SEMO women having impressive turnaround

I'm not about to say the SEMO women's basketball team is ready to challenge for the OVC championship.

That might be a stretch considering how much the Redhawks have struggled the past three seasons.

But you've got to be impressed by the way the Redhawks are performing under second-year coach Ty Margenthaler. He and his staff have breathed plenty of life into a floundering program.

The Redhawks (8-8, 2-1 OVC) have already surpassed their victory total from Margenthaler's first season last year, when they went 7-22.

SEMO has not won more than eight games in a season since the 2008-09 campaign and also hasn't posted more than four OVC victories in any season since 2008-09. The current Redhawks look like they'll blow those figures out of the water.

The Redhawks are riding their first three-game winning streak since 2008-09 and own their best 16-game record since 2007-08, when they won their most recent OVC championship.

Margenthaler has been able to blend several holdovers from the previous coaching staff and some key newcomers into a cohesive unit that does not appear to be physically overmatched in most games, unlike the past few seasons.

SEMO women's hoops is actually fun to watch again, which I honestly haven't been able to say for a while.

The Redhawks certainly haven't arrived yet; they still have a long way to go.

But right now you've got to say things are definitely trending in the right direction.