Otahks shake rust, handle Mo. Baptist

The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team returned to the court after a 25-day layoff to face NAIA opponent Missouri Baptist with predictable results.

In a spotty performance, the Otahkians, playing shorthanded, prevailed 70-53 over the Lady Spartans Wednesday night to improve to 7-3 entering their Ohio Valley Conference opener against Eastern Illinois University on Saturday.

"We played well in spots and at other times we looked like we've been off for three weeks," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen.

Southeast remained perfect at home at 4-0 this season and kept its series record unblemished against Missouri Baptist at 8-0, although it was the smallest margin of victory ever in the series. Missouri Baptist had never lost by less than 30 points previously.

Southeast enjoyed its biggest lead at 34-13 with about 3:50 left in the first half, but Missouri Baptist clawed back to close the gap to 39-26 by the end of the half.

Said Arnzen, "When the game was close we got after them, but once we got up by quite a bit we had a tendency to slack off."

A bit rusty after the long layoff, the Otahkians committed 12 first-half turnovers which played a large part in keeping the Lady Spartans in the contest. Southeast limited its turnovers to five in the second half.

The Otahkians also came into the game ranked third in the country in 3-point shooting at 47.1 percent, but hit on just 1 of 11 attempts against Missouri Baptist.

Center Pam Iversen, helping the Otahkians to an 18-10 halftime rebounding edge, dominated the inside on 5 of 7 shooting to lead all scorers with 12 points at the half. Iversen finished with 16 points and 11 boards.

Freshman point guard Angelica Teague scored 10 of her team-high 16 points in the first half to pace Missouri Baptist.

Point guard LaShelle Porter got it going in the second half with 13 of her game-high 17 points to help fend off the Lady Spartans, who had closed to within 45-35 midway through the half.

But Porter keyed a 12-2 Otahkian run to push the lead to 57-37 and put an end to any Lady Spartan upset hopes.

Southeast entered the game with only 10 players on the roster -- third-leading scorer Christine Rathke and junior college transfer Ta Keela Ball quit the team over the Christmas break -- and was further depleted by the absence of reserve junior guard Kristy Roherty and by a slight injury to Lori Chase, the Otahkians' leading scorer on the season who only played 21 minutes and finished with two points.

Roherty was back in her hometown in Wisconsin attending the funeral of a friend, while Chase was nursing a tender elbow.

Porter, on the team's attitude concerning the missing players, said, "As a player, I think it gives us motivation. We have to step up and come together as a team, and that's what we're going to do."

Added Iverson, one of three seniors on the team, "We know we've got to stick together because there's only 10 of us now. It's definitely brought us together."