Southeast women have rare morning tipoff

~ The Redhawks anticipate young crowd as part of ‘Classroom on Court’ program

The biggest crowd of the season for a Southeast Missouri State women's basketball home game is expected today when the Redhawks face SIU Edwardsville.

The unusual 11 a.m. tipoff is part of the Redhawks' "Classroom on Court" program that invites students from area schools to the game for an educational field trip.

Second-year Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler said more than 1,400 youngsters signed up and he anticipates most of them being at the Show Me Center today.

"It's our first year for the program and I'm really excited. We should have a great atmosphere for the game. It should be fun," Margenthaler said. "Our kids went out to classrooms and stressed the importance of academics being first and athletics being second.

"Hopefully this will continue growing from here. A lot of schools in Division I have these events. It's catching on across the country because coaches and student-athletes want to get involved in the community."

Margenthaler hopes the atmosphere will help the Redhawks (9-15, 3-8 Ohio Valley Conference) pick up a much-needed victory as they try to keep alive their slim hopes of earning an OVC tournament berth.

Southeast is 10th in the 12-team conference -- the top eight make the tournament -- with only five league contests remaining. The Redhawks are three games on the loss side behind eighth-place Tennessee State, and the Tigers own the tie-breaker because they beat Southeast in the squads' only regular-season meeting.

SIUE (12-11, 6-5) is tied for sixth place after Saturday's 66-63 win at defending OVC champion Tennessee-Martin.

"It's a game we really need to win," said Margenthaler, whose squad opened a two-game homestand with a 64-46 loss to OVC-leading Eastern Illinois on Saturday.

SIUE pulled away late to beat the Redhawks 78-65 on Jan. 28 in Edwardsville, Ill. The squads were tied 53-53 midway through the second half before the Cougars went on a 15-0 run to take control.

"They're a really good basketball team -- strong and physical," Margenthaler said.

Southeast will need to do a better job defending powerful SIUE senior forward Raven Berry, the Cougars' all-time rebounding leader who also ranks among the top 10 in career scoring.

The 6-foot-1 Berry, who averages 14 points and 9.2 rebounds, had 28 points and 13 boards in the first meeting with Southeast.