Dec. 8, 2001

Box Score

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team used runs of 10-0 and 20-2 to begin each half and defeated Samford 90-41 on Saturday night at the Show Me Center.

Southeast (6-3), which was coming off two poor shooting games, did not have that problem against the Bulldogs (1-5). Southeast shot 42.9% in the first half while holding Samford, who will become a member of the OVC in 2003, to only 28.6% from the field. In the games opening run, Southeast spurted out 10-0 behind six points from senior center Pam Iversen. Natalie McClendon's bucket ended the streak and put the Bulldogs on the board.

The Otahkians would lead 39-19 at the half behind nine points and nine rebounds from Iversen. Southeast also chipped in 4-5 three-pointers in the opening half.

The second half did not start well either for Samford, as Southeast spurted out to a 20-2 run to put the game out of reach. The Otahkian lead would grow to as many as 49 on three ocassions, including the final score of 90-41.

The Southeast starters did not see much action in the second half, as the five only combined for 31 total second half minutes.

For the game, Southeast was 8-8 from the free-throw line after missing 19 attempts in the past two games. Behind the three-point line the Otahkians shot an impressive 10-14 (71.4%) after only 2-8 against Northern Illinois on Wednesday. Southeast had entered the week as the top three-point shooting team in the OVC.

All 12 players scored for Southeast with Iversen and Lori Chase leading the way with 13 apiece. Iversen also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to record her first double-double of the season and to move into 10th on the Southeast all-time career rebounding list. She currently has 618 rebounds in her career.

Junior Tiffany Melis, returning from missing three games after suffering a knee injury at Lipscomb, knocked down three trifectas to move into a tie for seventh place on the Southeast career three-pointers made list. Melis currently has 48 career threes.

Reserves Candice Coffey and Andrea Koeper chipped in six and eight points respectively, both career bests.

The 49 point margin of victory was the largest for Southeast since becoming a Division I member in 1991-92. The victory was the largest since defeating Pittsburg State 101-49 on February 13, 1991, the season Southeast went to the Division II National Championship game.

The 90 points were the most for Southeast since February 3rd of last season when they scored 95 against Tennessee State. If the starters would have remained in the game they would have probably scored 100 points, something the Otahkians have not done since February 20, 1999 against Eastern Illinois when they scored 101.

The 41 points scored by Samford were the fewest Southeast has allowed all season. Southeast all forced a season-high 25 turnovers while only committing 13 turnovers, a season-low.

The Othakians also moved to 6-0 when scoring 70-plus points this season.

The win was also the first this season in the month of December after dropping their last two games to Missouri and Northern Illinois.

Southeat will now have a 25-day layoff for Christmas Break. The Otahkians next game will be January 2, 2002 against Missouri-Baptist at 7:00 p.m. at the Show Me Center.