OTAHKIANS SUFFER 82-65 LOSS TO PREMIER TEAM IN OVC

Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball coach Ed Arnzen said before the Otahkians played Tennessee Tech Tuesday night that the Golden Eaglettes were head and shoulders above the rest of the Ohio Valley Conference.

Then the Eaglettes went out and did nothing to change Arnzen's opinion as they dismantled the Otahkians 82-65 at the Show Me Center.

Tech improved its first-place OVC record to 6-0 and raised its overall mark to 11-5. Southeast, suffering its third straight loss, fell to 2-5 in the league and 5-10 overall.

"They are really good. I just think they're head and shoulders above everybody else in the conference," said Arnzen. "They really are potent this year. I think it's the best club I've seen in the conference in a while."

The Eaglettes have been impressive outside the league as well, beating nationally ranked Oklahoma and playing several other national powers close.

"They've just got a lot of weapons," Arnzen said. "They've been beating everybody in the conference pretty handily."

Southeast actually gave Tech its toughest OVC test to date, losing by just four points last month in Cookeville, Tenn.

But, after hanging tough for most of the first half Tuesday, the Otahkians were no match for the Eaglettes, who broke the game wide open early in the second half.

Tech's potent inside combination of Diane Seng and Janet Holt dominated with 27 and 22 points, respectively. Seng hit 10 of 16 shots from the field and also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Alison Clark added 12 points for Tech while Misty Garrett had eight assists.

Paula Corder-King paced the Otahkians with 19 points. Moneik Campbell and Liea Toedte both scored 13. Pam Iversen led the rebounders with eight and Allison Iversen was credited with five blocked shots.

After leading early and then falling behind 23-15, Southeast used a 9-0 run to take its last lead, Corder-King's layup putting the Otahkians ahead 24-23 with just under eight minutes left before halftime.

Tech's Ann Parks hit two free throws just a few seconds later to regain the lead for the Eaglettes at 25-24 and they would not trail again.

The Eaglettes led 38-33 at halftime, then scored the first five points of the second half to open up a 10-point advantage.

After Southeast pulled to within 48-42, a 7-0 Tech run pushed its lead to 55-42. It was 59-48 when the Eaglettes effectively put the game away with an 8-0 run to go up 67-48. Tech's biggest lead was 73-52.

Tech big second half was fueled by 61-percent shooting as the Eaglettes hit 17 of 28 shots. They finished the game at 48 percent as compared to 39 percent for Southeast.

Still, despite the lopsided home loss, Arnzen was not discouraged.