Southeast women begin quest for third straight OVC tourney title

Don't worry say members of the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team.

The Redhawks will have no problem taking Jacksonville State seriously, not even after beating the Gamecocks by 43 points at home three days ago.

Not with so much at stake.

"We can't look past anybody," senior center Missy Whitney said. "We have to take it game by game."

Southeast begins its quest for a third straight NCAA tournament berth when the Ohio Valley Conference tournament tips off tonight.

Southeast point guard Tarina Nixon put up a shot in a game against Eastern Illinois last month. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

The top-seeded Redhawks host Jacksonville State, the eighth and final seed, at 7 p.m. The winner moves on to Friday's semifinals in Nashville, Tenn.

"If you get beat, you're done," Southeast coach John Ishee said. "So that's motivation enough."

Southeast, which has won three straight OVC regular-season titles, has captured the past two conference tournament crowns to earn the league's automatic NCAA berth.

The 22-7 Redhawks wrapped up a 17-3 conference campaign Saturday night with an 85-42 destruction of JSU, which went 11-18 and 8-12.

Two of the Gamecocks' losses were against Southeast, including 83-71 in Jacksonville, Ala., in December.

John Ishee cut down the net after Southeast Missouri State defeated Murray State in last year's Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship game in Nashville, Tenn. (Associated Press file)

"We're going to have to take it the same way, or even harder," senior guard Ashley Lovelady said of the rematch with the Gamecocks. "We have to shore up some little things."

Whitney dismissed thoughts of the Redhawks overlooking JSU.

"I don't think so," she said. "We never overlook anybody. We're not an arrogant team. We just come out and play hard.

"We always do the same things, go out and play hard, rebound, defend, share the ball."

That's the attitude Ishee wants as the Redhawks enter the most important stretch of their season.

"Any time you play somebody who's been kicked around a little bit, ... we'll see a much better team [tonight]," Ishee said.

That's what JSU coach Becky Geyer is counting on.

"SEMO came out after their loss to Samford Thursday and played exceptionally well," Geyer said. "The tough part for us is that we just didn't match their intensity offensively or defensively. We struggled with their ball pressure.

"On the bright side, we know what to expect on Tuesday. It's not like it's going to be a surprise."

Added Geyer: "We're going to have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. And we need to do a better job of getting the ball into the post and playing our game."

Ishee said JSU is a talented but young squad that has had its ups and downs this season, but is still dangerous after not making the OVC tournament last year. The Gamecocks start two freshmen, two sophomores and one junior.

"They're young, so they've probably been a little bit inconsistent, but they've had some very good games," Ishee said. "I know we're going to get their best shot. They're going to come at us hard."

The Redhawks had their best all-around game of the season Saturday night, during their most lopsided victory of the campaign.

Southeast shot a season-high 50.8 percent (32-of-63) and made a season-high 10 3-pointers in 21 attempts (47.6 percent).

Defensively, the Redhawks limited JSU to 31.4 percent from the field.

"We played very well," Ishee said.

Whitney said team chemistry has been one of the Redhawks' biggest strengths this season, after they returned four starters from a year ago.

"We've been around each other, we know what each other can do," she said.

The Redhawks hope that familiarity leads them to another championship.