After 1-1 trip, Otahks face a must-win game

Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball coach B.J. Smith admits he's greedy.

While most coaches might be pleased to have gained a split on the road against two of the Ohio Valley Conference favorites, Smith at first wasn't all that happy after the Otahkians defeated Morehead State last Saturday and lost to Eastern Kentucky on Monday.

But upon further review, Smith admits it wasn't all that bad.

"We want to win those games, but we can live with 1-1 on a trip like that," Smith said.

Like most coaches, Smith says he believes the key to contending for a title in any league is winning all home games and picking up some key road wins.

That means the Otahkians (8-5, 2-1 OVC) will place plenty of emphasis on their two-game homestand that begins today when Murray State (4-9, 0-2) visits the Show Me Center for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff. Tennessee-Martin (5-9, 2-1) will be in town Monday for a 7 p.m. start.

"We've got to win every home game, and then get some on the road," Smith said. "We cannot overlook anybody. These next two games are very important, beginning with Murray State."

Even though Murray State's record is not imposing, Smith expects the Racers to put up quite a battle. They were close in both OVC games, losing to preseason favorite Austin Peay 62-61 and defending champion Tennessee Tech 62-58.

"They're a good basketball team, not a great team, but they're solid," Smith said. "They should have beaten Austin Peay. They were up five with about two minutes to go.

"If we handle our business we should be in good shape, but if we don't control tempo, we could be in trouble."

Murray State ranks next-to-last in the OVC in scoring at 59.4 points per game and Smith said the Racers will try to play a half-court style. Southeast is second in the league in scoring at 78.1 points per game and will try to push the tempo as much as possible.

"We want to turn it into a full-court game," Smith said. "If the tempo is slow, it will favor them."

The Otahkians have done a good job of creating a fast tempo and disrupting the opposition so far this season as they force an average of nearly 28 turnovers per game while recording 14 steals per contest. Both figures rank second in the OVC.

But Smith is not pleased that the Otahkians are averaging more than 22 turnovers per game -- and they had 30 in each of their last two contests, although they won one of those.

"We're having way too many turnovers," Smith said. "With the style we play, we expect to have somewhere between 15 to 20, but you can't have 30 and expect to beat a good team like Eastern Kentucky."

Smith hopes the Otahkians will begin to limit their turnovers once they get point guard Sarah Costello back on the court.

Costello has missed the past several games with a stress fracture in her foot. She might have been healthy enough to play today, but instead is in her native Australia for her sister's wedding.

"When we signed Sarah, she knew her sister was getting married Saturday, and one of the things we promised her is she would be able to go back to Australia for the wedding," Smith said. "But she will play Monday, and hopefully she'll be back to 100 percent real soon."

Murray State receives nearly half of its offense from two players. Beth Schnakenberg, a 5-foot-11 senior forward, is second in the OVC in scoring with 15.8 points per game. Lori Trumblee, a 6-3 freshman center, averaging 13.4 points and 6.9 rebounds, the latter figure ranking fifth in the league.

Junior guard Kenja White, the OVC Newcomer of the Week the past two weeks, paces Southeast with 14.4 points per game. Also averaging in double figures are senior forward Lori Chase (13.7) and junior forward Carina Souza (11.9).

White and Chase rank eighth and ninth in the OVC in scoring.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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