Redhawks bid for revenge tonight

~ Southeast takes a two-game winning streak to Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Exactly one week after suffering an excruciating double-overtime home loss, Southeast Missouri State will have an opportunity for revenge.

The Redhawks (3-2) visit the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2-3) at 7 p.m. tonight.

Last Friday at the Show Me Center, the Panthers outlasted the Redhawks 90-87 in two overtimes.

"It was a tough loss for us, and we'd like to get one back," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said. "But it won't be easy, because they're a good team, and I think they'll contend for their conference title."

Wisconsin-Milwaukee, coming off a second-place finish in the Horizon League, was picked to finish third in this year's preseason poll.

The Panthers' three losses so far have come against major programs, including 14th-ranked DePaul (91-79) and 20th-ranked Oklahoma (89-57). Wisconsin-Milwaukee also fell to Iowa (82-42).

"They were a good team when we played them, but hopefully we can beat them on their court this time," Southeast senior center Tatiana Conceicao said.

The squads put on something of a classic last Friday in Cape Girardeau. Southeast, playing from behind much of the way, used some dramatics to extend the game.

Senior point guard Wanika Owsley scored a tying basket with 7 seconds left in regulation and another tying basket at the buzzer in the first overtime. The Redhawks rallied from nine points down at halftime and from seven points down in the first extra period.

But the Panthers finally went ahead for good in the second overtime on senior forward Molly O'Brien's layup with 33 seconds remaining. A free throw with 9 seconds left accounted for the final margin.

"It was a great game, it's just a shame we came up on the short end," Smith said. "But I thought we made too many mistakes. We just didn't play quite well enough."

Traci Edwards, a 6-foot-2 freshman center, had 20 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead the Panthers, while senior forward Nichole Drummond added 20 points.

Conceicao led all scorers with 21 points, but she played just five minutes in the opening half due to foul trouble and fouled out at the end of the first overtime.

Edwards leads the Panthers in scoring on the season at 14.6 points per game, followed by Drummond at 11.4.

The Redhawks are paced by Conceicao (21.4 ppg), the reigning Ohio Valley Conference player of the year who has scored 57 points in the past two games.

Also averaging in double figures for Southeast are senior forwards Simone Jackson (15 ppg) and Natalie Purcell (10.8 ppg).

Southeast, which has posted two straight victories -- including Tuesday's 74-63 triumph over Southern Illinois -- would love to carry a three-game winning streak into the start of OVC play next week.

"It would be great to take that kind of momentum into conference play," Smith said. "If we play well we can win this game, but we'll have to play well."