OTAHKIANS SUFFER DAMAGING LOSS AT HOME

Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball coach Ed Arnzen can only hope that his team can still recover from what happened Tuesday night.

Desperately needing to begin their three-game homestand with a bang, the Otahkians instead suffered a damaging 67-58 loss to Middle Tennessee State.

The Otahkians, who were dealt their third straight loss but only their second home Ohio Valley Conference setback of the season, fell to 8-13 overall and 5-8 in OVC play as they remained in a three-way tie for seventh place in the 10-team league.

MTSU, in third place in the OVC, improved to 11-10 overall and 8-5 in conference play.

"This really hurts us," said Arnzen. "We absolutely needed to win this game."

With just five regular-season games remaining, the Otahkians' chances of finishing in the top four in the league standings and thus earning a first-round OVC Tournament home game are fast slipping away.

Arnzen figures the Otahkians are now in a real battle just to make the OVC tourney; berths go to the top eight finishers.

"Just getting in really has to be our goal right now," Arnzen said.

Seniors Moneik Campbell and Paula Corder-King did their best to help Southeast pull out a victory.

Campbell scored a career-high 20 points and also grabbed a team-leading seven rebounds. Corder-King scored 15 points.

"I thought Moneik and Paula did a very good job for us as seniors," said Arnzen. "They tried to take the ball to the hole."

Regan Hughston added 10 points for Southeast while Allison Iversen came off the bench to score seven points and block three shots.

But the Otahkians were hurt by the absence of second-leading scorer and leading rebounder Pam Iversen, who missed her second straight game with a knee injury.

Iversen has a torn ACL that will eventually require surgery. She may return to action later in the season wearing a protective brace, but right now she is out indefinitely.

"It's tough when you take 13 points and almost eight rebounds out of the lineup," said Arnzen. "But other people just have to pick up the slack."

Jamie Thomatis led MTSU with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Kelly Chastain scored 19 points and hit five of six 3-pointers, including two crucial ones in the closing moments.

A sloppy first half that featured 25 turnovers 15 by MTSU ended with Southeast on top 24-23.

Southeast led 31-27 early in the second half, but a 10-1 MTSU run gave the Lady Raiders a 37-32 advantage.

Trailing 42-36, the Otahkians scored six straight points to pull into a 42-42 tie.

MTSU then took the lead for good at 45-42 on a basket and free throw by Thomatis with just over 10 minutes left in the final half.

The Lady Raiders extended their lead to 51-42 thanks to a 9-0 run.

Trailing 56-48, the Otahkians made a final push. Campbell scored five points during a 6-0 run that pulled Southeast to within 56-54 with three minutes left.

After an MTSU basket, Corder-King scored with just over two minutes left as Southeast again got back to within two, 58-56.

That's when Chastain came through from long distance to seal the win. Her 3-pointer with 1:47 left made it 61-56 and her trey with 33 seconds remaining made it 64-56.

"She's a good player and she stepped up for them," said Arnzen of Chastain.

Southeast will host Tennessee-Martin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.