Southeast Missouri State women's basketball looks to build upon signature win Wednesday at SIU-Edwardsville

Southeast Missouri State's Adrianna Murphy scans the court during the first half against UT Martin on Saturday in Martin, Tennessee.

Trent Singer

Coming off a confidence-boosting win over UT Martin over the weekend -- the first such result in nearly eight years -- the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team wants to maintain that positive trend.

Southeast wraps up a four-game road stretch tonight at SIU-Edwardsville with a chance to go 3-1 in that swing and begin to leave a slow start to Ohio Valley Conference play in the rear-view mirror.

The Redhawks (8-10 overall, 2-3 OVC) will face an opponent that has lost four games in a row, but is 4-2 at home and will put together a gritty effort that SEMO will have to answer to.

"They're physical, they're tough, they're defensive minded," Southeast coach Rekha Patterson said. "They play really hard."

SIUE (5-13, 1-4), thus far, hasn't been able to consistently impose its will, but it does have wins over a pair of teams that Southeast was unable to solve -- Southern Illinois and Tennessee Tech.

The Cougars are averaging 66.5 points per game behind an offense that embraces that tough approach, likes to get the ball close to the basket and uses that to get the free-throw line or generate open 3-point looks.

Southeast Missouri State coach Rekha Patterson talks with Ashton Luttrull during the first half against UT Martin on Saturday, January 14, 2017, in Martin, Tennessee.

Trent Singer ~ tsinger@semissourian.com

SIU-Edwardsville is last in the OVC in shooting percentage (38.1) but is second in the league in long-range efficiency (36.1 percent from outside the arc), second in free-throw attempts (379 total, 21.1 per game) and second in free-throw percentage (72).

"Getting to the free-throw line is absolutely an area of concern because it means you get in foul trouble," Patterson said.

"They do a great job of dribble penetration, a great job of post touches … and that leaves the 3-point line open. They don't shoot a lot (from 3), but they are efficient. You have to pick your poison, and that's why their percentage is really good."

Today's matchup pits the conference's top two 3-point shooting teams from an efficiency standpoint, though each treats the outside shot differently within its offense. The defenses, meanwhile, are ninth and 10th out of 12 teams in the league in terms of allowed shooting percentage from 3, so there may be opportunities for 3s to have a big impact on the game.

The Cougars top offensive weapon is 5-foot-9 junior guard Donshel Beck, who is eighth in the conference averaging 14.2 points per game on 40.5-percent shooting. Despite her height, Beck is not a traditional outside guard -- she is ninth in the OVC in rebounding at 6.9 per contest.

"She stays in attack mode," Patterson said. "She does all her damage in the paint. She puts it on the floor, gets you deep stuck in, crashes the board, scores in transition. She's a guard that plays at the 4 … and she's hard to defend because she's always moving."

SIUE has three other players averaging double figures on the scoreboard, with 5-8 junior guard Lauren White averaging 12.1 ppg and 5-5 sophomore Nakiah Bell putting up 10.2 ppg as the team's top 3-point threat -- she is 41 of 109 (37.6 percent) from outside the arc, where 60 percent of her total shot attempts are launched.

Junior forward Gwen Adams (5-11) gets a good chunk of her 10.4 ppg at the charity stripe, where she is 78 of 84 (92.9 percent). Adams also averages 5.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

Southeast Missouri State's Bri Mitchell dribbles down the court during the first half against UT Martin on Saturday, January 14, 2017, in Martin, Tennessee.

Trent Singer ~ tsinger@semissourian.com

On defense, SIU-Edwardsville is still looking for consistent success. The Cougars are allowing 74.4 ppg (11th in the OVC, just behind Southeast) as opponents shoot 43.7 percent from the field.

"They're going to pressure the ball, deny passes, bump cuts," Patterson said. "They don't want you to be able to run the offense the way you want to run it or where you want to run it."

The Redhawks will try to continue to build on the offensive success they found at UT Martin on Saturday, as they eclipsed 42-percent shooting for the first time during the conference slate, knocking down 48.5 percent of their shots.

Southeast shot 37.8 percent in its first four OVC contests.

The key, Patterson said, will be to continue to find ways to play the game SEMO wants to play.

"I don't know if we were in a funk, I think that teams were just really focused on our transition game and taking that away," the coach said. "If you look at the shots against UT Martin, once we broke their press those were easy baskets we were getting."

Both teams have been solid on the boards this season, and winning that battle could be the first key to Southeast finding its comfort zone.

"We've got to get defensive rebounds," Patterson said. "That's the very first thing. That's the first part of the transition [success]. We've got to keep them off the glass. We can't run if we can't do that.

"… The second thing is playing in a rhythm. Playing sides of the floor, having multiple people touch the ball and not just trying to play 1 on 1."

The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Sam M. Vadalabene Center.