TECH REPLACEMENT MAKES OTAHK PLANS RUN AFOUL

Southeast women's basketball coach Ed Arnzen got just what he was looking for Monday night at the Show Me Center against the Tennessee Tech Eaglettes.

But despite Ohio Valley Conference preseason Player of the Year Diane Seng getting into early foul trouble for Tech, the Otahkians still lost their fourth consecutive game 66-60.

Seng, a 6-foot-2 sophomore center, was plagued by foul problems and scored just four points in 19 minutes of action. But her replacement, 6-1 sophomore Collin Carmichael, ripped the nets for 15 points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.

"We hoped to get Seng in foul trouble early, but then Carmichael came in and really hurt us," Arnzen said. "If you can get your second-string center to come in and score 15 points, you've done a good job."

The loss dropped the Otahkians to 4-9 overall and 2-4 in the OVC. Tech, picked to finish second in the league, snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 9-5 and 3-2 in the conference.

Carmichael scored all nine of her second-half points in a six-minute span after Seng left the game with her fourth foul following a charge with 15:56 left. Unhappy with the official's call, Tech coach Bill Worrell also got whistled with a technical foul for being on the court.

"I get into the game so much and sometimes I get myself in trouble," said Worrell with a smile following the game. "I enjoy the game and I want our team to do so well."

Tech led 37-34 at the time, but Rusty Sowers took over the next minute for Southeast. Sowers made both technical free throws and then knocked down consecutive 3-pointers to give the Otahkians a 42-37 lead with 14:55 left.

Sowers led Southeast with 17 points. Teammate Jamie Koester added 14 points and team-leading 11 rebounds.

After Sower's scoring spurt, which was part of a 10-0 scoring run, Carmichael brought the Eaglettes back by scoring nine of her team's next 10 points.

"Collin did a great job for us," said Worrell. "Diane was in foul trouble -- she was never a factor -- but Collin Carmichael has been playing well for us.

"For us to win, with Seng sitting down all night, is a big factor."

Tech used a 10-0 run of its own to take back the lead for good with 8:18 left. Miranda Moore's conventional 3-point play following an Otahkian foul put the Eaglettes ahead 52-48.

Southeast got a 3-pointer from Sherry Cook to close the score to 52-51, but Tech held off the Otahkians in the final minutes.

"The game was there for us, but the last four-and-a-half minutes we made some mental mistakes," Arnzen said. "That was the difference."

A fast-break layup by the Otahkians' Moneik Campbell closed Tech's lead to 62-60 with 1:32 left, but a defensive breakdown led to an easy bucket for Tech just 15-seconds later.

Tech's Amber Clark, who earlier in the first-half scored her 1,000th career point, nailed a wide-open baseline jumper that made the score 64-60 with 1:17 left.

"We had a blown defensive assignment on Amber Clark," Arnzen said. "She had a wide-open 15-foot (shot) and that was the game."

Clark led Tech with a game-high 21 points. Most of her damage came in the first half when she scored 15 points as Tech took a 31-28 halftime lead.

"I want to give SEMO a lot of credit; they did a really fine job," said Worrell. "They played good defense on us and we were very fortunate to win."