OTAHKIANS ENJOY FIRST PLACE ALL ALONE IN OVC

Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball coach Ed Arnzen has said all along that there isn't a whole lot of difference between any of the Ohio Valley Conference teams this season.

That's why Arnzen was expecting a tough game from last-place Morehead State Monday night -- and that's exactly what his squad got.

The Otahkians trailed much of the way -- including by 12 points in the first half -- but they battled back for a 65-58 victory at the Show Me Center.

"Every conference game is going to be tough," said Arnzen. "There's not much difference between any of the teams. There's a lot of parity, so you have to be ready to play every night."

And so the turnaround season for Southeast continues. The Otahkians are now 9-2 overall and 4-0 in the OVC. Southeast has already won more games than it did all of last year, when the Otahkians compiled an 8-19 record.

"I get asked by people a lot if this team has surprised me," said Arnzen. "But they really haven't. I thought we had some talent and an excellent attitude. I'm really proud of what they've done so far."

As an added bonus Monday, the Otahkians ended the night all alone in first place in the OVC, thanks to Tennessee Tech's win over Tennessee-Martin, which had been in a first-place tie with Southeast.

But getting to first place and the nine-victory total was certainly not easy because Morehead (2-9 overall, 0-4 OVC) gave the Otahkians all they wanted and then some.

"I thought Morehead State really came to play. They were very scrappy," Arnzen said. "We had such a big game Saturday (a double-overtime win over Eastern Kentucky), I think we were a little flat. And I don't think we had our legs, coming back after that long game."

Senior guard Rusty Sowers paced the Otahkians offensively with 18 points. Freshman center Pam Iversen scored 10 points, as did sophomore center Annie Struve, who came off the bench to hit five of six shots. Struve also blocked three shots.

Struve has only recently returned after missing the entire first semester with a stress fracture.

"Annie hit some big shots for us," said Arnzen.

Heidi Daulton and Vette Robinson both scored 12 points to pace the Lady Eagles.

The Otahkians trailed 22-10 at one point in the first half and were still behind 31-27 at the intermission.

Southeast took the lead midway through the second half, but Morehead battled back to go ahead 43-42.

That's when the Otahkians put together a decisive 10-0 run that gave them the cushion they needed.

Struve's shot with 8:55 left put Southeast ahead for good at 44-43. Paula Corder hit two free throws and Iversen, Sowers and Tajuana White made consecutive jumpers to boost the Otahkians into a 52-43 lead with just over six minutes left.

Morehead was far from through as the Lady Eagles pulled to within three points several times in the closing moments. But Corder and Iversen both hit two free throws in the final 10 seconds to seal the victory.

The Otahkians won despite leading scorer Corder getting just eight points on 1-for-8 shooting.

"I thought Morehead State really did a good job on Paula," Arnzen said.

Southeast will return to action Thursday at Middle Tennessee.