Box Score

Cape Girardeau, Mo. (February 3, 2003) - Behind an 18-point, 11-rebound effort from senior forward Lori Chase, Southeast cruised to an easy 13-point victory tonight at the Show Me Center as they defeated the Lady Tigers of Tennessee State, 77-64. Southeast moves its overall record to 13-6 and 7-2 in the OVC, while the Tigers move to 2-16, and 0-8 in the conference.

Tennessee State jumped out to an early lead, but let the Otahkians back into it as Southeast tied the game at 15 each at the 14-minute mark. The game was tied twice more, before Southeast took a lead at 21-19 with 11 minutes left and never let up.

Southeast led the rest of the way in the half and eventually pulled out a 9-piont lead at the break. Chase led the Otahks early. She had 11 points on 5-10 shooting in the half with four rebounds, as well. Junior forward Carina Souza had 10 points on 5-8 shooting. Tennessee State's Odessa Kelly led the Lady Tigers with 10 points in the half.

The Otahks went for the kill early in the second half. They quickly upped their lead to 14 at the 16-minute mark and kept up the pace throughout the half. The lead got as high as 19 twice, the last time with 1:38 left, and was eventually 13 at the final buzzer.

Chase finished up the game with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. She was 7-14 from the field and 3-5 from the line. Souza had 16 points and four rebounds as sophomore forward Miah Shelford had a season-high 14 points and seven boards on the night.

Chase finishes up her most impressive week of the season as after 20 and 32 point showings earlier in the week, she cruised tonight to a 23 point, 9 rebound per game average on the week.

Southeast is off until Saturday as the play host to a crucial OVC weekend as Eastern Kentucky comes to the Show Me Center on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and Morehead State will come calling on Monday night at 7:00 p.m.