SEMO women sweep homestand, defeat Gamecocks

Southeast's Tesia Thompson (24), seen during Thursday's game against Tennessee Tech, scored 26 and added 14 rebounds as SEMO won its 11th game of the season, defeating Jacksonville State at the Show Me Center, 62-54, Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021. LaTrese Saine (40), the Ohio Valley Conference's top shot blocker, is seen in the backcourt.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

Buoyed by a 26-point performance from star guard Tesia Thompson, Southeast Missouri State (11-7, 9-4 Ohio Valley Conference) led wire-to-wire Saturday, winning 62-54 over Jacksonville State at the Show Me Center.

Thompson, last week’s OVC player of the week and the no. 2 scorer in the conference, started fast by scoring 13 of the team’s 19 first quarter points.

“I think the team feeds off of my energy so for them to come along, I need to bring what I bring,” said Thompson.

The senior also grabbed a game-leading 14 rebounds to register a double-double.

“I don’t know if you’ve seen (Tesia’s) hands, but they’re massive and she knows when the team needs her to get boards,” said sixth-year coach Rekha Patterson.

SEMO was actually outrebounded by JSU, 50-34 and held a 21-9 edge in offensive rebounds but the Gamecocks (8-6, 5-5) only managed six points off put-backs.

T.P. back

The contest saw the return of Southeast’s Taelour Pruitt, who logged 19 minutes after missing nearly a month with a sore knee. The 5-foot-6 junior scored two points and nabbed three steals.

“It was great to have her back out there again and you could see her confidence growing the longer she was on the court,” said Thompson.

Patterson acknowledged she was limiting Pruitt’s minutes since she has not played in a competitive game since January 9 against Tennessee Tech.

“T.P. always tells me she is ready to go, but I know her well enough that I can look in her eyes to see how’s she doing,” said Patterson, last season’s OVC Coach of the Year.

“Plus, since Ro (Scott) and Nyrobi (Pillers) were in late foul trouble (four fouls each), it was good to have T.P. out there to finish the game,” she added.

Other contributors

Sophie Bussard also finished in double figures for SEMO, scoring 12 points while adding three steals.

LaTrese Saine had a solid game, scoring eight points and the OVC’s top shot blocker registered six rejections on the day.

The visitors put three players in double figures: Taylor Hawks and Yamia Johnson both had 13 points while Jessie Day had 10 in a losing effort.

The Redhawks led by as much as nine points in the first half and were up 47-39 at intermission.

Southeast outshot the Gamecocks, 42% to 29%.

SEMO and JSU came into the game as the top two scoring defenses in the OVC.

Next up

Southeast begins its longest road trip of the 2020-21 season Tuesday.

The three-game set away from home begins Tuesday in Nashville against Belmont.

“The ladies asked that we go up the night before, so we’ll do that,” said Patterson, who spent time in the postgame locker room talking about the upcoming trip through Tennessee and Kentucky.

“I told them to win on the road it all starts in the mind,” said Patterson, whose record at SEMO improves to 91-80.

The Redhawk women travel to Murray State Thursday and Austin Peay on Saturday.

The top eight teams will advance to the OVC Tournament in Evansville, Indiana, March 3-6.

The Redhawks are currently in fourth place.

Scoring

JSU 15 14 10 15 – 54

SEMO 19 18 10 15 – 62

Att: 358