The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team had a lot of goals this season. Much like any other basketball team, these goals included getting better as a unit, creating chemistry between teammates and most of all, winning games.

"Our main goal before the year was just to get better as a team," coach Ty Margenthaler said. "I believe we did that with a good record in the non-conference, But our ultimate goal right now is to get to Nashville and the conference tournament."

The non-conference schedule started out well for the Redhawks.

The team posted a winning record of 7-6, which included wins over Missouri Valley at home and Bradley and Central Arkansas on the road.

The winning record in the non-conference portion of the season was the first for the women's team since 2008.

Southeast has not seen the same success in Ohio Valley Conference play.

The Redhawks lost five of their last six games with the most recent loss coming on Wednesday at the hands of Jacksonville State 70-36.

But not all the conference games have been so one-sided, the two losses at the Show Me Center saw the Redhawks fall by a combined eight points, a 64-59 loss to Morehead State and a three-point loss to Eastern Kentucky -- a game in which Southeast had a lead with less than 40 seconds left.

"This start is definitely not what we were hoping for coming into the season," Margenthaler said last week. "We are 0-5 at this point, and right now it's a work in progress."

The Redhawks won their first conference game against Tennessee Tech on Saturday 68-66 in overtime, improving their record to 1-5 in the OVC and 8-11 overall.

Junior forward Erin Bollman had a career high 18 points and 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Senior guard Jasmine Robinson followed with 14 points and two assists.

Margenthaler said that getting better in games starts in practice.

"Getting better starts on the practice court," Margenthaler said. "We have to continue to work hard, stay positive and stay together. If we do these three things, then I think we can turn things around and get back on track."

In conference play, the Redhawks are led by Robinson who has started all six OVC games and averaged nine points per game.

Junior Connor King has led the Southeast effort on the boards by averaging 10.4 rebounds per game.

The most consistent substitute off the bench in games has been junior guard Olivia Hackmann, who started nine games at the beginning of the season.

Hackmann has averaged almost eight points per game and also grabbed nearly five boards per contest.

Bollman has also been a key player off the bench and started against Tennessee Tech on Saturday, she has averaged 7.7 points per game and also been a contributor on the boards by averaging 7.6 rebounds per game.

The Redhawks have allowed 63.5 points per game, while only scoring 51.5 points.

The team is also shooting a disappointing 33.1 percent from the field.

Hackmann knows that winning in conference must start by being better on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

"We just have to be better at putting the ball in the basket and playing together and communicating on defense," Hackmann said. "If we do these things hopefully we can get on a roll."

Hackmann knows that to achieve the team's top priority and get into the OVC tournament they have to play more like the team that played in the non-conference and posted a winning record.

"We have to boost the confidence of our teammates and not get down on ourselves," Hackmann said. "We just have to pick each other up and we can string some wins together and get this thing rolling."

Southeast will start a three-game away stretch on Saturday against UT Martin, Austin Peay on Jan. 31 and ending against Murray State on Feb. 5.