Southeast Missouri State women will open OVC basketball tournament vs. SIUE

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team will enter this week's Ohio Valley Conference tournament this week in Nashville, Tennessee, as the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 SIU Edwardsville in the first round.

The Redhawks, who dropped their final two conference games to finish the regular season at 15-14 overall and 8-8 in the OVC, will face the Cougars at 2 p.m. Thursday at Municipal Auditorium.

The tournament field was set following the conclusion of Sunday's contest between Belmont and Tennessee State.

Southeast, coming off a 74-71 road loss to Austin Peay on Saturday night, will be competing in the OVC tournament for the first time since 2009.

The Governors, who split their two conference games with Southeast, also finished the regular season with an 8-8 record but were awarded the No. 5 seed by merit of their victory over OVC regular-season champion UT Martin.

SIU Edwardsville (17-12, 12-4 OVC) recorded an 80-73 victory over the Redhawks on Jan. 20 and beat Southeast 89-75 in its home finale on Wednesday.

Top-seeded UT Martin faces No. 8 Murray State at noon Wednesday to start the tournament, while No. 2 Belmont and No. 7 Tennessee State will face off at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

No. 4 Eastern Kentucky and APSU play at noon Thursday, followed by Southeast's first-round game.