OTAHKS CONTINUE STRONT ROAD PLAY, DEFEAT E. ILLINOIS

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball coach Ed Arnzen can't explain why his team has a better record on the road than it does at home this season.

But Arnzen isn't about to argue with the success, particularly after the Otahkians' latest road conquest, a 77-71 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Eastern Illinois Saturday evening.

The surging Otahkians, who notched their third straight win, improved to 10-6 overall and 5-1 in the OVC as they remained tied with Eastern Kentucky for second place in the nine-team league. Both squads trail Tennessee Tech by one game.

EIU, which lost for the eighth time in a row, fell to 4-13 overall and 0-6 in conference play.

"It's a good win for us," said Arnzen, whose squad saw most of a 15-point second-half lead disappear before holding on. "Eastern Illinois is not a bad club, but they've been struggling. You know they're going to finally win a game soon and we're just glad it wasn't tonight."

In true road games so far this season, the Otahkians are 5-1 (they did lose twice on a neutral site during a tournament) while at home Southeast is 5-3. And the Otahkians are an impressive 3-0 in OVC road games.

"I don't really know why we're playing so well on the road, but hopefully we can keep it going," Arnzen said. "It's unusual that your record on the road is better than it is at home. It's usually very tough to win on the road in college basketball."

Lori Chase paced the Otahkians offensively with 18 points and she also tied Pam Iversen for team-high rebounding honors with eight. In addition, Chase recorded four steals.

Four more Otahkians reached double figures in scoring, including Tiffany Melis, who reached a career high with 16 points. LaShelle Porter and Christine Rathke both had 12 points while Tisa Thomas added 10 off the bench.

The Lady Panthers got 15 points from both Angie Russell and Renee Schaul. Pam O'Connor scored 12 points.

Southeast, which twice trailed by seven points in the first half, closed the period with an 8-2 run, pulling to within 36-35 on Porter's shot in the lane just before the buzzer.

Chase and Melis both scored 10 first-half points for the Otahkians while porter added eight.

Melis went the length of the court to score on a layup in the opening seconds of the second half as the Otahkians went ahead 37-36. It was Southeast's first lead since there were just over six minutes left in the first half.

Melis followed with a 10-foot jumper to put Southeast up 39-36. The Otahkians steadily pulled away after that, ultimately building a 67-52 lead with just over eight minutes remaining after an 8-0 run that featured four points by Chase and two each by Porter and Rathke.

But the Lady Panthers stormed back to make things interesting, pulling to within three points twice and having a golden opportunity to get even closer.

The Otahkians were clinging to a 71-68 lead when Chase came up with perhaps the biggest play of the game, drawing a charging foul on Russell and wiping out a basket that preserved Southeast's three-point advantage.

"That was the biggest play of the game," said Arnzen. "You have to have some luck. That call could have gone either way. If it goes their way, they have a chance at a three-point play to tie the game. But Lori made a great play."

Southeast then iced the victory from the free-throw line as Rathke went 4-for-4 and Porter 2-for-2 in the closing seconds.

"We struggled at times, especially in the first half. I didn't think we worked very hard," Arnzen said. "But we picked it up and got a comfortable lead, then turnovers got them back in the game. But it's still a win."

The Otahkians finished with 21 turnovers but they shot 54 percent from the field (30 of 56).