench, and missed 13 games due to a foot injury. She scored 12 points and grabbed 18 rebounds on the season.

She had 18 points, shooting 8-of-9 from the field, and nine rebounds in 12 minutes of action in the first exhibition.

"Really athletic, physical, strong and when she keeps it simple is really affective," Patterson said. "Run the floor, post hard, jump up and score, rebound the ball."

Patterson said Balogun, a 5-10 freshman, is similar to Jones, but not quite as physical. She had five points and five rebounds in the first exhibition and six points and five rebounds in the second exhibition.

Polk, also a 5-10 freshman, filled a void that Patterson saw was missing when she looked at other teams around the Ohio Valley Conference.

She scored four points and had three rebounds in just eight minutes off the bench in the first exhibition and followed that up with six rebounds in the second exhibition.

"Tia is a physical force, undersized, but someone when I looked at other teams in our conference, we didn't have someone like that and they did," Patterson said. "And I felt like, especially defensively, she could help us. And she can set a mean screen. That's good."

Probably the most unique of the bunch is Bollmann, a Meadow Heights graduate who provided a spark off the bench last season.

She played in all 29 games and started 10 in her first season at Southeast after transferring from Three Rivers College last year.

Bollmann finished second on the team in scoring and rebounding with 9.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. She shot 47.9 percent from the floor and hit 15 3-pointers. She also led the team with 54 steals to go along with 19 blocks.

"She is fun to watch, and when she is playing disciplined she puts herself in a position to make really spectacular plays, whether it's blocking shots, getting steals, attacking the basket," Patterson said. "You've got to find a way to make sure you use her because she's not your set-it-up, run here, run there, run there, do this -- she's not that type of player. You have to let her be free to be Erin within the confines of what we're doing."

The 5-11 Bollmann came off the bench in both exhibition wins, but Patterson said she's good enough to possibly start.

She scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds in 10 minutes off the bench in the first. She had 12 points, 12 rebounds, two blocks and four steals in 19 minutes off the bench in the second exhibition.