OTAHKIANS SUFFER FIRST OVC LOSS

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team had quite a comeback Thursday night.

But, because of a horrible start, all the Otahkians had to show for their rally was an 82-75 Ohio Valley Conference loss to host Middle Tennessee State.

Southeast had a seven-game winning streak snapped as the Otahkians fell to 9-3 overall and 4-1 in OVC play. Southeast remained in first place in the league by one-half game.

MTSU improved to 7-5 overall, 3-1 in the league.

"It was a tale of two halves," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen, whose squad fell behind by 14 points at halftime. "We played very tentative in the first half on both ends of the floor and Middle Tennessee really shot the ball well.

"In the second half we were more aggressive and we shot the ball well."

Senior guard Rusty Sowers paced the Otahkians offensively with 22 points, 19 coming in the second half. She hit just one of nine shots in the first half but connected on all six of her field-goal attempts in the final 20 minutes. Sowers was 6-for-8 from 3-point range.

"Rusty got hot and brought us back," Arnzen said.

Tajuana White added 13 points for Southeast while Pam Iversen scored 11. Moneik Campbell, who missed the past two games with an illness, had nine points.

MTSU got 14 points from Carlita Elder, 11 from both Erica Lufkin and Jamie Thomatis and 10 from Bama Burrell.

Southeast fell behind 8-0 and 10-2 in the early going. The Otahkians rallied to within 10-9, but MTSU went on a 16-2 run to lead 26-11. The Lady Raiders later went ahead 32-13 before settling for a 43-29 halftime advantage.

Despite the poor opening 20 minutes, however, the Otahkians were able to make a game of it.

A Sowers 3-pointer early in the second half pulled Southeast to within 45-35 and Annie Struve's basket with 11:15 left made it 54-46.

Sowers drilled consecutive 3-pointers to bring the Otahkians to within 65-61 with 5:32 left. White then got inside for a basket that sliced MTSU's lead to 65-63 at the 4:22 mark.

The Lady Raiders were able to extend their lead to 74-64, but another Sowers 3-pointer with 52 seconds remaining pulled the Otahkians to within 76-71.

Southeast came within five points twice more, when Iversen got two inside baskets to make it 78-73 with 21 seconds left and 80-75 with 10 seconds to play. But the Otahkians could get no closer.

"We got into a mode of just standing around on offense," said MTSU coach Stephany Smith. "We got kind of stale and they scored some points to get close. We managed to hit free throws to win, though. This is a good win."

The Otahkians will remain on the road to take on preseason OVC favorite Tennessee Tech Saturday night in Cookeville.

"It sure doesn't get any easier," said Arnzen. "Tech is an excellent team and it will be a huge challenge for us."