Southeast Missouri State women's basketball releases 2016-17 regular-season schedule

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball schedule was released Tuesday, and it includes 15 games at the Show Me Center, seven of which are of the non-conference variety.

"Our 2016-17 non-conference schedule will definitely prepare us for the tough battles we will face during OVC play," second-year coach Rekha Patterson said in a press release. "We are excited about our regional rivalry games, especially for our fans. I always like for our players to have a chance to play as close to their home as possible, and we will do that when we go to Memphis.

"Our fans were a huge part of our success in our home games, and we hope that continues when we start off the season with three consecutive games at home and start conference play with back-to-back home games. Our players enjoyed playing in front of large and loud crowds at the Show Me Center, and we will need that support as we work to qualify for the OVC tournament as four of our final six games will be at home."

The Redhawks, who qualified last season for their first OVC Tournament since 2009, will get their regular season underway on Nov. 11 against Cincinnati at the Show Me Center. They'll follow it up with back-to-back home games against Hannibal-LaGrange (Nov. 14) and Western Illinois (Nov. 16) before hitting the road to take on Xavier (Nov. 18) and Evansville (Nov. 20).

Southeast will compete in the Southern Mississippi Thanksgiving tournament on Nov. 25-29, a field that includes Louisiana-Lafayette, Alcorn State and Southern Miss.

The non-conference home slate also includes matchups against St. Louis (Nov. 29), Stephens College (Dec. 4), Lipscomb (Dec. 6) and Alabama A&M (Dec. 19), while the non-conference road slate concludes against Southern Illinois (Dec. 9) and Memphis (Dec. 16).

OVC play for the Redhawks begins with back-to-back home games against Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 29 and Dec. 31, respectively. Southeast will then hit the road to face Tennessee State (Jan. 5), Belmont (Jan. 7), defending OVC champion UT Martin (Jan. 14) and SIU Edwardsville (Jan. 18).

The Redhawks close out the first month of the year with home games against Eastern Illinois (Jan. 21) and Murray State and a road matchup against Austin Peay on Jan. 28. They'll take on host Jacksonville State on Feb. 1 before returning home to face Morehead State (Feb. 4) and SIUE (Feb. 8).

Southeast's regular season wraps up at Eastern Illinois (Feb. 11), home against UT Martin (Feb. 18), at Murray State (Feb. 22) and home against Austin Peay (Feb. 25).

This year's OVC Tournament is scheduled for March 1-4 at Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Redhawks are coming off a 15-15 campaign (8-8 in OVC) in Patterson's first year at the helm in 2015-16, finishing tied for fifth in the conference.

All home games and OVC games will be available for free on the OVC Digital Network, while each game can be heard on SEMO ESPN 1220 AM.