SE WOMEN RESERVE A SPOT IN OVC TOURNAMENT

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- The late-season turnaround for Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team continued Thursday.

As a result, the Otahkians have qualified for the Ohio Valley Conference postseason tournament.

Southeast, which trailed by 12 points in the first half, rallied for an 82-76 win over Morehead State as the Otahkians posted their third straight victory after having previously lost five games in a row.

Coupled with Eastern Illinois' loss to Eastern Kentucky, the Otahkians can finish no worse than eighth in the 10-team OVC. The top eight squads qualify for the league tourney.

The Otahkians improved to 11-15 overall and a seventh-place 7-10 in the OVC. Morehead fell to 2-24 overall and a last-place 1-16 in league play.

"It's good to get that out of the way," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen of securing an OVC tourney berth. "We've had a lot of adversity this season, but our confidence is at a pretty high level now."

Southeast got another strong performance off the bench from freshman guard Kristy Roherty, the OVC's top 3-point shooter.

Roherty, coming off a career-high 19-point performance at Eastern Illinois last Saturday, scored a team-high 15 points Thursday. Shooting 45 percent from 3-point range before the game, Roherty gave that mark a major boost by hitting five of six from long range.

"Kristy has really been shooting the ball well," Arnzen said.

The Otahkians also got a big lift off the bench from Kim Nicholson, who pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds to help Southeast hold a 46-36 advantage on the boards. Nicholson also hit both her field-goal attempts and scored five points.

"Kim had a great game," said Arnzen.

Paula Corder-King and Lori Chase both scored 14 points for Southeast while Regan Hughston added 10. Moneik Campbell dished out nine assists and Allison Iversen came off the bench to block three shots.

Morehead's Tasha Gales scored a game-high 16 points. Also in double figures for the Lady Eagles were Vette Robinson with 14 points and Naomi Bronson with 12.

The Lady Eagles started strong and twice built 12-point first-half leads, the last coming at 31-19 with just over seven minutes left.

But Southeast closed the opening half strong and Roherty's 3-pointer in the final seconds pulled the Otahkians to within 37-36 at the break.

Southeast controlled most of the second half, taking the lead for good on a short jumper by Hughston with 17:14 left that made it 44-43.

The Otahkians built a 63-48 lead and then held off a late Morehead rally that saw the Lady Eagles pull to within five.

Southeast will close out the regular season Saturday with a 1 p.m. game at Eastern Kentucky.