DUET IN NASHVILLE: OTAHKS' HOME TOO MUCH FOR MURRAY

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Otahkians expected a serious battle from Murray State Tuesday night.

The Otahkians also expected their home-court dominance to ultimately help pull them through.

They were right on both counts.

Murray State gave Southeast all it could handle during a first-round game in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament -- but the Otahkians remained undefeated at the Show Me Center this season with a 66-60 victory.

Fourth-seeded Southeast, which won an OVC tourney game for the first time ever, now moves on to the semifinals in Nashville, Tenn. The Otahkians (19-8) will face top-seeded Tennessee Tech at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Nashville Arena.

"This is our first (OVC) tournament win and it takes the monkey off my back," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen with a grin. "I told the players thank you for getting us over this step."

But it wasn't easy -- something Arnzen figured on. The Otahkians didn't take control until they came up with a 9-0 run midway in the second half. But even then, Murray State (10-17) made things interesting at the end.

"This is a club that got better as the year went along," said Arnzen of the Lady Racers. "I expected a very difficult game. But we haven't lost at home this year and it seems like we just find a way to win."

Paula Corder led the Otahkians offensively with 18 points. She hit four of seven 3-point shots.

"We knew they'd be coming out to play hard, but we just have a lot of confidence at home," said Corder. "Getting to Nashville feels so good, but just going there is not good enough. We want to win the tournament."

Rusty Sowers scored 14 points and she hit five of six free throws in the final 33 seconds to hold off the Lady Racers at the wire.

"It feels great," said Sowers. "I was a little worried, but we knew Murray would be a tough team because they have a lot of good defensive players. But we have so much confidence at home. We don't think we'll ever lose here."

Tajuana White scored 13 points and pulled down 13 rebounds while Pam Iversen, despite struggling with her shooting and scoring just four points, grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.

Iversen and White were two of the main reasons the Otahkians were able to outrebound the Lady Racers 45 to 41 -- despite the fact rebounding was one of Arnzen's biggest concerns.

"They're a very good rebounding team and that's not one of our strong suits, but we did a good job on the boards," Arnzen said.

Moneik Campbell added nine points for the Otahkians despite banging up a knee late in the first half. Campbell was not seriously injured and she played most of the second half.

Regan Hughston had a solid game off the bench with six points.

Danelle Watts paced Murray State with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Bobbi Coltharp added 17 points and Heather Bates had 12.

The game was tight virtually the entire way, with the biggest lead for either team being an eight-point advantage that Southeast held in the late going.

Murray State scored the game's first six points but Southeast later held a six-point lead before the Lady Racers went ahead 31-30 at halftime.

The second half featured four lead changes and several ties before the Otahkians, trailing 44-42, scored nine straight points to take control.

Iversen followed up her own miss to tie the contest at 44, then White got inside for a basket that put Southeast on top 46-44 with just under 10 minutes left.

Corder drove for a basket, then she drilled a 3-pointer that opened up a 51-44 lead with just under eight minutes remaining.

A quick 5-0 Murray State run made it 51-49, but Southeast surged again and four straight points by White put the Otahkians up 60-52 with under four minutes to play.

But Murray State was not quite done. Twice in the final minute, the Lady Racers pulled to within three points, the last time coming with 21 seconds left on Coltharp's drive that made it 63-60.

But Sowers hit two free throws with 15 seconds remaining and, after a Murray State miss, she made one of two foul shots with seven seconds left.