Tie at Ohio Valley floors sees Redhawks WBB scrounging in three-game road stint

Thursday begins the second-to-last road trip of the season for Southeast Missouri State women’s basketball, and ranked at the bottom of the Ohio Valley Conference standings, there’s never been a more important time than the present to put some wins together.

Sitting in a four-way tie between eighth and last in the conference, with just a single win putting them in contention for a tournament berth, the Redhawks still control their own destiny, but the window is ever closing.

After taking a home loss over the weekend to Tennessee State, the only win that was even close to favorable the rest of the way, it’s looking less and less likely by the day.

With five road contests and three home contests left on the docket, with one of the three other teams in the tie off the schedule, there’s an uphill battle toward qualification from here, and it’ll be even further strained over the next week.

Beginning Thursday at Morehead State, sitting atop the four-way tie at eighth in the OVC as it stands, the Eagles have already narrowly defeated the Redhawks by 3 points at the Show Me Center last month, and are favored to repeat that effort at home this week.

Following a battle in Morehead, Kentucky, the Redhawks travel to Southern Indiana on Saturday and Little Rock on Tuesday, with both squads ranking in the top five at 8-4 in the OVC a piece.

This season has been tumultuous on numerous accounts for Southeast, beginning with one very loud and important stat: The Redhawks are dead last in America in free throw rate allowed. 362 out of 362.

This, plus an offense and defense ranked deep into the 300s nationally, are part of the formula that’s doomed SEMO back to the bottom of the OVC for a second consecutive year, flirting with another tournament miss.

Beginning Thursday, Morehead State’s Kate Novik leads the Eagles with a top-100 assist rate in the nation, which complements her 13.4 points per game to lead the squad well.

She’s tied with Michelle Ugwah at 5.3 rebounds per game to spearhead the Eagles this year, on the floor for nearly 80 percent of the game but incapable of doing it all herself as Morehead State has slipped to the bottom ranking of the OVC this year.

Analytically placing 11th of 11, the Eagles are looking for a rebound as their shooting has been, frankly, abysmal to begin league play.

While ranking 330th in range shooting offensively, the Eagles rank 362nd in defensive 3-point shooting, allowing makes at a nearly 39 percent rate going into the final lengths of conference play.

In a battle of cellar dwellers, there’s little room for Southeast to make mistakes coming down the stretch. This should be circled in red permanent marker as a “must win” if there’s any hope remaining for a conference tournament bid.

That sets up a battle with Southern Indiana on Saturday, with the Screaming Eagles tied with Little Rock for fourth in the Ohio Valley with the analytical edge going to USI, with an offense and defense both ranking around 150 nationally but the results eluding it.

Vanessa Strafford rarely comes off the floor for the Screaming Eagles, playing over 80 percent of their minutes this season and making a big impact with a 40 percent rate from beyond the 3-point line.

Weirdly enough, the 5-foot-9 guard also leads them in rebounding with 7.2 per game this season, while Meridith Raley’s 14.1 points per game in the post has the senior leading the team in scoring.

Southern Indiana can kill you from inside, but the perimeter shot can be a deadly force all the same. So far this season, the Eagles are hitting 37.4 percent of their triples, with sophomore Sophia Loden’s 47.7 percent rate leading them with 21 makes on 44 tries.

It’s going to take a big battle on the boards to win this game, with the Screaming Eagles perhaps being weakest on the glass and also having a disappointing year in the disruption game, logging blocks on just 6 percent of possessions this year.

Finishing up the road trip, Little Rock awaits the Redhawks on its home floor for a Tuesday matchup, with the currently top-five Trojans aiming to get an “easy” win to improve their conference standing here late.

Against one of the lower-ranked conference squads, Little Rock’s task against Southeast seems light. But for the Redhawks, this is the time of year that they have to come into each match competitive, and if Little Rock doesn’t play its top game, there’s always a shot.

After a five-game winning streak a few weeks ago, it’s been a little slide of late for Little Rock, most recently losing to Tennessee-Martin over the weekend, but there’s still a lot to play for late this season.

There are only 66 players in America that get more usage than Faith Lee, per Bart Torvik, and her 85 percent of minutes, alongside 82 from Jordan Holman, have the Trojans humming coming down the stretch.

Holman has one of the best steal rates in college basketball, with a steal once out of every 25 possessions roughly, and she leads them in box plus-minus with a plus-2.6 when she’s on the floor – the only positive player this season.

Lee’s averaging 16.2 points per game this year, with Holman pacing her at 12.3 per game. Emerald Parker’s 6.6 and Sug Williams’ 5.4 lead the rebounding game, with Parker securing 22 percent of defensive boards while she’s on the floor.

Following the Redhawks’ triple to Arkansas, they’ll return home for the final homestand of the year, beginning Saturday, Feb. 15 against Tennessee Tech and lasting three games to conclude their slate of Show Me Center games.