OTAHKS RALLY, AVOID UPSET

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team has had a lot of big wins so far this season.

But -- even though it came against the Ohio Valley Conference's last-place squad -- Saturday's 75-64 triumph over host Eastern Illinois ranks right up there with the biggest.

The Otahkians appeared to be in a world of trouble as Leah Aldrich and the Lady Panthers were cruising with a 45-31 lead early in the second half.

But all of sudden, the Otahkians caught fire -- and began to play some serious defense on Aldrich, EIU's standout 6-foot-4 center.

Southeast used an 18-2 run to take its first lead of the game and the Otahkians, although they fell behind again briefly, ended up outscoring EIU 48-27 in the second half.

The result is that the Otahkians remained in a first-place tie in the OVC at 8-2. Southeast improved to 13-5 overall.

EIU fell to 1-9 in league play and 3-14 overall.

"This is a big win for us and one we really needed," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen. "To be on the road, and to be down by that many points that late, it's not easy to come back like we did. I'm really proud of the team."

Freshman Pam Iversen led a balanced Southeast offensive attack with 16 points, 14 coming in the second half. She also grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots.

Tajuana White scored 14 points and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. She also had four assists.

Moneik Campbell added 12 points and a team-high five assists while Paula Corder contributed 11 points, nine coming in the second half.

Freshman Reagan Hughston came off the bench to score all nine of her points in the second half.

"We had a lot of players make big contributions, especially in the second half," said Arnzen.

Aldrich, the OVC's leading scorer at 20.1 points per game, poured in 34 points as she hit 13 of 20 shots from the field. But Aldrich had only six points in the final 17 minutes of play.

"She is a very good player and if she's allowed to catch the ball, she'll score," Arnzen said. "It didn't look good for us (trailing by 14), but we went to a matchup zone in the second half and tried to give Pam Iversen some help on Aldrich. We hoped they wouldn't beat us from the outside and they didn't."

The Lady Panthers scored the game's first nine points as the Otahkians did not get on the board until nearly four minutes had elapsed.

Southeast pulled to within four points several times in the opening half, but EIU used a late 8-3 run to go ahead 37-27 at the intermission. Aldrich had 22 points by halftime.

Aldrich scored to start the second half as EIU went on top 39-27. Her basket less than three minutes into the half put the Lady Panthers ahead 45-31 -- and seemed to put the Otahkians in serious trouble.

But Southeast was more than up to the challenge. Iversen's 3-point play and a White basket quickly got the Otahkians to within 45-36.

EIU went back ahead 47-38, but then came an 11-0 Southeast run that featured four points from Iversen. Corder's 3-pointer at the 10-minute mark put the Otahkians on top 49-47 -- their first lead of the contest.

A 3-pointer by Monica Bernat with 8:45 left regained the lead for EIU at 52-49.

But just 20 seconds later, Hughston hit a basket and free throw for a 52-52 tie.

Then, after a few empty possessions by both teams, Iversen took a great pass from Campbell, scored and was fouled. She completed the three-point play with just under seven minutes remaining to put Southeast on top 55-52.

The Otahkians never looked back after that. Hughston got a layup after another great pass from Campbell for a 57-52 Southeast lead at the 6:22 mark.

EIU was within 62-58 when White got inside for a basket and Campbell drove for a bucket as the Otahkians opened up a 66-58 lead with just under three minutes left.

Southeast was then able to ice the victory from the free-throw line as the Otahkians led by as many as 13 points down the stretch.

The Otahkians, after shooting just 31 percent in the first half (10 of 32), heated up to 57 percent in the second half (17 of 30).

"Our kids just played a lot harder in the second half," Arnzen said.

Southeast will have another OVC road test Monday against Eastern Kentucky.