Award winner seeks bigger prize

For the second consecutive season, a Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball player is the Ohio Valley Conference newcomer of the year.

Junior Sami Jo Cotton captured the honor Thursday night as the OVC held its awards ceremony for both the men and women on the eve of today's conference tournament semifinals in Nashville, Tenn. Senior guard Kenja White won the award last season.

Cotton was also named second-team all-OVC, but no other Otahkian was recognized. No Southeast men's player earned any all-conference accolades. All the voting was done by the OVC's head basketball coaches and sports information directors.

Cotton, a 5-foot-7 guard who transferred from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College, is averaging 10.8 points per game to rank second on the team. She is third in the OVC in 3-point shooting at 37.2 percent and her 67 3-pointers place her second on Southeast's all-time single-season list, just one behind the leader.

"I'm very excited to win this award," Cotton said. "I hadn't really thought much about it."

Cotton won the newcomer of the year award in a tight battle with teammate Chandra Brown, a 6-3 junior center who is averaging 10.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game after transferring from Southeastern Illinois Community College.

Cotton was named OVC newcomer of the week five times while Brown was recognized four times. No other player in the league won the award more than once.

"Either player could have won it, but Sami Jo is very deserving," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said. "She's really had a good first year for us."

While Cotton said the award was nice, she knows the big prize is still ahead of the fourth-seeded Otahkians (16-12), who play top-seeded Austin Peay (21-7) in today's noon semifinal at Municipal Auditorium.

Today's other semifinal pits second-seeded Tennessee Tech (18-10) against sixth-seeded Eastern Kentucky (14-14) at 2 p.m. The semifinal winners advance to Saturday's 2 p.m. title contest, with that victor earning the OVC's automatic NCAA tournament berth.

"We're all excited and ready to go," Cotton said. "We really want to win this tournament."

Austin Peay has beaten Southeast five times over the past two seasons, including 85-61 in last year's OVC tournament championship game. The Governors own two wins over the Otahkians already this season.

"The odds get more and more in our favor every time out against them," joked Smith, in his second season at Southeast.

Said senior point guard Sarah Costello, "They've had our number, but we played them so good last time, we feel we have as good a chance as them."

The Otahkians, after losing to the Govs 64-54 in Cape Girardeau, nearly won the rematch in Clarksville, Tenn. Austin Peay prevailed 68-65 in a game not decided until the final seconds.

"When we played them last time, it came down to a last shot," White said. "On a neutral floor, I know if we play like we're capable, we can beat them."

Smith feels the same way, although he knows it will take an impressive performance, particularly against Austin Peay forward Gerlonda Hardin, a 6-foot-1 senior who is the OVC player of the year.

Hardin ranks third in the OVC in scoring and rebounding at 18.2 points and 8.7 boards per game. She leads the conference in field-goal shooting at 60.2 percent and is second in blocked shots with 57.

"She's a great player, and we have not guarded her the last two years," Smith said. "But they have several players who are very good, like Haynes and Bergeron."

Ashley Haynes, a 5-10 sophomore forward, and Kara Bergeron, a 5-9 sophomore guard, are the Govs' other double-figure scorers, at 12.5 and 11.9 points per game. Haynes is second in the OVC in rebounding (9.4) while Bergeron is third in 3-point shooting (38.7 percent).

"Post play is definitely one thing we have to stop, but they have other good players," Costello said. "We know we're going to have to play a really good game."

Smith agrees, but he's confident that if the Otahkians do perform well, there's no reason they can't find themselves in Saturday's championship game.

"We feel like there's nobody left we can't beat if we play our game," Smith said.