OTAHKS' COOK BURNS MURRAY

MURRAY, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team picked up a huge victory here Saturday, thanks in large part to a former Jackson High star who had the game of her life.

Shauna Cook, a reserve who had been averaging 1.8 points per game, exploded for 31 points -- that's no misprint -- to lead the Otahkians past host Murray State 74-65.

The Otahkians broke a five-game overall losing streak and snapped a 12-game road losing streak. They improved to 5-10 overall and 3-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

MSU fell to 2-13 overall, 1-6 in the OVC.

Cook, a 5-foot-9 junior, entered the game with the Otahkians struggling offensively. She helped pick up the slack with 15 first-half points.

And Cook did not stop until she had hit seven of nine shots overall, including three of four 3-pointers, and made 14 of 18 free throws. She also had four rebounds, three assists and just one turnover in 27 minutes of playing time.

"I've never scored 31 points in a game in my life, not in grade school, junior high, high school or anything," said an understandably excited Cook after her career performance. "I was just hot tonight and they got me the ball."

Cook, who had been playing an average of barely seven minutes a game and whose previous career high scoring output had been nine points, said she felt something coming on when she made her first 3-pointer.

"After I made the three in the corner I felt really good," she said.

Southeast coach Ed Arnzen said he couldn't be happier for Cook, mainly because she is a true team player who keeps a positive attitude even when she's not playing very much.

"I've told Shauna the last two years she's one of the most valuable players we have because she plays multiple positions, she never questions authority and she works hard all the time," Arnzen said. "I'm so happy for Shauna because she comes to work every day. She's what college athletics should all be about. She's a good student and she just does whatever she can to help the team.

"Shauna just hasn't played that much, but today we stayed with her. She was aggressive and she got her confidence going."

Jamie Koester was Southeast's only other double-figure scorer with 14 points. She also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Moneik Campbell added seven assists.

MSU got 19 points from Bobbi Coltharp and 12 from Misty Pierceall.

The Lady Racers scored the game's first nine points, but the Otahkians regrouped to lead by as many as six points in the opening half. MSU was ahead 35-34 at the break.

Things remained extremely tight for most of the second half. Southeast finally took the lead for good when Tajuana White's basket with 7:38 left put the Otahkians ahead 53-52.

A little more than three minutes later, Cook bombed home a 3-pointer to put the Otahkians up 65-58 and they were pretty well able to coast from there.

Cook put a nice cap on her huge game when she hit two free throws with 48 seconds left to put Southeast up 72-65.

"This was a huge win for us," said Arnzen. "We held our composure well. This game could have gone either way but we really hung in there and made the plays."

Nobody made more plays than Cook. As happy as she was, she said her twin sister and Otahkian teammate, fellow 5-9 junior Sherry, was just as elated. Sherry also plays little in most games, averaging 1.1 points and seven minutes.

"Sherry was happy. She was jumping up and high-fiving me," said a grinning Shauna. "Her game will be the next one."

The Otahkians will return to action Monday when they visit Tennessee-Martin for a 7 p.m. contest.