OTAHKS TRY TO EVEN OVC MARK AGAINST AUSTIN PEAY

One down, one to go as Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team aims to complete an Ohio Valley Conference home sweep.

The Otahkians, fresh off a 59-46 win over Tennessee State Thursday night, will take on Austin Peay today in a 1 p.m. tipoff at the Show Me Center.

A victory over the Lady Governors would give the Otahkians a three-game winning streak and even their OVC record at 2-2 while helping take some of the sting away from last month's narrow road losses to league powers Tennessee Tech and Middle Tennessee.

"Winning (today) would be really big for us," said Arnzen, whose squad is 4-7 overall. "It would get us back to .500 in the conference and would really build up our confidence even more before we go back out on the road (next week)."

But in Austin Peay, which is 5-6 overall and 1-2 in OVC play, Arnzen figures the Otahkians will face a difficult challenge.

"They're coming off a big win (77-59 at Eastern Illinois Thursday night) and they've got a solid team," said Arnzen. "It'll be a good game and it should be a tight game."

Austin Peay features the OVC's leading scorer in Brooke Armistead, a 5-foot-9 freshman who averages more than 18 points per game and shoots nearly 40-percent from 3-point range.

Quin Sullivan, a 6-1 senior, scores more than 12 points per game while another freshman, 5-7 Paige Smith, averages nearly 11 points a contest. Kelly Chavez, a 5-3 sophomore point guard, leads the OVC in assists with nearly five per game.

"Sullivan is a very good post player and the two freshman guards (Armistead and Smith) have really made this club," Arnzen said.

Southeast got a big game Thursday from senior forward Paula Corder-King, who was not even expected to play because of an injury to her left (non-shooting) wrist.

But Corder-King wound up scoring 15 points and hitting all three of her 3-point attempts. Corder-King is fourth in the OVC in 3-point shooting at 44 percent and she leads the Otahkians in scoring at better than 14 points per game.

Sophomore center Pam Iversen, who scored 13 points Thursday, is Southeast's other double-figure point producer on the season at more than 11 per contest. She also leads the OVC in field-goal shooting at 54 percent.