OTAHKIANS PASS FIRST OVC TEST, NIP TSU

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball coach Ed Arnzen figured Thursday night's Ohio Valley Conference opener would be a big character test for his team, which was coming off a dismal performance in its most recent outing.

Much to Arnzen's delight, the Otahkians passed with flying colors. After seeing all of an 18-point second-half lead disappear, Southeast was able to slip past host Tennessee State 82-80.

The Otahkians, who had lost by 21 points at home to non-conference foe Arkansas-Little Tuesday night, improved to 6-5 overall. TSU fell to 2-9 overall and 0-2 in OVC play.

"I was really proud of our team for bouncing back after what I thought was really a poor effort (Tuesday)," said Arnzen. "We had talked so much about don't back down. We did bend quite a bit but we didn't break.

"A two-point win, I'll take that on the road any time. It was just a huge basketball game for us. You always want to get off to a good start in the conference and we did that."

Leading 61-43 midway through the second half, the Otahkians saw the Lady Tigers storm back and eventually tie it at 80-80 on a Taurus Pyles follow shot with 35 seconds left.

But Southeast came right back when Pam Iversen hit a shot from about 10 feet out with 26 seconds left after taking a nice pass from LaShelle Porter.

TSU then missed three shots from in close and Southeast freshman Christine Rathke was fouled with nine seconds left. Rathke missed the front end of a one-and-one. Several seconds ticked off in a fight for the rebound, the ball rolled out of bounds and TSU was awarded possession with four seconds left. But a driving shot that missed was ruled to have come after the buzzer anyway.

"I knew the 18-point lead wasn't safe down here," Arnzen said. "I knew it would get tight."

Lori Chase led the Otahkians offensively with 22 points. She went down with an injury late in the game and had to be helped off the court, but Arnzen said it appeared as if Chase had simply bruised her knee and she should be fine for Saturday's game at Austin Peay.

Rathke had a strong game at point guard after Porter got into early foul trouble, scoring 14 points off the bench and hitting a huge 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer, which lifted the Otahkians to a 45-38 lead at the intermission.

"LaShelle got into early foul trouble and Christine had to play 21 minutes. She really played well, not only handling the ball but hitting some huge shots," said Arnzen.

Veronica Benson added 13 points and Iversen came off the bench to contribute 12, including the ultimate game-winner.

TSU got 20 points from Angela Hassell, 19 from Pyles and 18 from Tamara Washington.

Southeast, after scoring the game's first four points, quickly fell behind 10-4 and TSU later built a 21-9 lead.

But Southeast clawed back to make things tight the rest of the first half and the Otahkians scored the final eight points of the opening period. Two Iversen free throws with 1:05 left put Southeast up 39-38, Benson hit a 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining and then Rathke drilled a long trey at the buzzer to make it 45-38 at the break.

The Otahkians then outscored the Lady Tigers 16-5 at the outset of the second half to go up 61-43 before TSU came storming back to set up the thrilling finish.