Women's Hoop Defeats Lady Govs, 59-56 :: Southeast snaps 7-game losing streak to Lady Govs

Jan. 6, 2005

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - (Thursday, January 06, 2005) After three years Southeast women's basketball coach B.J. Smith can finally say that he has beaten every team in the Ohio Valley Conference. After going 0-6 his first two seasons against Austin Peay, Smith picked up his first victory over the Lady Govs on the road, 59-56 in both school's conference opener.

The win by Southeast (7-5, 1-0 OVC) snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Lady Govs (4-8, 0-1 OVC) and extended their current winning streak to three-games.

The Lady Govs didn't make it easy on Southeast as the game featured six ties and eight lead changes, most of those happening with less than nine minutes left in the game.

After Southeast jumped out to their biggest lead of the game in the second-half, 27-20, the Lady Govs mounted a comeback and grabbed their first lead of the game since the 6:09 mark in the first half on a Cassandra Peek lay-up making the score 30-29.

That lead quickly became six points, 41-35 on a Carden Cobb jumper at 10:10. The Southeast bench came to the rescue as Katrisha Dunn (Dallas, TX/Eastern Oklahoma State College) three and five-straight points by Julie Sweetin (Benton, IL/Benton) tied the game at 45-all at 5:47.

The Lady Govs refused to concede the lead jumping ahead by three, 49-46 with a little under four minutes to play.

OVC Newcomer of the Week Simone Jackson (Kingston, Jamaica/Southeastern Illinois CC) gave Southeast the lead, 50-49 on a lay-up with 3:22 left. Jackson finished with eight points; all scored in the second half.

Back-to-back lay-ups by Chandra Brown (Louisville, KY/Southeastern Illinois CC) gave Southeast a four-point cushion with :17 seconds to play.

Two Peek free-throws cut the Southeast lead to two points.

Jackson made the back-end of her two free throws to push the lead back to three and the Lady Govs missed a desperation three as the buzzer sounded to give Coach Smith his much desired win.

The excitement in the second-half did not mirror a slow and uneventful first half as both teams combined to score 40 points. Southeast led at the half, 21-19.

Tatiana Conceicao (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Western Nebraska CC) scored a game-high 14 points despite suffering early foul trouble and eventually fouling out with two minutes left in the game.

Natalie Purcell (Auckland, New Zealand/Hutchinson CC) broke out of her shooting slump to score 12 points on 4-9 shooting (4-8 from three-point range). She also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

Wanika Owsley (Indianapolis, IN/Southeastern Illinois CC) handed out a career-high seven assists and smothered the Lady Govs top shooter Kera Bergeron and held her to only six points.

Southeast continues their conference road trip when they take preseason OVC favorite Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tenn. on Saturday, January 8. Tip-off is set for 5:30 PM.