Otahks collect victory at EIU

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Virtually nothing has come easy for Southeast Missouri State University's Otahkians so far this season.

Tuesday night's Ohio Valley Conference game at Eastern Illinois fit that pattern.

The Otahkians built a 16-point first-half lead and also led by 16 early in the second half -- but they had to fight back a furious EIU rally before again pulling away late for a 79-66 victory.

"We can't do anything the easy way," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said, smiling. "I guess sometimes we have trouble handling success."

But Smith wasn't complaining. He was more than happy to come away with his team's first true road triumph of the season (Southeast earlier beat Prairie View A&M and Alcorn State on neutral courts).

And Smith was elated that the Otahkians were able to bounce back with two straight wins after dropping their OVC opener at home to Austin Peay. Southeast is 7-7 overall and 2-1 in the conference. EIU fell to 3-11 and 0-3 as it suffered its eighth consecutive loss.

"We really needed to have this one," Smith said. "This is a good win. Eastern Illinois had played both Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech tough here, and they're going to be one of the better teams in the league. They had me worried coming in.

"All conference road wins you get are important. Most conference races are decided by the games you can win on the road."

Sami Jo Cotton led the Otahkians offensively with 18 points, and she continued her recent hot shooting from 3-point range by hitting four of nine.

Also scoring in double figures for Southeast were Yashika Sidbury (14), Sarah Costello (13) and Kenja White (10). Carina Souza had eight points and 11 rebounds while Costello had four assists and four steals as the Otahkians forced 22 turnovers.

"It's nice to come into somebody else's house and get a win," White said.

Pam O'Connor paced EIU with 23 points and Megan Sparks had 21.

After several early lead changes, the Otahkians used a 19-2 run -- Cotton had eight points and freshman Jessica Aebi five -- to take control at 31-16 with four minutes left before halftime.

Cotton's layup at the 48-second mark put the Otahkians up 39-23 for their biggest advantage of the opening period. It was 39-25 at the intermission.

The Otahkians appeared poised for a romp when they built a 49-33 lead early in the second half.

But the Panthers would not go down without a fight. They clawed back and closed the deficit to 61-57 on two O'Connor free throws with 6:56 remaining.

Cotton then sank a 3-pointer less than 30 seconds later for a 64-57 lead.

EIU closed to 66-59, but White scored four straight points to make it 70-59, and the Otahkians were never threatened again.