SEMO women take on Lindenwood on Thursday, Western Illinois on Saturday

Southeast Missouri State women’s basketball is in a make-or-break spot of its Ohio Valley slate with the final two legs of a three-game road trip coming up.

Over the next three days, the Redhawks travel to Lindenwood on Thursday and then take on the Leathernecks of Western Illinois on Saturday.

As it stands, the Redhawks are ninth in the OVC on Wednesday, with a 2-6 conference record matching that of Morehead State, but sitting below the eighth-ranked Eagles by way of the head-to-head tiebreaker.

With a 4-13 overall record this year, the Redhawks are in a spot where they need to win their “gimme” games and, so far, they’ve done that with wins over SIU Edwardsville and Tennessee State.

The two teams ranked below them in league play, the Cougars and Tigers, rank 10th and 11th going into late January, and SEMO is lucky enough to play them two more times later this season.

That being said, this weekend presents two great opportunities for the Redhawks to prove themselves, with games against No. 4 Lindenwood and No. 7 Western Illinois.

The Lions present a 6-2 conference record, with both losses coming against the top two teams in the conference in Eastern Illinois, undefeated at 8-0, and Southern Indiana.

They have, however, knocked off No. 3 Tennessee Tech, and they rank fourth in the conference standings ahead of Thursday night’s tilt with the rival Redhawks.

Lindenwood’s Ellie Brueggemanns leads the Lions in scoring at 11.9 points per game, with the sophomore from Owasso, Oklahoma shooting over six 3-pointers per game and hitting at a 35% clip.

Gracy Wernli and Brooke Coffey enter the game averaging over 10 points per game alongside Brueggemann, with the sophomore Coffey averaging 6.6 rebounds per game to lead the Lions.

After the Lindenwood game, the Redhawks return home and quickly zip up to Macomb, Illinois, for a Saturday tilt with the Leathernecks, who have adjusted well to the new conference, sitting at 3-5 in league play.

If the Redhawks want to sneak into the tournament picture by the end of this weekend, this matchup has to be circled in permanent marker: This is the kind of team they need to beat.

The Leathernecks are led by Raegan McCowan, who is averaging 21 points per game.

The women’s basketball squad tips off at 5 p.m. Thursday for its game against Lindenwood and at 1 p.m. Saturday against Western Illinois.