OTAHKS REMAIN WINLESS AT EKU

RICHMOND, Ky. -- Eastern Kentucky's women's basketball team ranks second in the nation in scoring at just over 88 points per game.

Southeast Missouri State University coach Ed Arnzen figured it would be difficult for his squad to beat the Lady Colonels Monday evening if they were able to get even close to their season average.

Much to his dismay, Arnzen's assessment was right on the money. Southeast never really could slow down host EKU as the Lady Colonels won the key Ohio Valley Conference matchup 89-82.

EKU, which has never lost to Southeast at McBrayer Arena (winning all 12 meetings), improved to 15-4 overall and 7-1 in OVC play as the Lady Colonels took over sole possession of second place in the conference.

The Otahkians, who had a four-game winning streak snapped and also suffered their first OVC road loss of the season, fell to 11-7 overall and 6-2 in the league. Southeast is now in third place in the nine-team conference.

"I knew it would be hard for us to win if they scored that many points," said Arnzen. "They're a quality basketball team and they're very hard to slow down. They were just the better team tonight."

Lori Chase led the Otahkians offensively with a career-high 26 points. Pam Iversen hit seven of eight shots from the field and scored 18 points. She also pulled down 11 rebounds for her second straight double-double.

Also in double figures in scoring for the Otahkians were Veronica Benson with 15 points and Christine Rathke with 10. Rathke led the way in assists with six.

Candice Finley paced EKU with 18 points. Freshman guard Katie Kelly came off the bench to score 16 points. Another reserve, Synisha Smith, added 13 points for the Lady Colonels, who got an impressive 48 points from their bench compared to 10 for Southeast.

"They're just so deep, as deep as anybody," Arnzen said of the Lady Colonels. "They just keep coming at you with fresh bodies and I think we wore down."

EKU's offensive explosion was fueled by its relentless full-court pressure defense. The Lady Colonels forced a host of early turnovers, which led to numerous easy baskets as they built a 17-point first-half lead.

To the Otahkians' credit, they battled back gamely, closing to within five points by halftime and to within three points twice in the second half. But the Lady Colonels never let up and were ultimately able to pull away down the stretch.

Southeast had 15 first-half turnovers, most of them coming in the opening 10 minutes, which led directly to 21 EKU points. Those miscues offset sizzling first-half shooting by the Otahkians, who hit 18 of 28 field-goal attempts for 64.3 percent.

"They forced so many early turnovers. Most of our turnovers (in the first half) came in the first six or seven minutes," said Arnzen. "Once we made some adjustments, we were fine. If you break the press, you'll get some easy baskets. That's why we shot the ball so well."

EKU built its biggest lead of the game at 37-20 with just under nine minutes remaining before halftime.

The Otahkians, however, refused to cave. They used a 17-5 run to get within five points, a Chase basket making it 42-37 with 3:28 left in the half.

EKU went back up 47-37, but the Otahkians scored the final five points of the period to close within 49-44 at the break.

Two Iversen free throws just 25 seconds into the second half cut EKU's lead to 49-46. The Lady Colonels used an 11-2 spurt to surge back ahead 60-48 and they also led 67-55.

Again the Otahkians stormed back, pulling to within 67-64 as Iversen scored inside with 9:25 remaining.

The Lady Colonels responded with an 11-2 run that made it 78-66 and finally turned back the Otahkians, who could get no closer than 10 points until the closing seconds, when they scored the game's final four points.

"It's a credit to our team that we battled back the way we did, but we just couldn't come all the way back," Arnzen said. "But this loss wasn't the end of the world. We're still in good enough shape (in the OVC)."

Southeast finished the game with 22 turnovers and 50.9 percent shooting (27 of 53).