Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team clinches OVC tournament berth with win vs. EIU

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball players received a reminder of what they're capable of just prior to the start of their game against Eastern Illinois on Saturday.

They were met with a surprise from the Redhawks coaching staff in their locker room at the Show Me Center.

"They actually showed a video of us playing before the game and I think that really riled us up a little bit -- a highlight video," senior forward Erin Bollmann said. "We were all screaming and yelling before the game."

Southeast Missouri State's Bri Mitchell drives down the court in the third quarter against Eastern Illinois Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 at the Show Me Center. GLENN LANDBERG

That excitement translated to the court where the Redhawks ran away with an 82-52 victory over the Panthers to improve to 15-12 and 8-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Southeast's win, coupled with a Tennessee Tech loss later in the afternoon, secured the program's first OVC tournament berth since 2009.

"I really wish that we could say with eight wins that we're in. How about that?" first-year coach Rekha Patterson said before confirmation that her team had a spot in the tournament. "Again, I just think that's a testament to how great this conference is and how every night you have to bring it."

Southeast Missouri State's Erin Bollmann shoots past Eastern Illinois' Erica Brown in the second quarter Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 at the Show Me Center. GLENN LANDBERG

The game was tied three times early, but a jumper by Bollmann with 2 minutes, 39 seconds to go in the first quarter put the Redhawks up 11-9 and they never relinquished the lead.

Senior forward Connor King followed with a layup and junior guard Bri Mitchell converted a 3-point play as Southeast closed out the quarter on a 7-0 spurt and led 16-9 after one.

Patterson credited the leadership of her two seniors for the Redhawks' success against the Panthers.

"They want to get to Nashville," Patterson said. "This is it for them. And so they were going to lay it out on the line. Then because our players care about each other those underclassmen want to do whatever they can to help the seniors get there. When you combine those two things, and you're playing at home, I think something like this can happen."

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Redhawks, who had been idle from games for a week.

That stretch started with a 64-59 road loss to EIU, which snapped the Panthers' 21-game losing streak at the time.

"We kind of played like we had before that stretch," King said. "We went back to who we were, which was something that we worked on this week, just kind of going back to who we were and what we do well."

The Redhawks had shorter, more intense practices leading up to the game and implemented a "300 Club" where each player came into the gym individually for three days and tried to make 300 shots in 45 minutes or less.

"A whole bunch of shots. Shoot, shoot, shoot," Mitchell said.

"I think every day every person got it, so that's like close to a thousand shots made for every one of us this week and I think it gave us a lot of confidence, which kind of showed today," said King, who finished with a season-high 13 points.

The Redhawks shot 47.5 percent from the floor and outscored EIU 44-18 in the paint in the contest.

Southeast opened up the second quarter on a 9-0 run and the Panthers went without a point in the period for 5:22.

The Redhawks led by as much as 17 in the half after Bollmann hit the team's only 3-pointer of the game with 44 seconds before the break and they held a 34-18 advantage at halftime.

Southeast held a 26-point advantage at the end of the third quarter and led by as many as 33 in the fourth.

The Redhawks held EIU to 26.1 percent shooting and 15 percent from 3-point range. They also outrebounded the Panthers 54-32.

Mitchell, who finished with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 6-of-7 shooting from the free-throw line, was commended by Patterson for her performance on the defensive end.

"Man, was she tough tonight," Patterson said. "She made some defensive plays that were really good. When you think about the start of the game -- she started pretty poorly the first two possessions on offense and defense, but she fought her way through it.

"We sort of were connected. If you think about those three games on the road we were all playing individual defense and when somebody got beat there was nobody to help and then we were in scramble mode. Tonight when they did put it on the floor they only went one way and then there was somebody there to help and then their hands were up and they didn't have time to get their feet set and just knock down shots. I think our intensity and our energy was much better defensively."

Bollmann finished with 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting while redshirt freshman forward Imani Johnson scored 12 ad grabbed 10 rebounds.

EIU forward Jalisha Smith was the only Panther to score in double figures, finishing with 12 points.

"Complete win tonight," Patterson said. "I thought everybody played with great toughness and energy. You come off three losses and it's like, 'What are you going to see?' Obviously shooting the ball as well as we did was great, but I thought it was our toughness; we stayed together. We didn't even start the game necessarily hot, but we fought through that and we got tougher as the game went on."

Southeast, which locked up its first winning regular-season since 2008-09 with the win, currently sits in fifth place in the OVC standings.

The Redhawks host SIU Edwardsville on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. before closing out the regular-season at Austin Peay on Saturday.

The OVC tournament, held at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, begins March 2.

"We are going to come out and play free and play hard," Patterson said. "It's got to matter to us more than it matters to SIUE. And win or lose are we playing our best basketball? Are we playing with this type of energy, effort. Are we playing defense? Are we sticking together whenever we hit adversity? Those are the things that matter to me."

SOUTHEAST 82, EASTERN ILLINOIS 52

Eastern Illinois 9 9 20 14 -- 52

Southeast 16 18 30 18 -- 82

EASTERN ILLINOIS (52) -- Erica Brown 8, Jalisha Smith 12, Phylicia Johnson 3, Grace Lennox 9, Shakita Cox 3, Carmen Tellez 5, Mariah Madison 4, Halle Stulle 5, Alece Shumpert 3. FG 18-69, FT 13-19, F 20. (3-pointers: Tellez, Stull, Shumpert. Fouled out: None.)

SOUTHEAST (82) -- Connor King 13, Deja Jones 5, Bri Mitchell 22, Adrianna Murphy 6, Ashton Luttrull 2, Dolapo Balogun 2, Erin Bollmann 15, Hannah Noe 3, Imani Johnson 12, Hilma Mededovic 2. FG 29-61, FT 23-28, F 13. (3-pointers: Bollmann. Fouled out: None.)