Otahks spot Austin Peay a big lead early in defeat

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- This time there was no digging out of a big hole for Southeast Missouri State University's women.

The Otahkians had seen both Murray State and Tennessee-Martin score the first eight points in their previous two games -- Murray led by 18 in the opening half -- but Southeast was still able to win both contests handily.

But Saturday, Ohio Valley Conference favorite Austin Peay built an early 10-point lead -- the Governors hit six of their first seven shots --and breezed past the visiting Otahkians 58-45.

Austin Peay, which has won the past two OVC Tournament titles, improved to 12-3 overall and 5-0 in the league with its seventh straight victory. Southeast fell to 10-6 and 4-2.

"You get in a hole against a good team and it's a whole lot harder to come back," Southeast coach B.J. Smith said. "I think that was evident today."

The Otahkians, averaging 77.8 points per game, scored their fewest points of the season, the previous low being 49 during a loss at nationally ranked Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Southeast shot just 40.9 percent from the field (18 of 44) and had 23 turnovers.

"It was disappointing. We didn't execute our game plan very well," Smith said. "Austin Peay is a very good team. They do a good job defensively, and they do as good a job as anybody executing their game plan.

"We're just making way too many offensive and defensive execution errors."

Senior guard Brooke Armistead led the Govs offensively with 17 points, 13 in the first half. Junior center Gerlonda Hardin scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Southeast got 16 points from junior forward Yashika Sidbury, who hit six of 12 shots, including four of nine 3-pointers. Junior guard Kenja White scored 11 points, and senior guard Lashelle Porter had eight assists.

Austin Peay scored the game's first four points, getting baskets from Hardin and Armistead, and pretty much had Southeast on its heels the rest of the day.

Missing just once in their first seven field-goal attempts, the Govs built a 12-2 lead five minutes into the contest.

Southeast, which scored just two points in the first seven minutes, pulled to within 20-14 before falling back behind 31-18 at halftime.

"It was a good first half for us in terms of defense," Austin Peay coach Susie Gardner said. "We've held our last three opponents under 20 points in the first half. SEMO has such a potent offense, I really didn't expect that to happen."

The Govs opened up a 40-20 lead early in the second half and later went ahead 48-25 to all but seal the victory.

While disappointed with the loss, Smith was far from discouraged. Southeast's other OVC defeat has been at Eastern Kentucky, which along with Austin Peay is at the top of the conference standings, but the Otahkians aren't far off the pace.

"It would have been nice to beat one of those teams, but they still have to come to our place," Smith said. "If we hold serve at home, we'll still be in the race."