Otahks grab giant lead, hold off SIU comeback

The Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball team withstood a furious second-half comeback by Southern Illinois University to post an 81-70 win Saturday at the Show Me Center.

The Otahkians dropped the Salukis to 1-2 in the first meeting between the two schools since 1981. Southeast improved to 3-1 with its third straight victory.

The Otahkians dominated the first half of play, building a 44-20 halftime advantage.

Said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen, "The first half I thought we played about as well as we could play. Defensively, we stopped 'em on every possession and offensively we did pretty much what we wanted to."

Led by 15 points from junior forward Lori Chase, Southeast seemed to score at will, shooting 48 percent from the field.

On the defensive end, the Otahkians controlled the boards, outrebounding the Salukis 21-17, and used its quickness to force 13 turnovers. SIU shot a paltry 24 percent from the field in the half and looked totally out of sync.

But the second half was a different story.

"I don't care who you are, subconsciously, I think you're going to let down a little bit when you're up like that, said Arnzen. "We come out the second half, they went to a full-court press and instead of being the aggressor all of a sudden we turned passive."

Southeast actually increased its lead to 31 points at 59-28 early in the second stanza, before SIU went to a full-court zone press. Forcing turnovers with the pressure, the Salukis went on a 16-0 run to slice into the Southeast lead with about nine minutes to go.

"I think presses early in the year are effective because kids have not worked against it," said Arnzen, "and they're afraid they're going to make a mistake and that's when you make mistakes."

It didn't help that point guard LaShelle Porter, the Otahkians best ball handler, was on the bench, saddled with four fouls.

But the Otahkians refused to fold down the stretch, getting key baskets from Porter, Chase and Veronica Benson to stave off the Saluki comeback bid.

Said Arnzen, "We could have cowed down at that point, but we didn't. We came back and scored when we had to and got fouled at the end and hit four straight free throws, which were big."

Porter scored five, two on a running scoop shot in the lane and a 3-pointer, while Chase hit a basket inside and knocked down two free throws.

With Holly Teague, a Poplar Bluff High School and Three Rivers Community College product, and Molly McDowell doing most of the damage, the Salukis made their final run to cut the margin to 77-70 with 34 seconds left.

Porter and Benson hit two each from the charity stripe to close out the win.

Chase led Southeast with 24 points, while Porter and Benson scored 13 and 10 respectively.

Teague led the Salukis with 22 points, followed by McDowell with 16 and Jodi Heiden with 11.