OTAHKS TO FACE HOT LADY EAGLES

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team will try to end its late-season skid by knocking off one of the Ohio Valley Conference's hottest squads.

The Otahkians will close out the regular-season today at the Show Me Center with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff against surging Morehead State, which could be one of the OVC's most dangerous teams heading into Tuesday's first round of the conference tournament.

After floundering near the bottom of the OVC standings for most of the season, the Lady Eagles (9-17 overall, 5-10 OVC) have won four straight games and have jumped into a fifth-place tie in the nine-team league.

Southeast (13-12, 8-7) has wrapped up fourth place and will host a first-round OVC tourney contest Tuesday night (the opponent has not yet been determined), but the Otahkians have lost their last two games and have only two wins in their past eight outings.

"We definitely want to go into the tournament with a win," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen. "But we're going to have our hands full because Morehead State has really been playing well and they're a very dangerous team."

Arnzen thought all along that the Lady Eagles had quite a bit of talent, but for whatever reasons, they simply couldn't put things together. But that has changed in recent weeks.

"They have a great deal of talent, I think some of the best talent in the league," Arnzen said.

The Lady Eagles are led offensively by center Tasha Gales, who averages 15 points per game. Travece Turner and Kandi Brown both average more than 14 points a contest while Jody Sizemore adds 12 points per game.

"Gales is as good a center as there is in the league and they have other good players around her," said Arnzen. "They've got good inside and outside play."

While the Otahkians have struggled late in the season, they showed plenty of spark Thursday even though they dropped a 91-82 decision to powerful Eastern Kentucky.

"Even though we lost, hopefully that game will get us going a little bit," Arnzen said. "We really need a win before the tournament."