Southeast women pull off major feat with OVC repeat

How about that Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team?

With all odds seemingly stacked against the Redhawks, they have accomplished what many people thought was not possible.

Southeast is the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season champion for the second year in a row -- and this time the Redhawks don't have to share their crown.

Wow!

Saturday's 85-50 romp at Jacksonville State -- Southeast's sixth straight victory -- sealed the deal for the Redhawks.

And, because Murray State lost at Tennessee-Martin, there will be no co-championship involved, which was the case last year when the Redhawks tied with Tennessee Tech for the program's first OVC title.

The Redhawks will defend their OVC tournament crown as the No. 1 seed when the eight-team event begins Tuesday night.

Southeast will host No. 8 seed Austin Peay, with the winner moving on to Friday's semifinals in Nashville, Tenn.

Regardless of what happens this week, it has been a sensational season for the Redhawks, who at 21-7 have posted at least 20 victories three years in a row. Those are the only 20-win campaigns since the program moved to Division I in 1991-92.

And this year hardly anybody expected it, since the Redhawks lost four starters from last season's NCAA tournament squad and then lost head coach B.J. Smith amid turmoil and controversy.

But the Redhawks, under acting head coach John Ishee, seventh-year assistant Lisa Pace and first-year assistant Jenni Lingor, regrouped to finish at the top of the OVC despite being picked fifth in the preseason poll.

And now they'll wipe the slate clean as they begin the league tourney poised to repeat.

Unbelievable!

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The all-OVC basketball honors will be announced this week and it will be a crime if Ishee is not named the league's coach of the year.

In fact, if the people who do the voting -- the conference's head coaches and sports information directors -- don't make it just about unanimous, something will be wrong.

For what the Redhawks have had to endure, and based on where they were projected to finish, the nod has got to go to Ishee.

And leading the Redhawks to a repeat OVC championship -- and their first outright regular-season title -- has got to be another major feather in Ishee's cap as he bids to become the program's permanent head coach.

Like I've written before, that should also be a no-brainer.

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Because of deadlines, I had to finish this column before Southeast's men concluded Saturday night's game at Jacksonville State.

But regardless of what happened in that one, the Redhawks at least qualified for the OVC tournament on their own terms through Thursday's win at Samford that snapped a three-game losing streak.

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I had a nice talk with Southeast track All-American Miles Smith during last weekend's Redhawk Invitational at the Student Recreation Center.

The outgoing Smith generally has a big smile on his face anyway, but he seemed extra perky as he told me his injured hamstring is progressing well and he expects to be at full strength for the outdoor season.

Smith, a senior sprinter who has missed virtually all of the indoor season, said he's looking forward to a big outdoor campaign as he sets himself up for what should be a nice professional career.

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Here's wishing Jackson native Kent Gibbs all the best as he takes over as head coach of the struggling Sikeston High School football program.

Gibbs has built successful programs at Hayti -- leading the Indians to a state runner-up finish in the early 1980s -- and most recently Fredericktown during an impressive coaching career.

I have known Gibbs well since his days as a graduate assistant at Southeast in the mid-1980s and think very highly of him.

If anybody can get the once-proud Bulldogs back on track, it's Gibbs. My money is on him doing just that.

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I wish I could have witnessed what must have been an incredible Class 4 District 1 boys basketball championship game Friday night between Notre Dame and host Sikeston.

Notre Dame won 67-65 on a 3-point shot at the buzzer by Abe Dirnberger, which vaulted the Bulldogs into Wednesday's sectional contest against Farmington in Park Hills, Mo.

Led by one of the state's best and most respected coaches in Paul Hale, you've got to like the Bulldogs' chances of reaching the final four and challenging for a state title.

Notre Dame's girls, along with Jackson's boys and girls, will also shoot for final four berths after capturing district titles.

Good luck to all those squads.

Also good luck to the area's smaller-school teams as they begin their district tournaments.

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Major congratulations to Cape Girardeau Central senior Hannah Kinder for her phenomenal accomplishment at last weekend's state swimming meet.

Kinder, who will compete collegiately at national power Texas A&M, won two titles as she just about single-handedly propelled the Tigers to a 12th-place team finish.

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Russ Sloan, who served as Southeast's athletic director in the early-to-mid 1970s, was recently inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame during ceremonies in Springfield.

Sloan, who starred in football on Missouri's 1960 Orange Bowl team, is a former head football coach at Northeast Missouri State (now Truman State). He was also athletic director at California and Fresno State.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian