Feb. 21, 2004

Box Score

Cape Girardeau, Mo. - In Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball action tonight, the Otahks (15-10, 10-4 OVC) put away Morehead State (10-15, 7-7 OVC), 88-62,in their only match-up this season. Due to the uneven schedule of the OVC, the Otahks only face Morehead and Eastern Kentucky once, but made those meetings count this week downing them both. The Otahkians halted MSU's four-game OVC win streak, while continuing to build their own to eight straight.

The Lady Eagles jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, before Southeast's senior forward Yashika Sidbury banked in the lay-up off an assist from Sarah Costello to spark a 9-0 Otahk run. It was Sidbury again with a jumper in the paint to extend the run to 21-8 over MSU, creating an eight- point lead with 9:06 to play in the first. The Lady Eagles rallied back with eight straight unanswered points to tie the game 21 all with 6:25 on the clock. Southeast closed out the half out-shooting the Lady Eagles in the final minutes, to pull out a 35-31 lead at intermission.

The Otahks were out-shot 42-to-38 percent in the first half, but out-shot the Lady Eagles 85-to-33 percent from the charity stripe.

Southeast came out of the lockers to net the first four points of the half with a duce from senior forward Carina Souza and two free throws from senior guard Kenja White. The Otahks continued to battle forward as they kept mounting their lead throughout the half.

With 15:06 remaining, junior guard Sami Jo Cotton nailed a trey to capture a 16-point lead. The two teams traded shots for the next seven minutes, but a trey from sophomore guard Tiffanne Ryan sparked the major pull away of the evening. The Otahks outscored MSU 29-11 in the final ten minutes, posting the 26-point victory.

The Otahks were on fire from all dimensions of the court tonight. Southeast came back in the second half to shoot a deadly 58.6 percent from the field, to close the night with a 48.3 percent shooting accuracy. This included a 41 percent shooting percent from beyond the arc.

The squad also combined to nail 23-of-25 from the free throw stripe, shooting 92 percent from the line. That percentage included a perfect 12-of-12 showing from the Otahks in the second and four personal 100 percent shooting averages. White netted 8-of-8, Costello netted 4-of-4, while Sidbury and Russia hit 2-of-2.

The squad put together tremendous full-court pressure versus the Lady Eagles as they created 29 turnovers, which they converted into 26 points. The girls also executed extremely well on the offensive side, combining for 20 assists.

Leading the way for the Otahkians was Sidbury, earning Copi-Rite player of the game honors, as she pumped in 17 points, brought down five boards and dished out three assists. Cotton was right behind, netting 16 points with outstanding shooting accuracy. She nailed four-of-six from the floor, will all shots coming from three-point territory, while netting four-of-five from the line. Adding to the double-figure list was White with 14 and Chandra Brown with 12. Dishing-out a game-high six assists was Costello, who has led the squad in assists on 22-of-25 games this season.

MSU had three players reach double-digit marks, including guard Megen Gearhart (17), center Shelly Johnson (12) and forward Kandi Brown (11). Johnson recorded a double-double, adding 10 rebounds to her 12 points.

Southeast will close its regular season on the road before heading into post-season action in the OVC tournament. The Otahks travel to Murray, Ky. to take on Murray State on Thurs., Feb 26, at 5:15 p.m. The squad then travels to Martin, Tenn. to battle Tennessee-Martin on Sat., Feb 28, at 4:00 p.m.