OTAHKS TRY TO BRING IN HOLIDAYS WITH VICTORY OVER OAKLAND CITY

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team has turned things around in a big way after a 1-5 start.

The Otahkians muddled through their first six games -- all non-conference affairs -- looking very much like the squad picked to finish last in the 10-team Ohio Valley Conference.

But, even though they were losing, the Otahkians actually were making steady improvement during their final few games during that 1-5 start.

And that improvement really showed up when the Otahkians opened OVC play because they pulled off two upsets to vault to the top of the league standings along with preseason favorite Eastern Kentucky.

Now Otahkian coach Ed Arnzen is hoping all the momentum his team gained during that hot OVC start is not lost tonight when Southeast plays its final pre-holiday game of the season, a non-league affair against Division II Oakland City (5-3). The tipoff is set for 7:30 at the Show Me Center.

"We've really turned things around (after the slow start) and have put ourselves in a nice position (in the OVC) heading into the holidays," said Arnzen. "We just have to make sure we don't slip up in this last game before the holidays.

"If we can win this game, then we're 4-5 overall and we'll have a nice break before we get ready to play again in January."

Southeast beat Austin Peay last Saturday and Tennessee State on Monday in OVC games at the Show Me Center.

"We played well and proved to ourselves that we can be a factor in the OVC as long as we play hard and play together," Arnzen said.

Following tonight's game, the Otahkians won't play again until Jan. 3 when they face OVC foe Morehead State on the road. Two days later, they'll play at powerful Eastern Kentucky.