OTAHKIANS BREAK OUT OF SLUMP

The past two games, Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team faltered in the closing minutes to suffer disappointing Ohio Valley Conference defeats.

It looked for a while like the same thing might happen again Thursday, but the Otahkians recovered to pull out a 66-62 victory over Murray State at the Show Me Center.

Southeast, which broke a five-game losing streak, improved to 5-15 overall and 3-9 in OVC play.

MSU, which had a four-game winning streak snapped, fell to 8-12 overall and 5-7 in the league.

"It was a big one," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen. "We really needed it. I was wondering when we'd win another one."

While the Otahkians remained in last place in the 10-team OVC, they at least gave themselves some much-needed hope in trying to qualify for the OVC Tournament. The top eight teams in the final league standings make the tourney.

"It's not over till it's over," said Arnzen. "Now this gives us a boost. We've got the tough road trip coming up (to Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky), but if we could get a split, we'd be all right."

Dana Hawkins led the Otahkians offensively with 22 points. She hit all 10 of her free-throw attempts. Hawkins also dished out a team-high seven assists.

"I thought Dana really picked us up," Arnzen said. "We've been needing somebody to pick us up late in games and she did that."

Jamie Koester added 18 points. She also blocked four shots and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Sarah Frazier contributed 14 points.

Stephaine Minor scored 23 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to pace the Lady Racers. Misty Pierceall scored 21 points, all coming on seven 3-point shots.

The Otahkians led 29-27 at halftime and scored the first 12 points of the second half to assume command at 41-27. A short while later, Southeast opened up a 47-32 advantage and it looked like the Otahkians would cruise to victory.

But the Lady Racers stormed back. Pierceall hit consecutive 3-pointers to tie the contest at 52-52, then Minor scored inside to give MSU a 54-52 lead with 6:17 left.

Southeast, however, refused to fold. Koester scored inside at the 4:16 mark as the Otahkians went back ahead 58-56 and they never trailed again.

A driving shot by Dawn Massani and Kim Palmer's 15-footer gave the Otahkians a 62-57 lead.

After the Lady Racers pulled to within 63-62, Hawkins sealed the victory when she scored and was fouled with 18 seconds remaining. Her free throw put the Otahkians ahead 66-62 and completed the scoring for the contest.

"At the six-minute mark, we'd blown a 15-point lead and our confidence level was near zero," said Arnzen. "We'd lost a lot of games in the last seven, eight minutes. But to our credit, our girls stepped up and made some big plays. They believed in themselves and got the job done."

Now the Otahkians will embark on their longest OVC road trip of the season, leaving today for Morehead, Ky. Southeast will play Morehead State at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Eastern Kentucky at 1 p.m. Sunday.