Otahks shoot for four in a row

Southeast Missouri State University's women, up and down for much of the season, have not yet been able to put together four consecutive victories.

The Otahkians (11-10, 6-4) will get their third crack at it today when Eastern Illinois (6-15, 3-7) visits the Show Me Center for a 5 p.m. Ohio Valley Conference tipoff.

"We still have a lot of things we need to work on, but I feel like it's coming together," senior forward Yashika Sidbury said. "We've got a winning streak now and we want to keep it going."

Southeast's three-game winning streak marks its third such string this season, but the Otahkians have failed to extend it in both previous tries.

"We've talked about putting together a nice winning streak, but you have to take it one game at a time," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said. "We can't get to five unless we get to four, so that makes this game really important."

The Otahkians, the OVC preseason favorites, have moved up into a fourth-place tie in the 11-team league. Although catching first-place Austin Peay, which is 9-1, will be difficult, Southeast trails Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State -- who are tied for second at 7-3 -- by just one game.

"We can still accomplish what we want this season," Smith said. "We're getting better, but we still have a long way to go."

Smith is worried about today's game even though the Otahkians rolled past the Panthers 79-66 on Jan. 13 in Charleston, Ill.

EIU has been one of the harder OVC teams to figure out, said Smith. He believes the Panthers have the makings of a strong conference contender -- as evidenced by handing Austin Peay its only league defeat -- but have struggled lately. EIU has lost three straight, including the last two at home.

"They're a dangerous team. They've been up and down, but they have all the pieces to be a good team," Smith said. "It's a scary game for us because we beat them pretty handily at their place. We have to make sure our players don't think it will be easy."

The Panthers have one of the OVC's top post players in 6-foot-2 junior center Pam O'Connor, who is fifth in the league in scoring (16.3 ppg) and second in field-goal shooting (58.7 percent). O'Conner had 23 points against Southeast in the previous meeting.

"She's a very good player, really tough inside, and they've got some good guards around her," Smith said. "I don't expect an easy game."

Cotton honored again

For the fourth time this season -- and for the second consecutive time -- Southeast junior guard Sami Jo Cotton has won the OVC's newcomer of the week award, the league announced Monday.

Cotton, a junior-college transfer, scored 21 points in two Otahkian victories last week and is averaging 10.5 points on the season to rank second on the team. With 46 3-pointers, she is ninth in school history for three-pointers in a season with.