SE RINGS UP WIN OVER BELMONT

For Rusty Sowers, the first half was as sour as the second half was sweet.

Sowers, a 5-foot-5 junior guard, scored all of her 17 points in the second half, and Southeast Missouri State weathered a 3-point attempt at the buzzer to beat Belmont 63-61 Wednesday night before 300 fans at Show Me Center.

Southeast (8-15) had lost three straight Ohio Valley Conference road games by an average of 17 points before Wednesday's non-conference game, the only non-OVC game in the Otahkians' last 17 of the regular season.

Belmont (15-9), an independent Division I school from Nashville, Tenn., entered the game with a 3-4 record against OVC teams, with its other losses to Evansville, Wright State, South Alabama and Georgia Tech. The Bruins are 294-92 in the last 12 seasons.

"This was a huge win for us," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen. "I promise you (Belmont) would finish in the top four of the OVC. This was our best defensive effort of the year. We need some momentum to get rid of a lot of negative thoughts."

Southeast, which is 5-10 and in eighth place in the OVC, has three league games remaining -- all important in the Otahkians' quest to be among the eight league teams that qualify for the OVC Tournament.

Sowers turned the ball over three times and played just six minutes in the first half. In the second half, she hit 4 of 8 3-pointers and kept Southeast in a tight game.

"Rusty was huge off the bench," Arnzen said. "Rusty hasn't played well in the last three ballgames and her confidence has wavered a little bit. What she has to understand is that she is a shooter. She cannot put the ball on the floor and create. She's not that type of player."

While Jamie Koester, who had a game-high 18 points, paced the Otahkians in the first half and opening five minutes of the second, Sowers scored 17 of Southeast's last 25 points.

"It just felt like nothing was going right, then I tried to create more and that's where I messed up," Sowers said. "Then when my momentum got going I played my best. I always like to have the ball in my hands in those situations."

Belmont started slowly, scoring just two points in the opening 7 minutes 28 seconds, and Southeast led 22-9 with 6:32 left in the half. But a 20-3 run gave the Bruins a 29-25 halftime lead. Leah Primm, who finished with 16 points, had five points during the streak.

Neither team led by more than five points in the second half. A free throw by Sowers gave Southeast a 62-58 lead with 17 seconds to go, but seven seconds later the Bruins' Tara Montgomery, who had 12 points, converted a 3-point play, making the score 62-61.

After Southeast's Dana Hawkins made 1 of 2 free throws with 9 seconds left, Belmont's Stacie White missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer despite a good look at the basket.