Redhawks' semifinal challenge: Beat Samford

It's one down and two to go for Southeast Missouri State as the Redhawks chase their first NCAA Division I tournament berth.

And to advance another step in their quest, the Redhawks will have to beat a team they have already lost to twice this season.

Second-seeded Southeast (20-8) and third-seeded Samford (21-7) will square off in today's Ohio Valley Conference tournament second semifinal in Nashville, Tenn., with the tipoff set for 2 p.m. at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

The winner moves into Saturday's 11 a.m. championship game against either top-seeded Tennessee Tech (21-7) or fifth-seeded Morehead State (16-12), who play in today's noon semifinal.

"We want to have our best game," Southeast senior Tatiana Conceicao said. "We know Samford is going to be really tough."

Although OVC regular-season co-champion Southeast finished just ahead of third-place Samford, the Bulldogs won both meetings against the Redhawks, 91-76 on Dec. 18 in Birmingham, Ala., and 57-53 on Feb. 23 in Cape Girardeau.

"We felt we could have played a lot better against them both times, but Samford is a good basketball team," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said. "They've had a really good season."

Samford, in fact, has put together the best season in program history, which led to the Bulldogs' Mike Morris winning the OVC coach of the year award.

"He's done a great job," Smith said.

The same could be said of Smith, who has led the Redhawks to consecutive 20-win seasons the past two years, after Southeast had not previously reached the 20-victory plateau since moving up to Division I and joining the OVC in 1991-92.

Southeast this year won the program's first OVC regular-season title -- and now the Redhawks want to make up for last year's OVC tournament heartbreaker.

Eastern Kentucky ended a 22-8 Southeast campaign by hitting a shot at the regulation buzzer to force overtime in the championship game, and the Colonels prevailed in double-overtime.

Smith said that defeat has served to make the Redhawks -- particularly their six seniors who are the backbone of the team -- even more determined this season.

"When last season was over, it hurt. There were tears everywhere. They remember that, and they don't want to experience it again," Smith said. "We've got an experienced group, and they're going to go down there with a purpose."

Said senior forward Natalie Purcell: "This is the last shot for the seniors. We don't want to have that feeling again."

Smith knows the Redhawks will have their work cut out for them in trying to beat Samford, which relies on a patient offense and a defense that will try to pack things inside while daring Southeast to beat the Bulldogs from the outside.

Samford allows a league-low 58.6 points per game, while Southeast scores a conference-high 72.4 points per contest.

"They're a tough matchup," Smith said. "They control tempo, that's the biggest thing they do against us. They'll run 30 seconds off the [shot] clock.

"And defensively, they'll pack the paint. Last time we played them, we couldn't hit from the outside.

"We've got to get good shots every possession. And we've got to guard them, not let them get into an offensive rhythm."

While Samford barely squeezed past Jacksonville State 58-56 in Tuesday's first-round tournament game, Southeast destroyed Murray State 80-49.

"Unfortunately, we can't take any of those points with us," Smith said. "That's the great thing about playoff basketball. Every game, you start over."

But Conceicao figures the Redhawks can take that type of performance with them.

"They're going to come strong," Conceicao said of Samford. "But if we play like we did [Tuesday], we're going to beat them."