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Cape Girardeau, Mo. (Jan. 7, 2004)- The Otahkians begin their OVC slate against OVC's defending champions, Austin Peay (6-5). Southeast (5-6) will be looking for revenge after the Lady Govs ended the Otahks dream of their first OVC tournament championship and NCAA appearance, last season in the OVC title game. In preseason polls, Southeast was chosen as the preseason favorite ahead of Austin Peay. The two square off at the Show Me Center, Jan. 8 at 5:00 p.m., followed by the men's match up.

Scouting Southeast... In holiday action, the Otahkians dropped an 87-59 decision to SMS before going 1-1 in the UTSA Classic. The Otahkians lost to Kansas State, 78-42, and defeated Alcorn State, 73-63. Yashika Sidbury recorded a season-high 15 points and nine rebounds in the contest with SMS. Then against Alcorn State, Sidbury set a new season-high in points with 18, shooting 7-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-4 from three-point land. Sami Jo Cotton led Southeast Missouri in points with 19 in the win over Alcorn State, setting her new career-best in points.

Leading the way for the Otahkians on the season in both points and boards is junior center Chandra Brown, averaging 11.0 and 7.9 respectively. Brown's 7.9 boards per game, rank her fourth in the OVC. Senior Kenja White is following closely behind with 10.5 points per game, while Cotton is also averaging 8.5. Cotton and Sidbury are leading the Otahkians 3-point threat with 17 and 16 respectively on the season and ninth and tenth in the conference. Senior Sarah Costello is currently ranked fourth in the conference with her 3.8 assists per game and third with her 1.64 steals per game.

Scouting Austin Peay...Austin Peay went 2-1 over the Christmas break. The Lady Govs defeated Lipscomb 65-60 and fell to Kentucky, 82-56, to close out 2003. APSU recorded a 70-67 win over UAB on Saturday. Sophomore guard Ashley Haynes averaged 15.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists over the three-game span. Haynes recorded her fourth double-double of the season against Lipscomb with 12 points and 12 boards. She has reached double-digits in scoring in 10 of the last 11 games. Senior forward Gerlonda Hardin needs 45 points to become the third Lady Gov to record 1,500 career points. She also needs just three rebounds to reach the 800-rebound mark, so Southeast will need to play tough defense to shut down Hardin.

Hardin is also leading the way for the Lady Govs on the season in points, averaging 14.8 per game, ranking in fifth in the league. Leading the way in boards is Haynes with 8.5 per game, ranking second in the OVC. Haynes is also second in line in scoring with 14.2 points per game (6th in the OVC), while Hardin is second in rebounds averaging 7.7 (6th in the OVC). Also averaging over double-digits in points on the season is sophomore guard Kera Bergeron, with 10.9 per game. Bergeron is leading the OVC in made 3-pointers with 37, averaging 3.36 per game.

Up Next... Southeast will host Tennessee Tech on Jan. 10 at 5:00 p.m. in the Show Me Center. Then the Otahkians will hit the road to face Eastern Illinois Jan. 13 at 5:15 p.m. in Charleston, Ill.