Southeast women face daunting task in basketball home opener

Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach John Ishee believes he has set up one of the toughest nonconference schedules in program history.

One of the highly regarded teams that makes up the rugged slate pays a visit to the Show Me Center tonight.

Northern Iowa, an NCAA tournament qualifier from last year, will be the Redhawks' opponent in their home opener at 7 p.m.

"They're really good," Ishee said. "We play a lot of very good teams, and they're one of them."

UNI won last season's Missouri Valley Conference tournament to earn the league's automatic NCAA berth.

The Panthers, 17-16 a year ago, were picked to finish second in the MVC for their highest-ever preseason ranking.

UNI is off to a strong start, routing host Colorado State 74-50 on Friday.

Lizzie Boeck posted a double-double for the Panthers with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Jacqui Kalin and Katelin Oney both finished with 15 points for UNI, which jumped out to a 15-3 lead and never looked back.

Boeck, a 6-foot-2 senior center, and Kalin, a 5-8 junior guard, both were named to the five-player all-MVC preseason squad.

Kalin was first-team all-MVC last year and Boeck made the honorable-mention list.

Kalin averaged 17.2 points per game in conference play while averaging 14.2 points overall last season. She also led UNI in assists with 101.

Boeck averaged 12.5 points and 6.7 rebounds in conference games. She averaged 11.9 points and 6.2 boards overall.

"They're big and they have a lot of experience," Ishee said. "Boeck is a really good player inside, and Kalin is a very good player."

Southeast is off to a 1-1 start after splitting games at the Ole Miss Classic in Oxford, Miss.

Southeast beat Jackson State 55-37 in Saturday's third-place game following Friday's 60-51 loss to Sam Houston State at the four-team event.

Sophomore forward Bailie Roberts made the all-tournament team after scoring 26 points in the two contests.

"Take away the first half against Sam Houston State when we had 20 turnovers, and I thought we played pretty good over the weekend," Ishee said. "We played much better the second game."

The Redhawks continue to be plagued by injury problems.

Ishee said sophomore forward Patricia Mack "tweaked a knee" against Jackson State and her status for tonight is uncertain.

Sophomore guard Jasmine Davis, Southeast's leading scorer before suffering a season-ending knee injury last year, still is having her minutes limited as she gets closer to full strength.

"She's still knocking the rust off," Ishee said.

Brooke Taylor, a freshman forward from Bismarck, Mo., who was Southeast's top recruit, has not played yet due to an iron deficiency problem. Ishee said he doesn't know when Taylor will be ready for game action.

"We can't get 'em healthy," Ishee said.

The Redhawks head back out on the road following tonight's game for a Friday matchup at Big East Conference member Louisville. The Cardinals lost in the 2009 NCAA championship game.