Smith has hardware to show for strong run

~ The Southeast coach has a 79-40 record and his first OVC trophies.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It perhaps took a little longer than B.J. Smith had envisioned when he became the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach four seasons ago -- but the Redhawks have finally reached the promised land of the NCAA Division I tournament.

Southeast secured its first NCAA berth since moving up to Division I in 1991-92 by rolling past Tennessee Tech 71-50 in Saturday's championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

"I told Tiffanne Ryan that when I signed her four years ago, I wanted to do this then," Smith said. "But maybe it means more this way."

Even though this year marked the first time the Redhawks have won the OVC regular-season title -- they shared the crown with Tennessee Tech -- or the OVC tournament championship, Smith's program had already made a major impression on the conference.

Southeast entered this season with the best record among OVC teams over the previous three years under Smith, and the Redhawks improved upon that this season.

Under Smith, Southeast has a 79-40 overall record and a 51-17 mark in regular-season conference play. Both figures lead the league.

Southeast has also reached the OVC tournament final in three of Smith's four seasons, losing 85-61 to Austin Peay in 2002-03, dropping an 84-73 double-overtime thriller to Eastern Kentucky last year -- after the Colonels hit a tying shot at the regulation buzzer -- and then crushing Tech on Saturday.

"We're proud of what we've been able to accomplish," Smith said. "You always want it to happen quicker, but it's not easy. Those other teams are trying to win, too."

While Smith was elated for his staff and all his players following Saturday's triumph, he was particularly pleased for his six seniors. Four of them are starters, with the other two being key reserves.

Among the six, only backup guard Ryan has been with the program since Smith came to Southeast. The other five are junior college transfers who have only been at Southeast the past two years.

Center Tatiana Conceicao, Southeast's leading scorer, and forwards Natalie Purcell and Simone Jackson (two more double-figure point-producers), and point guard Wanika Owsley, Southeast's assists leader, are the senior regulars, while backup guard Katrisha "Red" Dunn rounds out the group.

"This is a phenomenal accomplishment, for the entire team and especially for these six seniors," Smith said.

Those six have been largely responsible for Southeast having by far its best two-year run since the university moved up to Division I.

The Redhawks are 44-16 the past two seasons, finishing second in the OVC last year and falling in the tournament final before finally breaking through in both areas this season.

"Those seniors have meant so much to our program," Smith said.

Smith smiled when he was asked how far the Redhawks have come since that early January night in Charleston, Ill., when a loss to Eastern Illinois dropped Southeast to 6-7 overall and 3-3 in OVC play.

Since then, the Redhawks have reeled off 16 victories against just one defeat.

"To think where we were ... a lot of people were writing us off," Smith said. "To win 16 out of 17 is a tremendous accomplishment."

As the Redhawks basked in the glow of making school history Saturday -- they sported OVC championship T-shirts and cut down the nets at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in front of about 200 of the program's supporters -- Smith was more than happy to let them celebrate.

But not for all that long -- because the Redhawks don't plan on ending this latest chapter of their breakthrough season in Nashville.

"We talked about it before we came here, let's win this, then we'll take a couple of days off, but we have to refocus," Smith said. "We don't want to lay down. We want to beat somebody."

The Redhawks will find out who and where they will play in the NCAA tournament when the bracket is revealed next Sunday. An OVC team has not won an NCAA game since Tech pulled off the trick in 1989-90 -- but Southeast plans to change that.

"This feels great and it's something we've been working on all year," Jackson said. "But it's not over yet."