Redhawks bid for third straight win

The challenge for Southeast Missouri State today is simple.

Don't overlook the Ohio Valley Conference's only winless women's basketball team.

If the Redhawks can accomplish it, they'll have their first three-game winning streak of the season.

The suddenly revived Redhawks (8-7, 5-3 OVC) visit Tennessee State (0-7, 0-14) for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff in Nashville, Tenn.

"They're going to eventually beat somebody," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said. "We want to make sure it's not us."

After being one of the nation's most improved squads last year -- TSU went 11-17 overall and 8-8 in OVC play, after being 1-25 and 0-16 in 2003-2004 -- the youthful Tigers have regressed this season.

But that was not totally unexpected after TSU returned just one starter from a year ago.

The Tigers generally start four freshman, and they have experienced the usual growing pains associated with that.

Still, Smith is wary. The Tigers -- who on average have been outscored by 23 points per game as they rank last in the conference in most major team statistical categories -- had one of their best OVC performances of the season at Southeast on Dec. 8.

The Redhawks led just 37-32 at halftime, fell behind early in the second half and didn't go ahead for good until a little more than 12 minutes remained. They went on to post a comfortable 71-53 victory.

"They really played us tough earlier. At the time, I thought they might be a team to watch," Smith said. "They've struggled, but they're still a dangerous team. And we always struggle there, so we have to make sure we're ready to play."

Considering that the Redhawks have already suffered their share of surprise losses this season, they don't plan on looking past TSU and ahead to Saturday's game at first-place Tennessee Tech that concludes Southeast's road trip.

"You can't overlook anyone, especially this year," senior forward Natalie Purcell said. "Our conference is so competitive."

Added senior guard Katrisha Dunn: "We know we have to have even more intensity when we play a team at the bottom [of the standings]. We'll come ready to play."

After Southeast struggled so much with consistency for most of the season, Smith is encouraged by the way the Redhawks have performed over their last two games.

First came a 72-62 win at Murray State, in which Southeast led by more than 20 points for much of the second half. That was followed up by Saturday's 72-54 home rout of Austin Peay, in which Southeast outscored the Govs 44-27 in the second half.

The Redhawks' defense, which had been a staple of past Southeast teams but had not been all that effective for much of this season, has paved the way for only Southeast's second two-game winning streak.

"We've really been working on that in practice, and I think we're getting a lot better defensively," Purcell said. "We need to keep improving."

Added Smith: "The last two games, we've looked more like we looked last year and more like we thought we'd look all year. We've still got a long way to go, but I think we're headed in the right direction."

Southeast also received unusually balanced scoring against Austin Peay, as senior center Tatiana Conceicao -- the OVC's second leading scorer at 19.9 points per game -- had just 10 points.

But four other players reached double figures, led by senior forward Simone Jackson's 13 points.

"We've got other people who can score," said Purcell, who had 11 points.

Jackson (11.3 ppg) and Purcell (10.2 ppg) also average in double figures for Southeast, which leads the OVC in scoring (74.6 ppg).

TSU, last in the conference in scoring offense (55.1 ppg) and defense (78.2 ppg), feature two double-figure scorers in senior forward Leslie Dean (10.5 ppg) and freshman forward Obiageli Okafor (10.2 ppg).