custom ad
SportsDecember 16, 2003

What Monday night's women's basketball game at the Show Me Center lacked in artistry it certainly made up for in excitement. Southeast Missouri State University and Northern Illinois both had trouble locating the basket -- the host squad shot particularly poorly -- but a late Chandra Brown basket helped the Otahkians pull out a 59-57 victory in front of about 600 highly energetic fans...

What Monday night's women's basketball game at the Show Me Center lacked in artistry it certainly made up for in excitement.

Southeast Missouri State University and Northern Illinois both had trouble locating the basket -- the host squad shot particularly poorly -- but a late Chandra Brown basket helped the Otahkians pull out a 59-57 victory in front of about 600 highly energetic fans.

"I didn't know if we were ever going to hit a shot," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said.

But Smith wasn't about to get depressed over the Otahkians' lack of marksmanship. He was instead elated that they were able to gut out a big win against a solid squad that earlier had won at Wisconsin.

The Otahkians, winning their third straight game, improved to 4-3. The Huskies fell to 3-3.

"For me as a coach, this is probably our biggest win since I've been here," said Smith, in his second season at Southeast. "This is a good team. It's not easy to go to Wisconsin and win."

Southeast hit just 19 of 63 shots (30.2 percent) and made only six of 29 3-pointers (20.7 percent). But NIU wasn't all that much better from the field (20 of 56, 35.7 percent), and the Otahkians were able to force 22 turnovers while having just 13 of their own.

"As poorly as we shot, our kids really stayed focused and hung in there. That's what I'm probably most proud of," Smith said. "It would have been easy to get down when the shots weren't falling."

Lingering behind

Southeast, which trailed 28-22 at halftime and 31-22 early in the second half, battled back to lead 39-38 with 10 minutes left. There were numerous ties and lead changes the rest of the way during a frantic finish.

Sami Jo Cotton's 3-pointer with 2:36 remaining pulled Southeast into a 56-56 tie.

Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!

After NIU went ahead 57-56, Brown rolled in a short hook shot with 45 seconds left to put the Otahkians up for good at 58-57.

"It was a good feeling, to hit that shot," said Brown. "I had to finish on the inside."

NIU missed a shot with 25 seconds left and Southeast's Sarah Costello made one of two free throws with 12 seconds remaining for a 59-57 lead.

The Otahkians then held on, with junior forward Miah Shelford stealing an inbounds pass under the Southeast basket with three seconds left. The Otahkians were able to run out the clock.

"We knew this would be a tough game, and it's a big win for us," said Costello, who hit five key free throws in the second half.

Brown, a 6-foot-3 junior center, scored 15 points and pulled down 16 rebounds. She was the only Otahkian to shoot decently, hitting six of 12.

"It's a great win for us, and we have to keep it going," Brown said.

Cotton, a junior guard, added 14 points. Senior guard Kenja White scored 10 points.

"We were getting good shots, they just weren't falling," said Costello, a senior guard. "But we got defensive stops."

Senior forward Jennifer Youngblood led the Huskies with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

"This is a good win for us. Now we've won three in a row and hopefully we can keep our momentum going," Smith said. "And we had a great crowd, which really helped us."

Story Tags
Advertisement

Connect with the Southeast Missourian Newsroom:

For corrections to this story or other insights for the editor, click here. To submit a letter to the editor, click here. To learn about the Southeast Missourian’s AI Policy, click here.

Advertisement
Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!