Indiana State streaks overcome Otahkians

ST. LOUIS -- Indiana State used first-half runs of 16-0 and 11-0 to post an 82-71 victory over Southeast Missouri State University Friday night in the opening round of the Coca-Cola Billiken Classic.

Host St. Louis routed Gardner-Webb 105-54 in the other first-round contest.

Southeast (5-3) plays Gardner-Webb (1-7) at 6 p.m. today for third place. St. Louis (7-3) and Indiana State (5-1) square off at 8 p.m. for the championship.

The Otahkians, who had a four-game winning streak snapped, led 8-7 early before the Sycamores scored 16 straight points to go ahead 23-8.

Southeast, trailing 24-10, answered with a 12-0 run, capped by Kenja White's 3-pointer that made it 24-22. A short while later, Tiffane Ryan's basket pulled the Otahkians into a 31-31 tie. The squads were also tied at 33-33 with under two minutes remaining.

But Indiana State scored the final 11 points of the first half to open up a 44-33 lead. Southeast could get no closer than nine points in the second half.

White led the Otahkians with 26 points and Carina Souza added 11. White hit 10 of 21 field-goal attempts, including four of 11 3-pointers.

Kourtney Mennen paced the Sycamores with 25 points. She was 9-for-19 from the field, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range. Kristin Stewart scored 16 points and Lindsay Galbraith had 12.

The Sycamores shot 50 percent from the field (29 of 58) and the Otahkians shot 43.3 percent (29 of 67).

Indiana State had a big advantage at the free-throw line as the Sycamores made 20 of 26 compared to just five of seven for Southeast.

Both teams had trouble holding on to the ball. The Otahkians had 27 turnovers and the Sycamores 26.