SEMO women’s basketball dominates Morehead State to advance

The Southeast Missouri State Redhawks led wire-to-wire as they blew by the Morehead State Eagles 77-38 on Thursday at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

The Redhawks took care of business in every aspect of the game which was key to their success to open OVC Tournament play.

“I’m really proud of our young ladies for coming out and playing a really good game today,” Redhawks coach Rekha Patterson said. “I just thought our young ladies just came out and wanted it for 40 minutes.”

SEMO forced 27 turnovers in the win and scored 26 points off of turnovers, with Kiyley Flowers picking up 7 steals.

“We’ve tried to really be focused on team defense,” Patterson said. “We’ve also tried to help our players know a little bit more about tendencies while keeping it really simple.”

Jaliyah Green said she credits the defense for setting the tone for the Redhawks’ offense.

“I feel like our defense creates our offense,” Green said. “When we get a couple of stops we score a lot and we score in transition.”

The Redhawks led 16-7 after one quarter of play but it was the second quarter where Southeast began to pull away as they started with a 12-3 run to lead 28-10, before taking a 32-16 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The second half saw the Redhawks continue to pull away as they cruised to the 77-38 win.

After missing the OVC Tournament a season ago, the Redhawks are happy to be back in Evansville.

“It’s a great feeling,” Redhawks sophomore Kennedi Watkins said. “This season we’ve had a chip on our shoulder and something to prove every game. We stayed consistent and believed in ourselves.”

The win for Southeast sets up a matchup with the number one-seeded Little Rock Trojans at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

“We’re going to take this one in,” Green said. “But as the day goes on we’re going to sit back and think about tomorrow’s game because we have to be 1-0 tomorrow.”

Rahmena Henderson led the scoring for Southeast with 13 points in the win. Sophie Bussard had 12 points, Jaliyah Green and Kennedi Watkins had 11 points, Diona Reed had 8 points, Halle Smith had 6 points, Tamia Stallings had 5 points, Kiyley Flowers and Julia Sion had 3 points, Chandler Davis and Kori Tomlim had 2 points and Alecia Doyle had 1 point.

Down the stretch, the Redhawks have benefitted from Diona Reed being back in the rotation and Patterson thinks having Reed back for tomorrow’s matchup with the Trojans can make an impact.

“I don’t want to put a whole lot on one player because we have a really balanced team and a good team,” Patterson said. “But, I do think Diona’s presence can make a difference. We needed some size and physicality the last time we played (Little Rock) at home so it’s our hope that she will be able to come in and help the team have success by just doing what she’s been doing for the last couple of weeks.”

The Redhawks and Trojans will tip off their semifinal matchup at 1 p.m. on Friday, March 3 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.