OTAHKIANS BATTLE BACK ONLY TO FALL IN OVERTIME

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team staged another big comeback Saturday -- although this time the Otahkians came up empty in the end.

As in their previous two Ohio Valley Conference games -- both victories -- the Otahkians wiped out a big deficit and even went ahead late.

But host Morehead State forced overtime and went on to post a 98-95 win at Ellis T. Johnson Arena.

The Otahkians fell to 4-6 overall and 2-1 in OVC play as they had their three-game winning streak snapped. MSU is 4-6 overall, 1-2 in the league.

Despite the loss, Southeast remained in a first-place OVC tie with Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Illinois. The Otahkians play at Eastern Kentucky Monday.

"It's a tough loss, but I'm very proud of the kids," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen. "To come in here and do the best you can, there's no reason to get your head down.

"We've come here with probably more talented teams and gotten embarrassed. We were in the game until the end and on the road that's about all you can ask."

Six players scored in double figures for the Otahkians, with sophomore center ChyAnne Kapitzke getting a career-high 22 points and also pulling down 11 rebounds.

Tajuana White had 20 points although she injured an ankle late in regulation.

Also in double figures were Jamie Koester (14), Dana Hawkins (13), Rusty Sowers (13) and Moneik Campbell (10).

MSU was led by Marcisha Bradley with 18 points and Dominique Mitchell with 15. The Lady Eagles had seven players in double figures.

"White hurting her ankle late hurt us," Arnzen said. "We played well offensively and shot the ball well. But defensively we made some critical mistakes gambling for the ball and we got burned a lot."

MSU held the lead virtually all of regulation, including 48-40 at halftime after leading by as many as 12 points.

Southeast finally took its first lead of the game with just under four minutes left in the second half as two Kapitzke free throws made it 76-75.

The Lady Eagles went back ahead 82-78, but Sowers drained a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left as the Otahkians surged back in front 83-82.

Sowers made two foul shots with 24 seconds remaining for an 85-82 Southeast lead.

It looked like the Otahkians were in good shape when MSU missed a late 3-point try. But the Lady Eagles grabbed the rebound and Hilary Swisher's tough, off-balance trey with 10 seconds remaining knotted the contest at 85-85. It was on to overtime.

"They hit an off-balance three after an offensive rebound," said Arnzen, shaking his head. "I doubt if she could hit that shot one out of 20 but it went in."

The Otahkians scored the first basket of the five-minute extra period as Koester hit a jumper to put Southeast ahead 87-85.

Swisher's layup with 2:59 left gave the Lady Eagles the lead for good at 91-89 and they were able to hold on down the stretch.