Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team will make regular-season home debut

The first chance to see the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team in regular-season action at home has arrived.

The Redhawks host NAIA Harris-Stowe tonight in their home opener. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Show Me Center.

The Hornets have a record of 1-2 in their first season under coach Hana Haden.

They opened the season with a 94-66 loss to Campbellsville University and a 72-44 loss to Bethel University.

Harris-Stowe picked up its first win on Saturday, dropping Avila University 66-53.

"They are an athletic bunch," Southeast coach Rekha Patterson said. "They run hard and run fast, and they look to attack off the dribble and crash the boards. We're going to have to play sound, solid defense and make sure we rebound the ball for sure."

The Hornets played Saint Louis, which Southeast lost to 67-52 in its season opener on Saturday, in an exhibition Nov. 7. SLU defeated Harris-Stowe 107-31. The Hornets were 7 of 66 from the field in the loss. Five-foot-four junior guard Angela Randall led the team with eight points.

The Redhawks are 0-1 after the road loss to SLU. They trailed 29-23 at halftime before being outscored 16-2 in the first five minutes of the second half. Southeast went 1 for 7 from the field in that stretch as SLU opened up a 20-point lead.

Southeast shot 31.3 percent from the field and was 2 of 15 from 3-point range.

"I think our tempo. Our tempo in half-court set," Patterson said of her team's focuses before tonight's game. "I think rebounding the ball will be something that we focus on, and then we've got to get post touches. I know that Saint Louis was big, but we've got post players who can score. We've got to get them the ball."

Southeast point guard Bri Mitchell led the team with 18 points, while guard Olivia Hackmann had 12.

Forward Connor King finished with 10 points, on 4-of-6 shooting, and had seven rebounds. Forward Deja Jones had seven points on 5-of-7 shooting from the free-throw line and 11 rebounds.

The Redhawks were barely edged in the rebounding battle. They finished with 43 -- 17 offensive -- while the Billikens recorded 45.

Tonight's game will be Monday Night Madness. There will be prizes, giveaways and a raffle for students during the game. Students have to enter at the gate nearest the Student Recreation Center and have their student ID for a raffle ticket. The first 150 students get a card for a free Chick-fil-A sandwich.

Patterson is adding her own challenge for students in regards to the team's Twitter account @SEMOwbb.

"There's a big push for our students to come out to the game on Monday," Patterson said. "*...Our players will have on 'Gameday' shirts on Monday, so*...if you take a picture of a player in a 'Gameday' shirt, we might have something for you on social media."