OTAHKS' OFFENSE EXPLODES 104-70

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Looking at the final score of Saturday's women's basketball game between Southeast Missouri State University and Morehead State, it's hard to imagine that the Otahkians actually appeared to be in trouble for a while.

The Otahkians wound up blowing out the host Lady Eagles 104-70 -- but not before trailing by 15 points early and by six points at halftime.

Southeast reached a season high for points in a game, surpassing the 101 during an earlier double overtime win over Eastern Kentucky. And the Otahkians surpassed the 100-point total twice in a season for the first time since the 1990-91 campaign.

"On the road, when you get down like we did, it's usually a defeat," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen. "The kids stayed in there and we had a big second half."

So Southeast was able to win two of three games during a tough road stretch. And Saturday's triumph helped to somewhat ease the pain of Monday's loss at Eastern Kentucky, in which the Otahkians let a late 10-point lead slip away.

The Otahkians improved to 14-6 overall and 9-3 in Ohio Valley Conference play as they remained in a tie for second-place in the 10-team league. Southeast is one game behind Middle Tennessee.

MSU fell to 4-15 overall, 2-10 in the OVC.

"This is a big win for us. Going in, I felt this was a must win to stay right in the race (for the OVC title),"` Arnzen said. "We felt like we had to win two of these last three road games so, even though Monday's loss was disappointing, we came out of it pretty well."

Six players scored in double figures for the Otahkians, led by Rusty Sowers with 20 points. She hit seven of 11 shots from the field, including three of five 3-pointers.

"We knew we needed this game real bad," said Sowers.

Freshman Reagan Hughston came off the bench and hit eight of 10 shots on her way to a career-high 18 points.

"I had my best game (of the season), but the team gave me a lot of help," Hughston said. "Our ball movement was really good in the second half."

Tajuana White hit seven of nine shots and scored 17 points. She also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

Pam Iversen contributed 12 points and three blocked shots while Paula Corder and Moneik Campbell both added 10 points. Campbell had a team-high seven assists.

The Otahkians also got a lift off the bench from Sherry Cook, who hit all three of her shots -- including two 3-pointers -- and scored eight points.

Kim Elliott paced MSU with 21 points, but only five came in the second half. Megan Kellough added 13 points.

The Lady Eagles started the game on fire as they hit their first eight shots from the field to build an early 21-6 lead. MSU also later held another 15-point advantage at 28-13.

But MSU cooled off and Southeast made a major move, using a 17-4 run to get within 32-30. The Lady Eagles regrouped somewhat and held a 43-37 halftime lead.

But the second half belonged totally to the Otahkians as they outscored the Lady Eagles 67-27.

Southeast began the final 20 minutes with a 14-0 run to quickly take control. White scored six of the Otahkians' first eight points, her basket from in close just 2:01 into the half putting Southeast ahead for good at 45-43.

White hit two free throws and Iversen scored four straight points to complete the run and put Southeast ahead 51-43.

MSU was able to finally get on the board in the second half, but the Otahkians would simply not led the Lady Eagles breathe.

Southeast continued to explode and Campbell finished off an overall 26-2 run with a basket that opened up a 63-45 lead just six minutes into the half.

After that, it was just a matter of how lopsided the final margin would be. And it ended up extremely lopsided indeed.

The Otahkians absolutely blistered the nets in the second half, hitting 24 of 34 shots for 71 percent. For the game, Southeast shot 59 percent on 38 of 65.

"Strange as it sounds, it was our defense that made the difference," Arnzen said. "Early they couldn't miss and they were getting too many good looks. We really picked up our defense after their hot start."

Said Sowers, "Our defense really picked up in the second half and we played with a lot of confidence."