Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team heads back to basics

Editor's note: The spelling of Ashton Luttrull's name has been corrected.

Nearly eight weeks ago, coach Rekha Patterson advised her players of a half dozen areas that would be top priorities during their summer in Cape Girardeau.

Patterson's first summer as head coach of the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team concludes next week, and those six concepts remain her biggest focus for the Redhawks.

"They have to be a championship team [in] energy, effort, intensity, pace, communication and competition," Patterson said in a phone interview Wednesday. "Every single drill that we did, that was the focus at the end of the day -- those six things -- and I feel like we've accomplished that."

Patterson's belief was that the work it took for her players to achieve what she wanted in those areas would help them to believe in their abilities on the court, which was needed for members of a team that finished 10-19 and 3-13 in conference play a year ago.

The three returning seniors from that team -- Erin Bollmann, Connor King and Olivia Hackmann -- came up with a goal for each player to make 14,000 shots during the eight weeks, which is 250 shots a day. Patterson embraced the trio's idea.

"I wanted them to get in the gym and see that pay off, see what that feels like to spend about 30 to 45 minutes in the gym just shooting and just working on your game," Patterson said, "and see how that translates to confidence when you guys play pick-up. And then that's going to turn into confidence when we start getting things going in the fall."

Patterson hasn't implemented any offensive sets with her squad yet and doesn't plan to until the fall.

Her players know they're going to push the tempo, though, because of the pace they've done every drill.

Patterson has discussed some defense with the Redhawks, but the majority of their time together has been spent on the basics.

"Just getting them to have confidence and playing the style and competing every single possession was more important for me than putting in an offense or putting in a set," Patterson said. "We've worked on ball-handling, passing, catching, shooting and rebounding -- those have been huge for us."

Four Redhawks players had offseason surgeries -- Hannah Noe, Brianna Mitchell, Kaley Leyhue and Ashton Luttrull -- and have continued to rehab and recover. Noe is the only one who has been completely cleared, but Patterson is optimistic about their progress.

Off the court, she's tried to soak up as much as she can about each individual and has pushed her players to bond with each other away from the coaches.

"I told them, 'We're going to build a family of student-athletes, and to be a family you guys have to spend time together -- not just when we're in practice or not just in the locker room before or right after practice but away from the gym,'" Patterson said.

Bollmann, King and Hackmann each have been in charge of their own teams while they complete tasks designated by Patterson.

Those tasks have included taking a picture with outgoing athletic director Mark Alnutt and recording a video of their group doing a choreographed dance challenge called "Hit the Quan."

The seniors frequently stop in Patterson's office when she's not on the road recruiting to discuss leadership.

"They have stepped up, and they have leaned in. And they have gotten out of their comfort zone," Patterson said.

While the first-time head coach has spent a good portion of the summer with her team, she's also been busy recruiting.

She and members of her coaching staff have traveled to several major tournaments, including some in Nashville and Washington D.C. Patterson is currently in Georgia watching tournaments.

"We put in a lot of phone calls before we were able to come out to make sure we were letting people know about our new vision for the program," Patterson said. "Now it's just really good to see those kids we've been talking to and had heard about. The biggest thing for us is putting faces with names and for those young ladies to see us, our coaching staff, out and obviously evaluating their talent. I'm excited about what we see and the conversations that I've had with recruits and coaches."

Patterson will return from her latest trip on Friday and has a two-hour practice planned. She expects to have about three individual workouts with players next week to go over what she wants them to work on before they all return home for a brief break prior to returning to school on Aug. 24.

"I just want them to be prepared so they know when they get in the gym what drills to work on, what things that they can do while they're at home, so when they come back we can just pick up where we left off. That's going to be huge," Patterson said. " ... Just wrap up the summer and make sure that we're all leaving with the same mindset and we don't forget what our goals are when we come back."