Southeast women begin OVC trip at Jacksonville St.

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team split its first two Ohio Valley Conference games, both played at the Show Me Center.

Now the Redhawks (4-6, 1-1) face their first conference road trip, against Jacksonville State (2-7, 0-1) at 2 p.m. today and Tennessee Tech (6-2, 1-0) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The Redhawks opened their league schedule with a loss to Austin Peay before beating Tennessee State.

"Obviously it's a big, big road trip for us," Southeast coach John Ishee said. "We're 1-1 in the conference and we have a chance to make some noise in our last two games before the Christmas break."

Southeast was picked to finish last in the 10-team OVC, with Jacksonville State tabbed for ninth and Tennessee Tech fourth.

Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech each have played one OVC game, the Eaglettes' 79-63 win over the Gamecocks in Jacksonville, Ala.

Jacksonville State has a preseason all-OVC selection in 5-foot-11 junior center Brittany Wiley. She leads the Gamecocks in scoring with 11.4 points per game.

Tennessee Tech has two all-conference preseason picks in 5-7 junior guard Tacarra Hayes and 5-11 sophomore guard Kellie Cook. Hayes is the Eagles' top scorer (15 ppg).

The Eagles also feature the reigning OVC newcomer of the week in 6-5 junior center Brittany Darling, a junior college transfer.

"Jacksonville State is a very athletic team, and Tennessee Tech is probably one of the better teams in the conference," Ishee said. "Both teams will be difficult to beat in their building."

"It's going to be a tough trip, but these are two very important games."