OTAHKS PICK UP FIRST OVC VICTORY 59-46

For somebody who wasn't even supposed to play, Paula Corder-King had quite an impact on Thursday night's Ohio Valley Conference basketball game.

Corder-King, a senior forward who leads Southeast Missouri State University's women in scoring, suffered a hand injury during a practice last week. She missed Monday's game at Arkansas-Little Rock and was expected to miss the Otahkians' two OVC contests this week.

But Corder-King, while not starting, entered Thursday's game against Tennessee State early in the first half. She went on to score 10 points in the opening period as the Otahkians built a big early lead and held off the Lady Tigers 59-46 at the Show Me Center.

Corder-King, averaging just over 14 points per game, wound up with 15 points as the Otahkians notched their first OVC victory. Southeast is 4-7 overall and 1-2 in league play.

TSU fell to 4-6 overall and 2-1 in the OVC.

"It was good to have Paula in there," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen. "She's a senior and she gives us a lot of experience. We didn't know until about 1:30 this afternoon if she was going to be able to play, but we're definitely glad we had her."

And Arnzen was also glad to see the Otahkians pick up their initial OVC win after losing a pair of tight road games last month to league heavyweights Tennessee Tech and Middle Tennessee.

"It's nice to get this win," Arnzen said. "We needed it."

While Corder-King, who hit all three of her 3-point attempts, was the Otahkians' leading scorer, she got plenty of help. Pam Iversen scored 13 points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds. Moneik Campbell added 10 points and freshman Lori Chase contributed nine.

TSU was paced by Angela Hassell and Tamara Washington, who each scored 15 points.

The Lady Tigers, while not highly regarded entering the season, came into the game having already posted impressive OVC wins over league power Tennessee-Martin and Murray State.

But the Lady Tigers were done in primarily by horrible shooting, both from the field and the free-throw line. TSU connected on just 16 of 71 field-goal attempts, a miserable 23 percent, and only nine of 21 foul shots, a shaky 43 percent.

"We caught Tennessee State on a night when they didn't shoot well," said Arnzen. "On another night, I'm sure they would shoot a lot better."

The Otahkians shot 45 percent from the field (19 of 42) and an impressive 82 percent from the line (18 of 22). Campbell, hitting just 46 percent of her free throws coming in, was 6-for-6, including several important ones down the stretch.

"Moneik stepped up and hit some big free throws," Arnzen said.

Southeast, which never trailed, broke away from a 2-2 tie by scoring six straight points, getting two free throws from Regan Hughston and fast-break layups from Liea Toedte and Campbell.

After a TSU basket, Southeast went on a 7-0 run, getting five points from Iversen and two from Chase, as the Otahkians build a 15-4 lead.

It was 18-12 when TSU experienced a scoreless drought of more than seven minutes as Southeast grabbed control with a 10-0 run, getting four points from Corder-King and two each from Iversen, Hughston and LaShelle Porter, to go up 28-12.

After TSU scored five straight points, Corder-King hit a 3-pointer with 1:45 left in the half to make it 31-17. The Otahkians then scored the final four points of the opening period to lead 35-17 at the break.

"I thought we played a very good first half," said Arnzen, whose squad hit 50 percent of its shots over the opening 20 minutes.

When Corder-King buried a 3-pointer to start the second half, the Otahkians had their biggest lead of the night at 38-17 and it looked like they would coast to victory.

But the Lady Tigers had other ideas. With Southeast leading 44-27, the Otahkians hit a major offensive funk as TSU made things interesting.

TSU used a 9-0 run to pull within 44-36 and later pulled to within four points twice, at 47-43 and 49-45 with under three minutes remaining.

Campbell and Iversen both hit a pair of free throws as Southeast went back up by eight at 53-45. The Otahkians then outscored the Lady Tigers 6-1 the rest of the way to coast home.

"I thought we got complacent in the second half, but a win is a win. We'll certainly take it," said Arnzen.

The Otahkians will return to action Saturday when Austin Peay comes to the Show Me Center for a 1 p.m. tipoff.