Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach John Ishee completed his staff with Tuesday's hiring of Marcus Payne.

Payne joins recent hire Dionnah Jackson and third-year staff member Elizabeth Cansdale as assistants for this season.

Payne, who has more than 23 years of collegiate coaching experience, will serve as Southeast's recruiting coordinator and assist in coaching the post players.

Payne was an assistant at Austin Peay the last four seasons, helping the Govs to Ohio Valley Conference tournament titles and NCAA tournament berths the past two years.

"I'm extremely excited about the addition of coach Payne to our program," Ishee said in a release. "He is a very experienced coach that has had success everywhere he has been."

Payne also has been a Division I assistant at UNLV while serving as coach at NAIA Southwestern (Kan.) College, his alma mater.

"Coach Payne's knowledge of the OVC and the success he has had in this league are huge additions to our young staff," Ishee said. "He's a high quality individual that will have no problems fitting in with our team, our fans, the university and the community."

Soccer game changed

The Southeast soccer team will play its second and final exhibition game today instead of Thursday, as originally scheduled.

Southeast and McKendree will square off at 2 p.m. at Houck Stadium.

That will be the Redhawks' final tuneup before they open the season Sunday with a 2 p.m. home game against Belmont.

The Redhawks beat visiting Evansville 1-0 on Saturday in their exhibition opener.

-- From staff reports