College Sports

A year of hardship and uncertainty finally came to a crescendo on Saturday at the Show Me Center. Southeast Missouri women's gymnastics ended the dramatic day as winners of the 2021 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships with a team score of 195.025...

Welcome to April Madness. Three Rivers held off Moberly Area for a fourth time this season to win the Region XVI championship 78-76 on Saturday at the Libla Family Sports Complex. "So proud of this group. The hard work they put in all year long, it hasn't been easy," Three Rivers coach Alex Wiggs said. "I told them I trust them all. They haven't given me any reason not to trust them, and we're going to do what it takes to win this game. And they did that down the stretch."...

COTTLEVILLE, Mo. - The Raiders swept a rare tripleheader Friday. Three Rivers started with a game that was postponed in the bottom of the second on March 30 and followed with its originally scheduled doubleheader at St. Charles. Three Rivers won the makeup game 11-2 in six innings, then won 1-0 in eight innings and closed the long day with a 10-2 win...

One win away from the national tournament, and the Greyhounds are in the way. Three Rivers will host Moberly Area at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Libla Family Sports Complex in the Region XVI championship. “Had a good day (Friday),” said Wiggs, adding the team got ice baths and treatment to make sure their bodies were ready to go. “(Moberly is) a very good team, and we just have to make sure we are prepared mentally,” Wiggs said...

The fact that Southeast Missouri State has the top punter in the Ohio Valley Conference this spring is a surprise to absolutely no one. After all, Jake Reynolds was named to the 2020 Punter of the Year “watch list” by the Augusta Sports Council heading into this school year.

The Lady Raiders have been going to Myrtle’s for decades. When the team plays on Saturday, everyone starts their gameday routine by meeting for breakfast at the downtown Poplar Bluff staple. Jack Childress started it, Jeff Walk adopted it, and now in his first season as head coach, Alex Wiggs is carrying it on...

Southeast Missouri women's soccer dropped a 4-2 decision to UT Martin to conclude the 2020-21 regular season Tuesday at the Skyhawk Soccer Field on Tuesday. Nadiia Ivanchenko and Abby Tremain scored for the Redhawks, as Lauren Welker compiled assists on both tallies, finishing the regular season with a team-high 14 points this season...

Southeast Missouri State women's tennis overcame Murray State Wednesday, to improve to 4-0 on OVC play to extend its win streak to seven matches and stays perfect in conference play. Ksenia Shokanova posted both doubles and singles wins, while Romana Tarajova, Kseniya Zonova, Lera Valeeva, Daniela Hlacikova, and Vivia Lai each recorded wins...

Sophomore Donald Hatfield Jackson was named the Ohio Valley Conference Co-Male Track and Field Athlete of the Week, league officials announced Thursday. Hatfield Jackson picked up a pair of first-place finishes last weekend at the Southeast Missouri State track & field's 2021 Joey Haines Invitational, winning the high jump and long jump...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. - Three Rivers is one win away from the national tournament. The Raiders beat Jefferson 103-37 in the Region XVI semifinals Thursday at the Libla Family Sports Complex and will host Moberly Area for the region championship at 7 p.m. Saturday...

Southeast Missouri State gymnastics serving as the host for this weekend’s USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate National Championships isn’t a culmination point for Redhawk coach Ashley Lawson, rather, it is just another step in the program’s “trajectory upward.”

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. - Three Rivers coach Jeff Null lost count of how many home runs the Raiders hit. Makale Floyd had her first of the season. Emma Keen had two in the same inning. The Raiders hit five in one inning, including back-to-back-to-back by the bottom three spots in the lineup...

Three Rivers will face Jefferson in the Region XVI semifinals after the fifth-seeded Vikings beat fourth-seeded Mineral Area on Tuesday. “We have to make sure we’re ready to go,” Three Rivers coach Alex Wiggs said. “We have to make sure we rebound, match their energy. We have to limit them to one shot.”...

Southeast Missouri State outside linebacker Bryant Pirtle was voted the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week Tuesday. Pirtle, who calls Louisville, Kentucky home, finished the week with seven tackles, recorded a sack, added two tackles for loss, recorded one forced fumble, and recovered a fumble, in the Redhawk's win against UT Martin on Saturday...

The Ohio Valley Conference announced on Tuesday that the Baseball Championship will be held on May 27-29 at The Ballpark at Jackson in Jackson, Tenn. “We are excited to have the OVC Baseball Championship back at The Ballpark at Jackson,” OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche said in a statement. “There is a level of comfort in going back to a place that has been so good to our league in the past.”...

