Jan. 2, 2002

Box Score

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo.- Paced by the second double-double of the season by senior center Pam Iversen and a season-high 17 points from point guard LaShelle Porter, the Southeast Missouri State Otahkians shook off the rust from Christmas Break and a bad three-point shooting night to top Missouri-Baptist 70-53 on Wednesday night.

Early on it looked like Southeast (7-3 overall) would blow Missouri-Baptist (4-11) out of the building. The Otahkians scored the first four points on the game and led by 17 points at 22-5 with 10:49 to play in the first halt.

The Lady Trojans, who have lost 10 of their last 11 games, looked to point guard Angelica Teague who scored 10 points over the next 10 minutes to cut the MBC disadvantage to only 39-26 at the break.

In the first frame Southeast, who was playing with only nine players on the night due to Christmas Break defections and personal reasons, shot 16-28 from the field for an impressive 57.1%. MBC was held to only 38.5% shooting but trailed by only 13 thanks to 4-7 shooting from three-point range.

Mo-Baptist would cut the Otahkian advantage to only eight points early in the second half when Christine Lott scored off an offensive rebound with 16:18 to play.

Southeast would then respond with a 16-3 run to end any hopes MBC had of pulling the upset.

Porter led all scorers with the season-high 17 points while Iversen recorded a season-high 11 rebounds and tied her season-high with 16 points in recording her second double-double of the season. Tiffany Melis (10) and Veronica Benson (11) were also in double figures while Tisa Thomas pulled down a season-high nine rebounds.

MBC was led by 16 from Teague including 2-3 from three-point range. Andrea Smith, who connected on a game-high four, three-pointers, scored 12.

Southeast entered the game third in the nation in three-point percentage shooting 47.1% on the season. On the night, the Otahkians managed only 1-11 from behind the arc, with the lone trifeca coming from Benson in the second half.

Although Southeast did not shoot the ball well from the outside, they did dominate the paint. The Otahkians outscored MBC 44 to 18 in the paint on the evening.

Southeast improved to 5-1 in opening games after the Christmas Break in the past six years. The Otahkians will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they open Ohio Valley Conference play at Eastern Illinois at 5:15 p.m.