Otahks endure IUPU, turn focus toward AP

The Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball team may have been looking ahead a bit to Saturday's pivotal Ohio Valley Conference matchup with Austin Peay.

But the Otahkians played well enough to hand Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne an 86-67 defeat Wednesday at the Show Me Center.

Southeast improved to 12-6 with its fourth consecutive win. IP-Fort Wayne, in its first season in Division I, fell to 4-15.

"We played spotty," Southeast coach Ed Arnzen said. "I always dread a non-conference game right in the middle of the conference season."

The Otahkians, third in the OVC at 4-3, have a chance to solidify their position in the conference with a win over fourth-place Austin Peay, which is 3-3.

Against IUPU-Fort Wayne, Southeast ran to a 14-2 lead early as they got easy chances inside -- they finished with a 32-14 first-half advantage in the paint -- against the shorter Mastodons.

Center Pam Iversen was the primary offensive threat with 14 first-half points. She finished with a team-leading 18.

Shooting a sizzling 60 percent from the field, the Otahkians led 46-32 at halftime.

Southeast ran its lead to 60-40 early in the second half, but the Mastodons, employing a half-court trap, forced several Southeast turnovers to cut the lead to 11 points at 65-54 with 8:47 left. The Otahkians had 16 of their game-total 23 turnovers in the second half.

"We played just well enough to get a nice lead and then we would relax a little bit and they'd hit a couple of three's and come right back on us," Arnzen said, "plus we didn't handle the press very well."

But that was as close as IPFW would get. An Otahkian charge down the stretch nailed down the victory.

Tiffany Melis, Southeast's junior forward, added perimeter shooting and knocked down four of six 3-pointers.

Melis and Lori Chase, the OVC Player of the Week, scored 16 apiece. Chase also shared the team lead in rebounds with Iversen as they each had 10. Point-guard LaShelle Porter added 12 points.

Leading the way for IPFW was sophomore guard Amy Gearlds with a game-high 32 points.

"She's got a good all-round game," Southeast's Melis said. "She can go to the basket or shoot it outside."

Now Southeast can shift its attention to its key OVC game.

"We got through it and now we can focus on Austin Peay ," Arnzen said.

llewis@semissourian.com

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