SOUTHEAST WOMEN HANDLE UTM WITH RELATIVE EASE

It could have been even more routine than it was, but Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team finally picked up a relatively handy Ohio Valley Conference victory.

After having played four straight OVC games that basically weren't decided until the closing minutes, the Otahkians were pretty much in control all the way Saturday night as they knocked off Tennessee-Martin 79-66 at the Show Me Center.

The Otahkians, one of the surprise early season squads in the OVC, improved to 9-6 overall and 4-1 in conference play. The Skyhawks fell to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in the league.

"It was kind of relaxing for once, which was nice," said Southeast sophomore forward Lori Chase, who led the Otahkians with 18 points. "We came out really ready to play. We really wanted to win it. We all pulled together and it was a good game for us."

Said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen, "It was a good performance. We were able to win two out of three on this homestand and we're 4-1 in the conference, with two of those wins on the road. I think we're off to a pretty good start."

Tiffany Melis, a sophomore guard who was recently inserted into the starting lineup, continued her strong play by scoring 16 points for the Otahkians. She hit five of seven shots from the field, including all three of her 3-point attempts. Melis also had three assists and blocked two shots.

"Tiffany redshirted last year (due to an injury) and it took her some time to get her confidence back," Arnzen said. "She's really been playing well lately and she had an excellent game tonight."

Pam Iversen and LaShelle Porter both added 12 points for the Otahkians and they each dished out four assists. Iversen, who hit five of six from the field, also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds as Southeast dominated the boards 38-21. Veronica Benson scored eight points and recorded a game-high six assists.

UTM's Kelly Pendleton, a sharpshooting guard, led all scorers with 23 points. Amy Watson and Erika Dunning each added 11 points.

Southeast led 46-31 at halftime, thanks to some sizzling shooting as the Otahkians connected on 16 of 25 field-goal attempts for 64 percent.

The opening half was tight for a while, with several early lead changes. Then, after UTM used a 7-0 run to go ahead 21-19, Southeast took control with a 10-0 burst.

A Porter 3-pointer gave the Otahkians the lead for good at 22-21. After Iversen scored five straight points, a Melis 3-pointer ended the run and gave Southeast a 29-21 advantage as the Otahkians began to pull away.

"The first half, we played awfully well," said Arnzen. "We shredded their press and got some easy shots off it, which is why our shooting percentage was so high."

Southeast built its lead to 55-36 early in the second half and the Otahkians were up 59-41 when they hit a drought, which allowed the Skyhawks to make things semi-interesting.

A 9-0 UTM run sliced Southeast's lead to 59-50 with still more than nine minutes remaining. Later, the Skyhawks got to within six at 65-59 on two Watson free throws with 4:03 left.

But Iversen got a layup off a nice pass from Porter and Melis nailed a 15-footer as the Otahkians boosted their lead back up to 10 at 69-59. Porter hit one of two free throws and Chase made a pair of foul shots to put Southeast ahead 72-59 and the Skyhawks could get no closer than 10 the rest of the way.

"In the second half we maybe played not to lose and they were able to come back," Arnzen said. "The last 12 days we've played six games and I think we're a little tired now."

Southeast wound up shooting a season-high 58 percent for the game on 26 of 45. UTM shot just 39 percent on 19 of 49.

The Otahkians will return to action next Saturday when they play at Eastern Illinois.