Tyler Wilber went 3 for 5, driving in two RBIs as well as knocking in the go-ahead run Friday to capture Southeast Missouri State Head Coach Andy Sawyers' 100th career win, to down Jacksonville State, 6-5. With two on in the sixth inning, and the Redhawks trailing 5-4, Wilber laced a single to left field off Gamecock's hurler Jackson Tavel, bringing home both pinch-runner Brett Graber and Wade Strauss, to put SEMO on top for good...

Southeast Missouri State junior midfielder Lauren Welker scored her fifth goal of the season Friday, but the Redhawk's women soccer team fell to league-leading Murray State 3-1 at Houck Field. Welker pounced on her own rebound from a missed penalty kick to give SEMO a 1-0 advantage in the 11th minute of the first half...

HENDERSON, Tenn. — After giving up a six-run fifth to turn a tight one-run game into a 12-2 loss, the Three Rivers baseball team put up a pair of five-run innings in the second game to split with Freed Hardeman University on Monday. Lane Crowden’s tie-breaking, two-run double in the fifth was followed by another two-run double by Kolten Poorman while Alex Cauley and Nathan Browning also drove in a pair of runs in a 12-2 Raiders win in a seven-inning nightcap...

The adage is that “numbers don’t lie,” but anyone who watched the Southeast Missouri State football squad win at UT Martin 21-16 on Saturday will surely vouch that sometimes the statistics are misleading.

Southeast Missouri State junior Tyler Wilbur was named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week Monday, his first time doing so in his collegiate career. Wilbur hit .611 with nine RBIs, a pair of doubles, and two runs scored for the Redhawks last week...

Seth McBroom started his Saturday morning by finding out his 8-year-old daughter had given herself a tattoo. Lyla McBroom, a member of the Lady Raiders AAU basketball team comprised of area second and third graders, had drawn a small star on her leg, just like her favorite Three Rivers player Myia Yelder...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. - Three Rivers had 24 hits and scored 17 runs in a doubleheader where the offense “struggled.” After leading the country recently in team batting average, the Raiders are working on adjustments at the plate but were able to beat State Fair 9-1 in five innings in Friday’s opener and 8-3 in the nightcap at McLane Park...

Interviewing seventh-year Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz can be a reporter’s dream. You often simply turn on the tape recorder and sit back while your story writes itself.

There is no hotter softball team in the Ohio Valley Conference than Southeast Missouri State and it showed why in a resounding 7-0 beat-down of Eastern Illinois in Cape Girardeau on Friday. The Redhawks (16-10, 12-1) got offensive power from senior Ashley Ellis, as she pounded out a pair of home runs, while also riding the dominant right arm of junior pitcher Rachel Rook in the win.

Southeast Missouri State gymnast Anna Kaziska will add a chapter to an already special 2021 season today.

From the outset of the 2021 spring volleyball season, Jacksonville State proved a nemesis for Southeast Missouri State.

In his pursuit of a career record, Southeast Missouri State senior Connor Basler reached a milestone for something else. The speedy second baseman hit his first career home run in the second inning of a 9-8 extra-inning loss to Missouri State on Tuesday...

Within a month, Carrie Shephard will board a plane to fly halfway around the world in fulfillment of a lifelong dream to play professional basketball. Shephard, 25, a year removed from graduating with a master’s degree in educational administration from Southeast, is headed to Australia to play point guard for the Ballarat Rush in the NBL-1 League...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. - Three Rivers’ leading home run hitter is also its leadoff batter. Jamie Lee hit three over the fence on Tuesday to give her a team-leading nine on the season. The speedy leadoff hitter also leads the Raiders in stolen bases, runs scored, and has the team’s only triple...

FCS programs are dropping out of this spring season with some degree of regularity, as this unique year winds down. Illinois State pulled the plug on its season recently, while Chattanooga and Cal Poly both did on Monday. However, there is no such talk lingering through the halls of the Rosengarten Athletic Complex.

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. - Three Rivers’ NBA schedule has come to an end. After playing 20 games in nine weeks, and sometimes four games in eight days, the Raiders lost 72-64 to State Fair in the Region XVI quarterfinal on Tuesday at the Libla Family Sports Complex...

It’s easy for a football team to display positivity when things are going well. The challenge in athletics is measured in how it reacts to negativity.

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. - Myia Yelder didn't disappoint her young fans Saturday. With a local elementary AAU team in the stands, also named the Lady Raiders and wearing their black and gold jerseys, Yelder got 11 points in the first quarter as Three Rivers beat Jefferson 103-53 at the Libla Family Sports Complex...

The numbers don’t add up in some ways when studying the Southeast Missouri State football program this spring.

Southeast Missouri State shook off its exasperating defeat at the hands of their rival earlier in the week with a comeback victory at Eastern Illinois on Friday at Charleston, Ill. SEMO entered the series in a three-way tie with Murray State and Tennessee Tech for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference. The win keeps the Redhawks on top with a 5-2 record in conference play...

