Austin Peay Lady Govs Basketball plays Southeast Missouri at home Monday on “Play 4Kay” Night

Austin Peay Lady Govs vs. Southeast Missouri

Monday, February 4th, 2013 | 7:00pm (CT)
Play 4Kay Cancer Awareness Night
Clarksville, TN | Dunn Center (7,257)

Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay women’s basketball team returns home for a quick two-game homestand, beginning with a 7:00pm, Monday, Ohio Valley Conference contest against Southeast Missouri.

The Lady Govs will wear pink during the contest as part of the nationwide “Play 4Kay” initiative to raise cancer awareness. Austin Peay returns home after posting a 1-2 mark during its recent three-game road trip, which included a 65-61 loss at Murray State, Saturday.

Southeast Missouri enters the contest seeking an end to its six-game losing streak which it saw extended by a 53-49 loss to East Division leader Eastern Kentucky, Saturday.

Lady Govs Ledger

Austin Peay brings a 1-8 OVC record into the contest, its lone win coming at Jacksonville State, January 28th. The Lady Govs’ defense has struggled in the team’s OVC slate, allowing seven of their first nine OVC opponents to shoot better than 40 percent from the floor (45.9 percent combined) and average 71.1 points per game.

APSU has won the turnover battle in 13 games this season – forcing its last four opponents into a total of 61 turnovers – and owns a plus-2.7 turnover margin. In addition, the Lady Govs defense has recorded 10-plus steals in four of its last five games (11.6 spg in that span) and 12 times this season.

Only four APSU players have played in every contest. Seven players are averaging five or more points per game, with two averaging double figures (Meghan Bussabarger and Leslie Martinez at 13.2 and 11.6 points per game, respectively).

Redhawks Squawk

Southeast Missouri has lost six straight contests after opening league play with two wins (vs. APSU and Murray State) in its first three outings. In OVC play, the Redhawks have relied heavily on five players who are averaging 27-plus minutes each.

Senior Bailie Roberts leads the team in scoring (13.4 ppg) and rebounding (6.0 rpg) during conference action. Jordan Hunter is averaging a team-high 34.0 minutes per game in league action and is averaging 10.9 points and 4.8 assists per game. Brittany Harriel (10.9 ppg) rounds out a trio of Redhawks averaging double digits in scoring during OVC action.

Southeast Missouri has proven dangerous at the free-throw line, making 74.2 percent of its attempts and ranks 2nd in OVC play.

An Austin Peay Win Would

End a four-game home losing streak… make it 5-5 at the Dunn Center in 2012-13… be its fifth-straight home win against Southeast Missouri… improve it to 2-8 in OVC play… make it 1-1 in February… improve Daniels’ record to 79-131 overall and 52-67 in OVC play… make the Lady Govs 432-604 overall since 1976-77.

An Austin Peay Loss Would

Be its second consecutive loss… be its fifth consecutive loss at the Dunn Center, making it 4-6 at home… be its first home loss to Southeast Missouri since Jan. 12, 2008 and end a four-game home win streak against the Redhawks… make it 1-9 in OVC play… make it 2-9 away from the Dunn Center…  drop Daniels’ record to 78-132 overall and 51-68 in OVC play… make the Lady Govs 431-605 overall since 1976-77.

Notes and Notables From Last Outing

Austin Peay Lady Govs at Murray State

The loss was the first for Austin Peay at the CFSB Center since January 10th, 2009. Senior Meghan Bussabarger finished with 22 points – including her career’s 900th – to lead the Lady Govs. It was her seventh consecutive double-digit scoring day and season’s fifth 20-point performance. Bussabarger also had a career-high tying 11 rebounds for her ninth career double-double and third this season.

Senior Leslie Martinez finished with 17 points – her fourth consecutive outing with a double-digit scoring total. Sophomore Shelby Olszewski pulled down a career-high nine rebounds while playing all 40 minutes.

For the fourth time in the last five games, Austin Peay finished under 40 percent shooting, hitting at a 35.4 percent clip (23-of-65) from the field. The Lady Govs were also 18.8 percent (3-of-16) from beyond the arc, the third time in the last five games the Lady Govs had a sub-20 percent three-point shooting day. The three made three-pointers also tied a team season-low.

It was Austin Peay’s first day with less than 10 assists since January 5th at Southeast Missouri; they had a season-low six as a team. After getting at least 10 steals in the previous four games, the Lady Govs could only muster a season-low six against Murray State.

Four players (Olszewski, Hardaway, Martinez and Bussabarger) had 46 of the Lady Govs 48 rebounds – the Lady Govs’ best rebounding day since December 9th, 2012 against St. Catharine. The Lady Govs forced a season-low 11 turnovers.

Austin Peay allowed at least 40 rebounds for the fourth time in the last five games; Murray State finished with 43, including 35 on the defensive glass. Murray State hit 10 three-pointers, the third consecutive opponent to hit at least 10 three-pointers.

Media Center

Radio: Governors Sports Network (David Loos, play-by-play and Van Stokes, analyst)
Live Stats: www.LetsGoPeay.com
Live Audio: www.LetsGoPeay.com
ipTV: www.OVCDigitalNetwork.com

Head Coaches

Austin Peay – Carrie Daniels (Austin Peay, 1996) is 78-131 (.373) in her seventh season as a head coach at Austin Peay.

Southeast Missouri – Ty Margenthaler (SIU Edwardsville, 1997) is 15-36 (.294) in his second season at the school and as a head coach.

Series

APSU leads, 25-22 (APSU leads 13-10 in Clarksville) | Streak: SEMO, one win | Daniels vs. SEMO: 7-5