Nov. 16, 2001

Box Score

EDINBURG, TEXAS - It was a tall order, literally for the Southeast Missouri State Otahkians could not handle a Montana Lady Griz team that featured 10 players that were 5'10 or taller, and fell 78-63 at the opening game of the Texas-Pan Am Lady Bronc Tip-Off Classic.

Montana (1-0) got off to an 8-0 start and would not look back in the first half. After Pam Iversen scored Southeast's (1-0) first bucket of the game at the 16:58 mark, Montana spurted to six more straight points to take a 14-2 lead. The Lady Griz lead would grow to as large as 25-8 with a little under nine minutes to play in the first half. The Otahkians were able to make a run and cut the Montana lead to 36-26 at the break.

Junior point guard LaShelle Porter would score the first bucket of the second half and Southeast looked like they were poised to make a comeback. But Montana would roll of six unanswered points and the Otahkians would never respond. The Lady Griz lead would reach its zenith at 68-39 with 8:17 to play. The Otahkians did play inspired ball the last six minutes of the game and were able to pull within 15, the final margin.

Junior forward Lori Chase led the Otahks with 27 points on 10-13 shooting. Chase made two three-pointer, half of her entire 3-point total from all of the last season. She was also 5-7 from the line. Uncharacteristically, however, Chase only managed to pull down three rebounds.

Tiffany Melis was the only other Southeast player in double figures, chipping in 14 points while knocking down three, three-pointers.

Montana was paced by senior Cheryl Keller who had 22 points, including 4-4 from long range. Freshman center Hollie Tyler dominated inside, scoring 14 points and pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds.

For the game, Montana outshot Southeast 56.4% to 43.8%. Southeast did, however, knocked down 7-13 three-pointers for 53.8%.

Southeast will face host Texas-Pan Am in the consolation game tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.