The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball players were smiling moments before their practice Thursday afternoon, which was a great sight for coach Rekha Patterson.

The Redhawks were in unfamiliar territory last week and still are this week as they prep for Saturday's game against Austin Peay.

They were tied with SIU Edwardsville for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference on Jan. 20, but after losing to the Cougars by seven points that night and falling by 10 to second-place and defending OVC champion UT Martin on Sunday, they dropped a few spots in the standings.

Southeast is tied for fourth with APSU in the standings at 5-3.

"Â…We talked about where we were at the very beginning of the week and where we were at the end of the week, and that's a big difference for a program that hasn't really been in that position before," Patterson said. "We just had a conversation about what really was going on, and I don't want them to panic because we just lost to the two best teams in our conference. So we talked about how we were tied for first to start the week and by the end of the we were in a tie for fifth, and that it was OK. There are things that we have to improve on, and whether we would've won both of those games or not we would've had to come in here and improve. I feel like mentally we're in a good place."

The Redhawks begin their final half of regular-season OVC action against the Govs at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Show Me Center.

The biggest need for improvement for Southeast after its two losses is on the defensive end. Patterson stressed, and her players reiterated shortly after the defeat to UTM, that the team needs to play extremely hard for more than 8-to-10 minute stretches of the games.

The Redhawks allowed an average of 63 points per game in their first six conference games. They surrendered 82 ppg in the last two losses.

"When you look at how we're down, how we play -- that's sort of how we have to start the game," Patterson said. "That's how we have to play on a more consistent basis. We've talked about how on average we're probably playing extremely hard, extremely tough and as a unit, especially defensively, for about 13 minutes, and why is that? Against the really good teams that's not going to work. Against Austin Peay that's not going to work. And so we have to take that 13 and get it to 20, and then move from 20 to 30. Those are all things we can improve on as we have these remaining eight games."

APSU is 7-14 overall in coach David Midlick's first season at the helm.

The Govs lead the league in scoring, averaging 77.9 points per game against conference foes. They're coming off a 72-61 loss to SIUE on Wednesday. Their other losses were to Tennessee State (66-58) and Belmont (88-82).

APSU senior guard Tiasha Gray averages a team-leading 19.8 ppg on the season and 23.3 through eight conference games, which ranks third in the OVC.

She's shooting 41.5 percent from the floor in conference action, 35.3 percent from beyond the arc and 82.1 percent from the charity stripe. She leads the league with 7.5 assists per game and is second in steals with 3.4 per game.

She's knocked down a team-high 43 3-pointers on the season, 18 of which have come in the last eight contests.

"She can shoot a pull-up 3, she can put it on the floor and hit a pull-up, she can get to the rim and then she gets to the free-throw line," Patterson said. "But because she's such a great shooter you have to keep a high hand up all the time. And then she does a great job with her change of speed. She's quick, but she's got a nice change of speed."

Tearra Banks, a 6-foot-2 junior center, averages just 15.4 minutes off the bench in seven conference games, but is scoring 12.6 ppg and shooting 56.3 percent from the field.

Five-foot-8 sophomore guard Falon Baker and 5-11 junior center Beth Rates average 8.3 points apiece in conference. Baker shoots 50 percent from beyond the arc and has 14 3-pointers in eight OVC starts. She's connected on 39.8 percent of her triples this season with 39 overall. Rates also averages 6.4 rebounds.

Sydney Gooch, a 5-10 sophomore F/C, averages 6.5 points and 6.6 rebounds, and 6-0 sophomore center Brianne Alexander averages 6.7 points.

"Tiasha Gray is a really good basketball player. She can do a lot of different things and she is their team leader, for sure," Patterson said. "Then they've got another young lady who comes in off the bench who averages only 15 minutes but is scoring about 12.5 points a game, so she's pretty efficient. Then the rest of their role players, they play their roles to the best of their ability, which makes it really difficult because you can't just focus all your attention on Gray.

"They play hard. I think they're tough. I think they're disciplined. And then they execute -- scoring 80 points, some execution comes into that."

APSU is 1-10 on the road this season. It's only road win was at Morehead State on Jan. 20. The Redhawks are coming off their only home conference loss of the season.

"Just want to have the fans come out," Patterson said. "Every home game is going to be extremely important, and we feed off their energy. We're going to continue to play hard and take pride in wearing this uniform for this community."