Southeast women make home debut tonight with different look

After a solid opening performance without its head coach, the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team will look for its first win of the season in its home debut.

The Redhawks, who lost at Tulsa 67-54 Saturday night, welcome Central Arkansas to the Show Me Center for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff tonight.

Southeast played the Tulsa game without B.J. Smith, the Redhawks' fifth-year coach who on Thursday was placed on paid administrative leave by the university.

Southeast officials have had no public comment on the situation since Thursday, and even then they did not give the reason for Smith being placed on leave.

Assistant coach John Ishee, who is serving as Southeast's acting head coach, said he couldn't have been more pleased with the Redhawks' performance in their opener, especially given the circumstances.

The Redhawks led Tulsa for much of the first half before falling behind 34-25 at the break. Tulsa built a 19-point second-half lead but Southeast cut the deficit to single digits before finally losing by 13 points.

"I thought under the circumstances, we played incredibly well," Ishee said. "I was pleased."

Asked how he believes Southeast's players are handling the current situation, Ishee said, "I think super. I told them after the game that I had never been prouder of a group of players in my life."

The Redhawks lost 72-45 to the Cardinal in the NCAA tournament first-round game in Denver. The game marked Southeast's first apperance in the NCAA Division I tournament, and was the career finale for Tatiana Conceicao (right), who averaged 19.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game as a senior.

Southeast received a strong debut performance from forward Missy Whitney, a junior college transfer who led the Redhawks with 16 points against Tulsa despite playing just 22 minutes because of first-half foul trouble.

Whitney, a former Charleston High School standout who was an All-American at Three Rivers Community College, hit four of eight field goals and six of eight free throws.

Southeast Missouri State women Redhawks reacted Monday night to hearing they will play No. 3 Stanford in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Saturday in Denver, Colo.

"She got two early fouls and never really got into the flow in the first half," Ishee said. "But she had a very good second half."

The Redhawks struggled with their shooting against Tulsa, making just 19 of 58 field-goal attempts for 32.8 percent. Southeast actually shot much better from 3-point range, hitting six of 14 for 42.9 percent.

Ishee believes the Redhawks will face a difficult challenge tonight against a Central Arkansas team that is in its first year in Division I.

"I know enough about them to know we'll have our hands full," Ishee said. "They're very athletic."

Central Arkansas dropped its Division I debut Saturday night, falling at home to Tennessee-Martin 79-69.

On Thursday, the university placed Smith on leave for personal reasons.

The Bears were outrebounded 47-21 but forced 35 turnovers.

Central Arkansas, which was 17-11 in its final Division II season last year, is led by 5-foot-9 senior guard/forward Caronica Randle.

Randle, who ranks among the top five scorers in school history, averaged 21 points per game last season as she was named the Gulf South Conference West Division player of the year.

Randle scored 26 points in the Bears' opener against Tennessee-Martin, hitting seven of 17 field goals, including three of six 3-pointers. The rest of the Bears made just 12 of 46 shots.

"She's a very good player," Ishee said. "She's got over 1,500 career points. That tells you what kind of player she is."

Mariesha Piggee, a 5-6 sophomore guard, added 10 points for the Bears against Tennessee-Martin.