OTAHKS STRENGTHEN HOLD ON 4TH PLACE WITH WIN OVER UTM

MARTIN, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team had the perfect strategy to pick up a much-needed road victory Saturday afternoon.

The Otahkians took control early and basically never relinquished it as they downed Tennessee-Martin 80-67 to snap a two-game losing streak and salvage the finale of a three-game road swing.

Southeast improved to 13-10 overall and 8-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Otahkians remained a solid fourth place in the nine-team league as they continue to close in on earning a home date for the first round of the conference tournament.

UTM fell to 11-12 overall and 5-7 in the OVC.

"It's a big win for us, especially after losing the first two this week," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen, whose squad played its final road game of the regular season. "Any time you go on the road it's nice to get off to an early lead and we were able to do that.

"There's not much better than a team victory on the road. It's really satisfying for everybody."

What was particularly impressive about the Otahkians bolting to a 35-25 halftime advantage was the fact they did it with little help from leading scorer Lori Chase, who was saddled with two early fouls and played only six first-half minutes. She did not score in the opening period.

"I thought we played well when Lori was out," Arnzen said. "We got good minutes from some people and kind of bided our time."

Pam Iversen had a nearly flawless shooting game as she led the all scorers with 20 points. Southeast's junior center hit all six of her field-goal attempts and made eight of nine from the free-throw line. Iversen also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Chase came back strong in the second half as she scored all 15 of her points after the intermission.

Also in double figures for the Otahkians were Veronica Benson with 14 points and LaShelle Porter with 12.

After struggling with their shooting during Thursday's one-point loss at Murray State, the Otahkians were strong offensively Saturday, hitting 25 of 46 for 54.3 percent.

"We shot a lot better tonight," Arnzen said. "And I thought we played good defense. They're a 3-point shooting team but they didn't hurt us from there."

UTM hit on just four of 15 3-point attempts.

Amy Watson paced UTM with 14 points and Kelly Pendleton had 13.