Southeast Missouri State women's basketball looks to rediscover toughness hosting Southern Illinois

Toughness has been the focal point for the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team since Rekha Patterson took over as the Redhawks' coach.

After a few close wins this season she's described her players' efforts as "Redhawk Tough," and after their latest loss at home to Central Arkansas the players and Patterson both credited it to a lack of that.

It's been nine days since that last loss, and in the meantime Patterson has turned her efforts to getting some of that resiliency back before today's noon game against Southern Illinois at the Show Me Center.

"I think we've redefined what that is for us," Patterson said. "Any type of toughness drill that we could do -- whether it was rebounding, taking charges, loose ball drills, competing four on four on four with no fouls -- that was the mantra for the last week. *... And I wanted our players to go through practices that were so difficult that when it came to the game they already knew how to respond because they had done it in practice and they were ready for it and the game was nowhere near as tough as what practice was."

Today's game against the regional-rival Salukis will feature $2 admission for all fans as well as $2 hot dogs, small sodas and small orders of popcorn as part of "$2 Tuesday."

"Come out, have breakfast, come to the game and then go ahead and do your Christmas shopping," Patterson said with a laugh.

Not having a game since the 63-54 loss to UCA on Dec. 13 was "absolutely" a positive for Patterson's squad, which is 6-5 on the season.

"We got into a lull there where all we were able to do was, like, prep for the next game because of how things were turning around. You may polish up on something then prep for the next, polish, prep," Patterson said. "But I thought this week was good, and I feel like when we come back from the [Christmas] break that time will be good for us. We'll go two-a-days up into those games, and I think that'll be good as well."

After today's contest, the Redhawks don't play again until Dec. 30 when they host William Woods for their final game before beginning their Ohio Valley Conference slate.

Southeast closes out 2015 with its OVC opener against Belmont as part of a men's and women's doubleheader Dec. 31. The men's and women's teams host Tennessee State in a doubleheader Jan. 2.

Patterson wants to see an improvement on the defensive end in the final two nonconference games.

"I think we do a pretty good job of defending, but then our rebounding, we're not finishing possessions," Patterson said. "We're not going to tower over every team and we're not going to out-athlete every team, so we've got to be fundamentally sound. Rebounding isn't really about athleticism or talent; it's about heart. We've got to show that every day."

The Redhawks currently rank 36th nationally in rebounds per game, averaging 44.1. SIU is 38th with 43.9 per game. The Salukis rank 28th in the country in offensive rebounds per game with 17.

SIU (6-4) brings a two-game winning streak into today's contest and is coming off a 55-52 win at Mercer. The Salukis are 4-1 against OVC opponents this season, beating Tennessee State in overtime, Murray State, SIU Edwardsville and Morehead State. Defending OVC champion UT Martin beat the Salukis 70-63.

SIU defeated the Redhawks 78-62 in their meeting a year ago and finished last season 17-13.

The trio of Rishonda Napier, Dyana Pierre and Cartaesha Macklin lead SIU.

Napier, a 5-foot-5 redshirt junior guard, averages 15.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. She's shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 45.2 percent from beyond the arc, knocking down 28 3-point attempts. She's also an 83.3 percent free-throw shooter.

Macklin, a 5-6 redshirt senior guard, averages 11.2 points and 3.9 assists per game. She's a 41.1 percent shooter and has made 10 3s. She's 24 of 25 on free throws.

Pierre, a 6-2 senior forward, averages 13.8 points and her 11.9 rebounds per game ranks 10th nationally. She's shooting 46.6 percent, but is just a 54.9 percent free-throw shooter.

"Their big three, they've played a lot of basketball games. They're seasoned," Patterson said. "They know what they do. They make timely plays. They're difficult to guard because they can do a lot of different things. They play really well together."

The Redhawks have seven available players averaging 5 ppg or more. Junior guard Bri Mitchell averages 11.8 points and 3.5 assists. Senior forward Erin Bollmann averages 9.9 points and 7.2 rebounds, redshirt freshman forward Imani Johnson averages 8.0 points and 4.4 rebounds and sophomore forward Deja Jones averages 7.4 points and 7.4 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Hannah Noe averages 5.9 points, freshman guard Adrianna Murphy averages 5.6 points and 4.4 assists, and senior forward Connor King averages 5.0 points and 6.3 rebounds.

Southeast's leading scorer, senior guard Olivia Hackmann, has missed the last two games and remains sidelined with a Jones fracture in her right foot. Hackmann averaged 16.4 points and 4.8 rebounds before injuring her foot late in regulation at Wichita State on Dec. 4.

Patterson said that Hackmann had a cast put on Friday and is expected to miss 6 to 8 weeks.

Hackmann just made the cutoff to be able to receive a medical redshirt, if it comes to that. Had she played in one more game she could not have received a redshirt.

"But I know that she wants to do whatever she can to help her team this year, and she understands that if her body allows for her to come back and that's what she wants to do, then I'm not going to tell her no," Patterson said. "But she also knows that she has the option of coming back next year."