Redhawks face preseason choice in early showdown

~ Today's winner may have the inside track to the OVC championship.

Now Southeast Missouri State can finally concentrate on Tennessee Tech.

Coach B.J. Smith had preached to the Redhawks that they could not afford to look past Tennessee State and ahead to the Eaglettes.

The Redhawks took care of visiting Tennessee State in Thursday's Ohio Valley Conference opener, although they struggled some before winning 71-53.

That sets up today's anticipated early-season showdown between Southeast (4-3, 1-0 OVC) and Tech (6-1, 2-0) at the Show Me Center. The tipoff is set for 5 p.m.

"Everybody is looking forward to this game," said senior forward Natalie Purcell, who scored a career-high 22 points against Tennessee State.

Tech was deemed the OVC's preseason favorite in the league's official poll -- barely finishing ahead of the Redhawks, as the Eaglettes garnered 95 points and six first-place votes, compared to 93 points and four first-place votes for Southeast.

That didn't sit well with the Redhawks, even though both teams returned many of their key players from last year's squads that finished right next to each other in the conference standings.

"Of course, we thought we should have been first," senior center Tatiana Conceicao said. "But it really doesn't matter. We just have to win."

Southeast, in putting together its best Division I season last year, went 22-8 overall and 14-2 in league play to finish second. Tech, a perennial OVC power, was 21-8 overall and 13-3 in the conference to place third.

After splitting their two regular-season meetings, the squads hooked up in the OVC Tournament semifinals in Nashville, Tenn. -- and Southeast prevailed 71-68 on senior guard Tiffanne Ryan's 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The Redhawks then came tantalizingly close to their first NCAA Division I tournament berth -- but OVC regular-season champion Eastern Kentucky hit a shot at the buzzer to force overtime and then prevailed in double-overtime to capture the championship.

Southeast has its sights set on winning both the OVC regular-season and tournament titles this year -- and, while a victory today would help toward achieving the first part, Smith warns that the game is just the second of 20 in the league's expanded schedule where all 11 OVC teams play each other twice.

"It's a big game and we're looking forward to it. I know our fans are really looking forward to it," Smith said. "But it's still just one game out of 20. No matter what happens, it's not the end of the season."

Still, Smith added, "You lose this one, you have to fight an uphill battle the rest of the way."

The matchup is enticing not just from a team standpoint but also from an individual one.

Southeast and Tech feature what most people agree are the league's top two players in Conceicao and the Eaglettes' Emily Christian.

Conceicao is the reigning OVC player of the year who was also picked as the league's preseason player of the year. She leads the OVC in scoring at 21.9 points per game, after finishing second last year (17.6 ppg).

Christian, a senior center, is second in league scoring behind Conceicao at 19.4 points per game, after leading the OVC last year (19.5 ppg).

Also averaging in double figures for the Eaglettes are junior guard Kendall Cavin (17.1 ppg, fourth in the OVC) and freshman guard Meagan Lyons (12.3 ppg).

Senior forward Simone Jackson (13 ppg) and Purcell (11.9 ppg) are Southeast's other top scoring threats.

Both teams are putting up big offensive numbers, as Southeast is second in OVC scoring (74.3 ppg) and Tech is third (72.7 ppg).

"This is the best Tech has been since I've been at Southeast," Smith said. "They'll be hard to beat."

But the Redhawks figure to be difficult to beat at the Show Me Center, as they have won 18 straight home games against OVC opponents dating back to the 2003-04 season.

"We take a lot of pride in the way we play at home, and any time you're trying to win a conference championship, it's always important to protect your home court," Smith said. "It should be a great game."