Southeast women visit Morehead St. in OVC play

~ The Redhawks have had a week off since their last contest

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team has the opportunity to pick up its second Ohio Valley Conference win and snap a two-game losing streak when it faces Morehead State tonight.

It's been an entire week since the Redhawks have played a game, but coach Ty Margenthaler thinks the break has been good for his team.

"We've had a really good week of practice and a chance to kind of continue to work on things that we need to get better at and then really dig into Morehead," Margenthaler said. "I feel good about what we've done this week ... and we know where we're at in the season and it's a big part of the season coming up. We need to get a few wins."

Southeast (5-12, 1-3) will be on the road when it faces the Eagles, who are in the OVC East, at 5 p.m. in Morehead, Ky.

"Really, going into this game against Morehead, our half-court defense is going to be really important," Margenthaler said. "They're not a big transition team, but they run a lot of things half-court-wise and they do a good job of moving and screening."

The Eagles (8-10, 2-3) are coming off a 74-52 loss to UT Martin -- the team that handed Southeast a 100-71 loss a week ago.

Morehead State and Southeast enter the game averaging nearly identical points with 63.3 and 63.5, respectively. The Eagles average 7.4 3-pointers a game, which is third most in the conference.

Terrice Robinson leads the Eagles with 17.4 ppg, and Jordan Hunter will be tasked with guarding her to start the game. Robinson was held to one point against the Skyhawks but still averages 16 ppg in conference.

Almesha Jones is Morehead State's only other player scoring double figures with 11.4 ppg. She scored a team-high 15 points against UT Martin and had nine rebounds and nine assists.

The Redhawks are led by Olivia Hackmann with 10.4 ppg and Kara Wright with 9.6 ppg. Hunter is averaging 13.3 points against OVC opponents and Hackmann averages 10.3.

Margenthaler knows that his players haven't been consistent offensively this season, including Wright. Wright was leading the team in scoring earlier this season but has struggled as of late and was taken out of the starting lineup.

"She's had honestly the best week of practice that she's had energy-wise and effort-wise," Margenthaler said. "I'm really pleased with her."

Margenthaler hasn't decided whether Wright will return to the starting lineup against Morehead State.

In addition to struggling with consistency, the Redhawks also have dealt with two teammates quitting.

Freshman forward Bailey Geiman quit the team this week. She will continue taking classes at Southeast this semester and look to transfer. Freshman Brittany Harris quit in December to focus on schoolwork.

"Just to say this truthfully, I feel the group that we have right now, I feel like they're all in the boat," Margenthaler said. "It's really nice. I feel a little bit more energy from the team and I feel a lot more communication from the team. It's just one of those things, I feel like the group we have now is a group that I really want to go to bat with and I feel they want to go to bat for each other, and sometimes it's a good thing."

Margenthaler said part of Geiman quitting was because of playing time.

"I think reading between the lines, I think a big part of that was a factor, which is unbelievable to me," Margenthaler said. "But like I said, I want everyone, win or lose, play, not play, I want great teammates and buy into it. I think we have that right now."