Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach Rekha Patterson signs first four players

Rekha Patterson knew exactly which players she had in mind to first recruit when she was hired as the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach April 15.

Now less than a month later she's announced the signings of four high school seniors that she was aware of during her time as an assistant at Ball State: Adrianna Murphy, Corneisha Henderson, Dolapo Balogun and Hilma Mededovic.

"It was a quick turnaround from meeting the team and watching a little film to see what we needed and having a couple of workouts, but I think these young ladies absolutely fit our needs and help rebuild this program," Patterson said.

Patterson's first four players that she's signed as a head coach bring some variety to the Redhawks.

Murphy is a 5-foot-3 point guard from Fishers High School in Indiana and Henderson is a 5-7 combo guard who played at Princeton High School in Cincinnati.

Mededovic, a 5-11 forward, attends Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois, but lived in Bosnia before moving to Illinois for the 2014 spring semester.

Balogun is a 5-10 forward who played at Roselle Catholic High School in New Jersey.

While these four make up Patterson's first signing class, she doesn't look upon them any differently than the 10 already on the Redhawks' roster.

"Some coaches do say that they're 'you're players' but this team is my team," Patterson said. "The players that weren't recruited by me and the ones that are -- they are my team. We're all in this together. I'm excited to bring in these young ladies because they're a really good fit for our program and for this campus and community. I think Redhawk nation is going to be proud of them. They're going to understand exactly why I thought it was a good fit. They're going to work hard, be competitive, be great student-athletes. They're going to excel in the classroom and take pride in wearing that uniform."

Murphy already had committed to signing with Southeast when Ty Margenthaler, whose resignation was announced March 23, served as the Redhawks' coach.

Patterson had watched Murphy play when she attended camps at Ball State and was drawn to her passion and competitiveness.

She was equally impressed by Murphy's drive after she suffered a torn ACL during the fall of her junior year. Murphy was able to return to the court that winter during the playoffs.

"Adrianna is someone I've known, and I was excited when she was excited about my hiring and wanted to stay on," Patterson said.

Murphy averaged 12.7 points, 5.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds a game during her senior campaign. She also was a 43-percent shooter from the field, 70 percent from the charity stripe and set the school record for assists as a senior.

She was an Indiana Basketball Coaches Association all-state selection and an Associated Press all-state selection.

"She is a great floor general. She gets her teammates the ball when they need it, she gets them where they need to be when they need to be there," Patterson said. "She's got great speed, and again, really competitive."

Henderson averaged 17.2 points per game as a senior, a jump from 7.3 during her junior season. She also averaged three assists, a block and about two steals per game last year.

She was a second-team all-conference selection in the Greater Miami Conference the past two years and helped the Vikings to a state title in 2014.

"She's a tough, physical guard, really good with her dribble penetration and her ability to create for herself and her teammates," Patterson said. "She passes the ball well and can bring the ball up if you need to, so she's more of a combo guard, but I just like her playmaking ability and her physical play."

Balogun averaged nearly a double-double during her final two years at Roselle Catholic High School, and the Lions matched their program record for wins in a season with a record of 25-3 last season.

Roselle, which won its first 21 games of the season and a division championship, reached the state sectional final for non-public schools.

Balogun averaged 10.8 points and 9.1 rebounds as a senior along with 1.7 steals per game.

"Another physical athlete that we're bringing to the table," Patterson said. "Plays hard, rebounds the ball, defends really well and can score from 15-feet in."

Balogun's high school coach, Joe Skrec, described her as a hard worker who was extremely coachable and whose dedication to her craft helped her become a "go-to" player for the Lions on offense.

"Very good help defender, and I think she's somebody that is going to be able to make a contribution certainly on the defensive end of the court and rebounding, and she's a player that's improved offensively," Skrec said. "She started out as strictly a low-block player. She's taken her game a little bit outside, and the biggest stride she's made is her ability to drive to the basket -- to catch the ball on the elbow when we run our flex sets and stuff like that and could really rip the ball through and go hard to the basket."

Messages for the coaches of Murphy, Henderson and Mededovic were not returned at press time.

Mededovic, who was the MVP of the Central Suburban League and was honorable mention all-area by the Pioneer Press, has a different offensive skill set than fellow forward Balogun.

"Hilma has that international style where it's just a little different than what you see every day," Patterson said about Mededovic, who played for the Bosnian national team. "Her mid-range game is really good and she's deceptive in her ability to get to the rim and be able to finish that way. I'm excited about her. She's another young lady that wanted that opportunity and she actually moved back to the states because she wanted to play college ball."

In addition to adding the four players to the roster, Patterson also added a pair of assistant coaches to her staff.

No official announcement has been made by the university -- contracts are being finalized -- but Jauwan Scaife and Chante' Crutchfield will join Patterson at Southeast.

Scaife was a guard on the Ball State men's basketball team from 2009 to 2013 and had been a graduate assistant with the men's team the past two years.

Crutchfield coached high school girls basketball in Texas. She was a graduate assistant for Kim Mulkey at Baylor, a previous stop for Patterson, from 2000 to 2002 and also worked for the Houston Comets of the WNBA.

"Absolutely," Patterson said with a laugh when asked if hiring her staff was a relief. "It's tough whenever you've got to answer every phone call about every recruit and return every email, but it's been exciting for me to have to do so much of this on my own and get to know my players and recruits. I'm excited to have my staff along. I trust them, they're hardworking. I believe in them and they believe in me, and we're excited to be here at Southeast Missouri State."