Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team set to begin conference action

Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach Rekha Patterson loved the movie "Creed" so much after watching it with her team over Thanksgiving that she decided to go see it again on Tuesday night.

Following her team's non-conference victory against William Woods the next day she felt like a moment in the movie where Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa character talks about how it's all about the person in the mirror.

Patterson believes that line to be true for her team as the Redhawks embark on their Ohio Valley Conference season today with a 2:30 p.m. game against Belmont at the Show Me Center. They host Tennessee State on Saturday.

"That's your biggest competition every single day," Patterson said. "No disrespect to William Woods -- that's a great program and they're going to do great this year -- but it's not about William Woods, and it's really not about Belmont or TSU -- it is about Southeast Missouri State, and who are we and what do we do? ... I thought, 'We are a team that will not quit,' and I appreciate that. I want us to be a team that gives great energy, effort, attitude -- you guys have heard this before. We communicate and we compete. That's who we are. Then what do we do? We defend, we rebound and we make shots. We're going to keep it simple."

Patterson was unsure what to expect of her team this season when she first took the job in April, but soon realized the talent she had in senior guard Olivia Hackmann as well as some other returning starters like senior forwards Erin Bollmann and Connor King and junior guard Bri Mitchell. Other than that there was a lot of question marks with freshmen or players that hadn't seen significant minutes last season when Southeast went 10-19 and 3-13 in conference.

The Redhawks wrapped up their non-conference portion of the schedule 7-6, which is the same mark they entered OVC play with last year, but are without star Hackmann, who averaged 16.4 points through the first nine games, for the foreseeable future with a Jones fracture in her right foot.

"For us to be where we are I think we're moving in the right direction," Patterson said. "You go through non-conference, you go on the road and beat a Wichita State team that's really good, and then you lose Olivia. And I think we have done a good job of not making a big deal out of it because even if we do make it a big deal we can't change it, and I hurt for her because I know how bad she wants to be on the floor. But I think that we are dealing with life and I think these are lessons that hopefully these young ladies will be able to use when they graduate with that Southeast degree -- that when life hits you you stand up and you fight back and you believe in yourself no matter what. I think we're getting there. I think we're getting to the part where, 'She believed she could [so she did].'

Mitchell, who said several times that the team's going to make it to the OVC tournament in Nashville -- a feat the program hasn't accomplished since 2009 -- said this year the team feels united. King agreed and believes she and her teammates aren't dreading possible conference struggles like they might have in the past.

"I think this year we are progressively getting better every game," King said. "And we haven't even peaked yet. This isn't our best basketball yet. We're going to continue to get better and we're going to continue to be -- everybody, individually and as a team -- the best we can. I think that's what's different. Everybody's excited. *... We're excited for conference. We're excited to surprise people with how we play."

The Bruins enter today's game with an 8-5 record, which is the best of any conference team, Saturday's opponent TSU is the defending OVC tournament champion.

Continued progress for Southeast must include limiting turnovers and being strong on the boards.

"Those two things can win or lose because you're not always going to make shots, and sometimes you will, but if we can rebound -- and we're going to have our hands full going against one of the top 30 teams in the country in rebounding tomorrow night -- and if we can take care of the ball, if we can do those things that will help us," Patterson said. "And yes, I want to win. I want to win every single game, but I want to make sure that we aren't changing who we are just to win a game. I want us to continue to get better as the season goes on and when you ask me in three weeks I can say, 'Yes, we are working on these things and got better at these things. Now let's move to the next phase.' I think our young ladies have a lot left in their tank. I think that their ceiling is really high. We're nowhere close to being where I feel like we can be, and I like that, I'm glad we're not there yet."