OTAHKIANS LOOK TO REBOUND FROM ROUT

Today's mission for Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team in trying to bounce back from its most horrendous performance of the Ohio Valley Conference season will be to slow down the nation's highest-scoring squad.

Eastern Kentucky, which visits the Show Me Center for a 5:30 p.m. OVC tipoff, leads all NCAA Division I women's team's with an average of 88.1 points per game.

That figure is seven points more than the No. 2 offensive squad in the OVC -- league-leading Tennessee Tech -- and has been a major reason why the Lady Colonels (20-5 overall, 12-2 OVC) have clinched at least second place in the nine-team conference.

Southeast coach Ed Arnzen, whose squad (13-11, 8-6) has wrapped up at least fourth place in the OVC, knows the type of challenge the Otahkians will be facing as they attempt to rebound from Saturday's 70-47 home loss to Eastern Illinois.

"We had a complete meltdown Saturday. We didn't play any phase of the game well," said Arznen. "And now a very good Eastern Kentucky team that has really been on a nice run (winning five straight) comes in here. They're playing very well and we're going to have to play well to stay with them."

According to Arnzen, a major key to the Lady Colonels' high-powered attack is their full-court pressure defense that causes numerous turnovers and leads to a host of fast-break baskets.

"They put a lot of full-court pressure on you and they cause a lot of turnovers. Their turnover ratio (plus eight) is the best in the league," Arnzen said. "They score so much off transition. They'll make a steal or you'll have a turnover and they'll convert that into quick baskets. They have a lot of depth and throw a lot of bodies at you, so they can wear you down.

"To beat them, you have to slow them down a little bit, you have to take care of the ball and you have to play smart."

EKU's balanced offensive attack features four double-figure scorers in Candice Finley (12.8 ppg), Charlotte Sizemore (12 ppg), Katie Kelly (10.2 ppg) and Zoey Artist (10.1 ppg).

The Otahkians, who are led in scoring by Lori Chase (14.9 ppg) and Veronica Benson (11.7 ppg), still have a chance to finish in third place in the OVC, but Southeast would need for Austin Peay (9-5) to lose at least one of its final two games while the Otahkians sweep their last two contests.

But Arnzen, whose team will close out the regular season Saturday at home against Morehead State before hosting a first-round OVC Tournament game Tuesday night, is more concerned with the Otahkians getting back on track than catching Austin Peay.

"We'd have to have some help from somebody by knocking off Austin Peay," he said. "Right now, I'm more concerned with how we finish. We want to enter the tournament on the upswing and not back in.

"We were 6-2 in the first round (of conference play) and now we're 2-4 in the second round. We want to get that turned around."