OTAHKIANS RALLY PAST EIU AGAIN

There's something about Eastern Illinois that brings out the comeback mode in Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team.

For the second time this season, the Otahkians erased a double-digit second-half deficit to defeat the Panthers.

And this latest comeback -- a 101-86 victory Saturday night at the Show Me Center -- allowed the Otahkians to finish the regular season on a winning note.

Southeast, which stormed back from 18 points down to break a two-game losing streak, improved to 18-7 overall and finished regular-season Ohio Valley Conference play at 13-5. The Otahkians also ended the regular season perfect in 13 home games.

The Otahkians wound up fourth in the 10-team league, finishing one game behind tri-champions Tennessee Tech, Tennessee-Martin and Middle Tennessee, who all wound up 14-4.

Southeast, the No. 4 seed for the OVC Tournament, will play host to No. 5 seed Murray State at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in a first-round tourney contest. The teams split two regular-season meetings.

"This is a big win for us, one we really needed to have," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen, whose team rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to win at EIU earlier in the season. "We wanted to go into the (OVC) tournament on a good note and this will do it."

Senior guard Rusty Sowers had a monster game for the Otahkians, scoring a career-high 32 points, 19 coming in the first half. Sowers hit six of 12 3-pointers and all 12 of her free throws. She also had four assists and five rebounds.

"I've scored that many in high school before, but never here," said a smiling Sowers. "My parents were here and they don't get to see too many of my games, so it was nice.

"This is a big win for us because we wanted to go into the tournament with some confidence. We're really looking forward to playing a tournament game at home."

Said Arnzen of Sowers' performance, "Rusty lit it up. It was the best offensive game of her career and we had to have it."

Tajuana White, another senior, scored 19 points as she hit seven of 12 shots from the field. White also starred in the pre-game activities as she sang a stirring rendition of the National Anthem.

Paula Corder matched White with 19 points, all coming in the second half. Corder hit all three of her 3-pointers and was seven of 10 overall from the field.

And Corder, by hitting both of her free throws, also set an OVC record for consecutive foul shots made. The nation's leading free-throw shooter has now hit 38 straight from the charity stripe, breaking the previous league mark of 36 in a row.

"That's a tremendous accomplishment for Paula," Arnzen said.

Moneik Campbell scored 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had four assists while Pam Iversen added 13 points as she hit five of seven shots.

Allison Iversen came off the bench to grab a team-high eight rebounds.

EIU's Leah Aldrich, a 6-foot-4 center who is the OVC's leading scorer at 21 points per game, poured in 31 points on 14-for-26 shooting.

"Aldrich is as good a player as there is in the league," said Arnzen. "And they were hitting 3-pointers to go along with her, which made them hard to contain."

EIU wound up 5-21 overall and in a last-place OVC tie at 3-15. The Panthers did not make the OVC Tournament, finishing a game out of the eighth-place qualifying spot.

But for much of Saturday's contest, it looked like the Panthers might slip into the tourney.

After trailing early in the game, EIU bolted to a 46-37 halftime lead. The Panthers scored the first seven points of the second half to go up 53-37 and they later expanded the margin to 57-39.

"We just couldn't stop them," Arnzen said.

But in a span of just a few minutes, the Otahkians got right back in the game. A quick 8-0 run -- featuring two 3-pointers by Corder -- pulled Southeast to within 57-47.

With 11:44 left, P. Iversen's 10-foot baseline shot brought the Otahkians to within 64-62.

Sowers' 3-pointer with 8:45 remaining put the Otahkians ahead 69-68. EIU was able to regain the lead, but Southeast finally went ahead for good on White's inside basket at the 6:24 mark that made it 75-73.

Corder and White followed with buckets to put the Otahkians ahead 79-73 and they cruised the rest of the way.

Campbell's two free throws with two seconds left put some icing on the cake as the Otahkians scored more than 100 points for the third time this season.

After falling behind 57-39, Southeast closed the game with a 62-29 run. All told, the Otahkians outscored the Panthers 64-40 in the second half -- thanks mainly to 63-percent shooting (22 of 35) over the final 20 minutes.

"I have confidence in us, but when we got behind by 18 points, I was a little nervous," said Sowers with a laugh.