Wednesday’s game between Southeast Missouri State and Southern Illinois felt like a homecoming for Saluki head coach Lance Rhodes. Rhodes played high school baseball at Sikeston and started his college career at St. Louis before finishing at SEMO. He was on the coaching staff during the Redhawks’ best years in recent memory and experienced life in the SEC at Missouri before getting his first head coaching job...

Southeast Missouri State (1-4, 1-3 Ohio Valley Conference) and Tennessee Tech (1-3, 1-3) are among four teams that sit on the floor of the OVC football standings, while Murray State and Jacksonville State (both 4-0) are leading the league.

PARK HILLS, Mo. - The Raiders got within one possession early in the second half, but their momentum faded as Mineral Area got hot on 3-pointers. Midway through the second half, the Cardinals quickly turned a four-point lead into a 17-point lead and beat Three Rivers 82-61 on Wednesday in Park Hills...

PARK HILLS, Mo. — Three Rivers is two wins away from sweeping the regular season. The 10th-ranked Raiders comfortably dispatched Mineral Area 85-54 on Wednesday in their final road game of the regular season. The Raiders (17-0, 13-0 Region XVI) are two wins away from heading into the Region XVI Tournament as the undefeated top seed. They will host Jefferson at 2 p.m. Saturday, and Crowder on Wednesday is a game that was originally scheduled for Feb. 13...

Two sweeps for a split. Three Rivers opened its Region XVI season by sweeping Jefferson on Saturday, winning both games 7-6, only for Jefferson to sweep the Raiders on Sunday, winning the opener 10-5 and the nightcap 7-1. “It’s a typical region series where every game is going to be a battle. That’s just region play,” Three Rivers coach Tyler Smith said. “On the first day, to come away with two wins was really great to see.”...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. - Three Rivers’ offense continued to shine with a four-game sweep to open Region XVI play. The Raiders beat Metropolitan 14-0 and 14-4 on Sunday before winning Monday’s opener 9-0 in five innings and the nightcap 13-6. “It was good for our kids. The two super sophomores (Jenny Morey and Zoe Bisby) are the only two who have played a region game. Last year’s group didn’t get to,” Three Rivers coach Jeff Null said...

HARRISON, Ark. — The Raiders got back to a .500 record with a barn-burner. Three Rivers was clutch at the foul line in its closing possessions to beat North Arkansas 101-95 on Monday in Harrison, Ark. “It was a lot of work, and we’ll take (the win),” Three Rivers coach Brian Bess said...

Former Southeast Missouri State pitcher and assistant coach Lance Rhodes returns to Capaha Field for the first time as an opposing coach, leading Southern Illinois to a standalone rivalry game with the Redhawks on Tuesday. “I’m sure there’ll be some weird feeling whenever I’m on the first base side dugout, whenever I spent four years over on the third-base side,” Rhodes said. ...

The lone defeat that the No. 8-ranked Jacksonville State football program has endured in the past 12 months is a road loss at Florida State, so only the most fervent Southeast Missouri State fan had much confidence that the Redhawks would venture to Jacksonville, Ala. on Sunday and knock off the Ohio Valley Conference power for an unfathomable third consecutive year.

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. - With Saturday's win, the Raiders will likely get one more home game this season. Three Rivers beat State Fair 75-62 at the Libla Family Sports Complex to take the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Roadrunners. The two schools will play one more time in the No. 4 vs. No. 5 seed game in the Region XVI Tournament...

Three Rivers secured the top seed in the Region XVI Tournament, but it didn't look pretty. After beating State Fair twice by more than 30 points earlier in the season, the Raiders started slow Saturday before winning 74-59 at the Libla Family Sports Complex...

As former Southeast Missouri State great Kristian Wilkerson climbed atop the all-time categories in pass receptions a year ago, what was overshadowed was a decline in production by then-redshirt junior wide receiver Zack Smith.

Saturday’s matchup against State Fair has Region XVI Tournament consequences for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams. The 11th-ranked Lady Raiders (15-0, 11-0 Region XVI), one of four undefeated teams left in the top 25, can lock up the top seed and home-court advantage with a win...

One surefire way to find out who one of the stars of the baseball team is when you’re at a game for the first time is to see how the dugout reacts to the batter’s walkup song. Southeast Missouri State junior shortstop Tyler Wilber steps to the plate with electronic dance music blaring through the speakers at Capaha Field. The players slap the padded top rail of the dugout in unison synchronized to the beat of his song...

College basketball fans are under the impression that “March Madness” begins tonight in Indiana, where that thing referred to as the “First Four” is played leading up to the REAL start of the NCAA Tournament, which will be Friday. However, truth be told, there has been “Madness” surrounding the sport for several weeks and it will continue until the last of the NCAA Division I men’s college basketball head coaching opportunities is filled.