OTAHKIAN ROAD WOES CONTINUE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Ohio Valley Conference road woes continued Thursday night for Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team.

Tennessee State hit a 3-point basket just four seconds into the game and built a big lead, then the Lady Tigers held off a furious Southeast rally down the stretch as they posted a 65-60 victory.

Southeast, which has lost all five of its OVC road games so far this season, fell to 8-11 overall and 5-6 in league play as the Otahkians had a three-game winning streak snapped.

TSU, which broke a four-game losing streak, improved to 7-12 overall and 5-6 in the OVC.

"It's frustrating," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen of his team's problems on the road. "It seems like we lack the fire on the road that we have at home.

"Our seniors really need to step up and ignite the spark, but they didn't do that tonight."

Freshman Lori Chase led the Otahkians offensively as she scored a career-high 20 points, 16 coming in the second half. Another freshman, LaShelle Porter, reached her career high with 16 points, 10 in the second half.

"Lori and LaShelle picked us up late, but we were very lethargic for the first 10 or 15 minutes," said Arnzen.

Pam Iversen added 12 points for the Otahkians.

The Lady Tigers got 18 points from Angela Hassell and 15 from Taurus Pyles.

"Tennessee State shot the three a lot better than they had been (the Lady Tigers hit six of 15 3-pointers)," Arnzen said. "And we had way too many turnovers. We had 25 turnovers, 16 in the first half. It's hard to win that way."

The Lady Tigers never trailed in the contest. They built a 35-19 lead late in the first half, but Southeast carried a bit of momentum into the locker room by scoring the final eight points of the opening half.

Kristy Roherty's 3-pointer with five seconds left pulled the Otahkians to within 35-27 at the break.

After TSU surged ahead 38-27 at the outset of the second half, Southeast pulled to within 38-33 on an Iversen basket with 17 minutes left.

The Otahkians suffered a major blow when Iversen -- their second leading scorer on the season -- went down with a knee injury with just under eight minutes remaining.

Iversen, whose knee appeared to buckle as she made a move toward the basket, had to be helped off the court. She did not return to the game. The knee is scheduled to be examined today in Cape Girardeau.

"Pam's knee buckled and she heard a pop," explained Arnzen. "We'll have her checked (today), but I don't like the way it looks. We'll say a prayer for her."

Even after Iversen went out, the Otahkians were still within striking distance at 49-42 with just over seven minutes left.

TSU scored the game's next seven points to go up 56-42. Again Southeast rallied, pulling to within four points three times in the final minute. But the Lady Tigers hit seven of eight free throws in the closing moments including six of six by freshman Stacy Jordan to hold on.

"Thank you Lord," said TSU coach Teresa Lawrence Phillips, whose squad had blown late double-digit leads in losing its last two games, to Austin Peay and Belmont. "We still can't handle pressure very well, but it's nice, after blowing two straight double-figure leads late in the game, to see us hit some free throws."

The Otahkians will return to action Saturday with another OVC road game as they face Austin Peay in a 5:45 p.m. tipoff in Clarksville, Tenn.