OTAHKIANS PAY BACK DEVILETTES

After watching Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team crush visiting Mississippi Valley State 78-44 Saturday afternoon, the first question to Otahkian coach Ed Arnzen was simple.

Just how did the Otahkians ever lose to the Devilettes in the earlier meeting between the teams, when MVSU prevailed 69-63 in overtime on Dec. 4 in Itta Bena, Miss.?

"We were not permitted (the last time) to do the things we did today," said a smiling Arnzen.

The coach did not elaborate, but he was obviously referring to what had reportedly been some shaky officiating in the earlier game.

Saturday, the officials allowed the Otahkians to apply pressure defense without a whistle constantly blowing. The result was 32 forced turnovers and a third straight victory for Southeast, which improved to 5-4 in front of 458 fans at the Show Me Center.

MVSU, whose lone win was that triumph over the Otahkians, fell to 1-7. The Devilettes have been outscored by an average of 35 points per game so far this season.

"We wanted to put a lot of defensive pressure on them. We didn't think they were a good ballhandling club and we thought they would turn it over," Arnzen said. "And we didn't want to let them get good looks. We didn't do that the first time we played them."

Southeast was playing its first game in three weeks, and the rust showed early, particularly offensively.

But the Otahkians were never threatened by a MVSU team that, in addition to committing the 32 turnovers, was whistled for 31 fouls and had four players foul out.

The Otahkians took advantage by hitting 37 of 47 free-throw attempts. They also came up with 19 steals. All three figures are season-high totals, as are the turnovers forced.

Lori Chase led the Otahkians offensively with 11 points while Kim Brown came off the bench to score 10 and LaShelle Porter added nine.

Three players scored seven points in the Otahkians' balanced attack: Veronica Benson, Pam Iversen and Tisa Thomas. Three more added six points: Christine Rathke, Kristy Roherty and Jennifer Gries.

Rathke came up with five steals while Porter added four. Benson and Rathke tied for the team lead in assists with three apiece.

Latasha Thomas paced the Devilettes with 19 points. Letesha King added 10.

MVSU led just once all game, at 2-0 after scoring the opening basket. The Otahkians went scoreless for the first 3:38 but they used a 25-3 run to build a 30-7 lead late in the first half.

It was 36-15 at halftime. The Otahkians scored the first seven points of the second half and led by as many as 38 points.

"We were rusty early offensively, but we played well defensively and I was pleased overall," said Arnzen. "We got a win and it was good to play again."