Otahkians fail to take advantage of Tech troubles

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Not having their head coach on the bench at all and having their best player on the bench for most of the game was apparently all it took for Tennessee Tech to finally knock off Southeast Missouri State University's women.

Tech's Bill Worrell was not in the Eblen Center Thursday night because of a one-game Ohio Valley Conference suspension for being ejected from the Eaglettes' previous contest against Eastern Kentucky.

And sophomore center Emily Christian, the OVC's leading scorer, was in foul trouble most of the way as she was limited to 16 minutes.

But without Worrell running the show -- and with Christian stifled much of the game, although she was still able to make her presence felt late -- the Eaglettes knocked off the visiting Otahkians 65-57 .

Tech had lost four straight to Southeast, including an overtime decision on Jan. 10 in Cape Girardeau, since B.J. Smith took over the Otahkians' program last season. Prior to Smith's arrival, Southeast had dropped 20 of 24 meetings with Tech.

"It felt great to finally beat them," said Tech junior forward Casey Bradford, who scored a team-high 17 points. "We were without our coach, and having Emily out hurt. But I think everybody went in and showed a lot of guts."

Southeast fell to 8-8 overall and 3-2 in OVC play while Tech improved to 7-8 and 3-2. It was a disappointing way for the Otahkians to open a crucial two-game road swing that concludes Saturday at first-place Austin Peay.

"Defensively, I thought we played really well. But offensively we were horrible," Smith said.

Christian, averaging 20.9 points per game, was still able to score 14 points. Junior guard Tynisha Alexander added 11 points for the Eaglettes and freshman guard Kendall Cavin had 10.

Freshman leads SoutheastFreshman guard Jessica Aebi came off the bench and led the Otahkians with a season-high 18 points, surpassing the 12 she scored against Utah in the opener.

"Jessica played really well. She was the bright spot in the whole deal," Smith said.

Aebi hit seven of 13 shots, including three of six 3-pointers. The rest of the squad combined to hit two of 15 from 3-point range.

"It's about time I hit some shots. It felt good," Aebi said. "I made some mistakes, but I did what I could."

Junior center Chandra Brown was Southeast's only other double-figure scorer as she had 12 points. Senior forward Carina Souza scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Senior point guard Sarah Costello had six assists.

Christian scored eight early points before getting her second foul 7:30 into the contest. She sat for more than five minutes, then immediately picked up her third foul after coming back in and was sidelined for the final 7:07 of the period.

Less than three minutes into the second half, Christian got her fourth foul and stayed on the bench for the next 11 minutes. But Southeast never could take advantage of her absence.

By the time Christian returned to the game with 6:30 left, the squads were tied at 49-49.

Alexander scored on a drive with 6:06 remaining to put Tech up 51-49 and Christian scored six straight points as the Eaglettes opened up a 57-49 advantage. Southeast never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

Southeast led 23-16 with 8:18 left in the first half but then went scoreless for more than eight minutes as Tech grabbed a 27-25 halftime advantage. The lead changed hands several times in the second half before Tech took control down the stretch.

Southeast had 24 turnovers and shot 42.9 percent.

"Now we just have to bounce back Saturday," Aebi said.