Southeast women open OVC tourney without Ishee

The last time Southeast Missouri State did not advance to the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball tournament was also the last time the Redhawks did not host a first-round tournament game.

Southeast will try to make sure that doesn't happen again when the Redhawks play at Tennessee State tonight in the opening round of the eight-team OVC tournament.

The contest, set for a 7 p.m. tipoff in Nashville, Tenn., will mark the first time Southeast has not hosted in the OVC tournament since the 2001-02 season.

Southeast dropped the first-round game that year but has made it to Nashville for the tournament semifinals the past six seasons, winning two championships.

"I don't think this team is ready for the season to end," assistant coach Chris Harris said.

Harris will be in charge of the Redhawks tonight as coach John Ishee remains hospitalized in St. Louis following a Sunday morning automobile accident.

Harris, a former head coach on the NAIA and junior college levels who is in his second season at Southeast, is no stranger to filling in for Ishee.

Ishee was forced to miss a game against Tennessee-Martin last season due to an OVC suspension after he was ejected from the previous contest. With Harris in charge, the Redhawks won 58-51 in overtime.

But Harris said tonight's game is more about the players than him.

"I told [senior guard] Tarina Nixon I'm not trying to be coach of the year," Harris said. "I'll be on the sidelines, I'll be your biggest supporter, but these kids have been in a lot of big games.

"I'm not going to try and do too much, just try to put them in the best situation to be successful and hopefully it will work out."

Sixth-seeded Southeast (15-14) is not entering the tournament riding a wave of momentum.

The Redhawks have lost two straight, with Saturday's 80-74 overtime setback at Austin Peay dropping them into a tie for fifth place in the 10-team league. The top four finishers host first-round tournament games.

To upend third-seeded TSU (17-12), Southeast will have to improve by at least 16 points in less than a week.

That's because the Tigers routed the Redhawks 70-54 on Thursday in Nashville as TSU led wire to wire.

TSU also won the other meeting with Southeast, 59-55 on Dec. 6 in Cape Girardeau as the Redhawks played without senior wing Sonya Daugherty.

Harris said he believes the Redhawks can reverse things tonight, but they must be much better in several key areas.

"We're actually watching the tape right now [on the bus headed to Nashville on Monday afternoon] and three things stand out," Harris said. "No. 1, we cannot be outrebounded and win the game. They outrebounded us [36-32]. That's been kind of a sore spot for us this year. When we've been outrebounded, more often than not we've lost.

"No. 2, post defense. They scored exactly half their points from their inside players. We just have to play better post defense.

"No. 3, the bottom line is we need Tarina Nixon and Sonya Daugherty to have big scoring games."

Nixon had three points last week at TSU, while Daugherty had 10 points. They are Southeast's top scorers on the season at 12.5 and 12.4 points per game, respectively.

The Tigers, who are hosting an OVC tournament game for the first time, are led by senior guard Kendra Appling. She is averaging 17.8 points to rank third in the OVC and is the league's No. 6 3-point shooter at 37.4 percent.

Tiffany Jackson, a 6-0 senior forward, is the OVC's No. 6 scorer at 15.9 points a contest.

TSU also has received strong play from 6-foot sophomore forward Jasmine Smith, a transfer from Louisville. Smith, who became eligible at the semester, is averaging nearly a double-double with 11.1 points and 9.8 rebounds.

"They're a very good team," Harris said. "But we didn't get on the bus to come down here and lose.

"I'll put the house on it that we'll come out and play as hard as we can. I don't expect anything but their best with seven seniors. It will be a tough game and I don't know that we'll win, but I expect a great effort."

A Southeast victory will put the Redhawks in Friday's 2 p.m. tournament semifinal in Nashville against the winner of tonight's game between second-seeded Eastern Illinois and seventh-seeded Tennessee Tech.