Nov. 23, 2003

Norman, Okla. - The Otahkians hit the road today for a three game road series over the Thanksgiving holiday. First up Southeast will face No. 21 Oklahoma on Monday, Nov. 24. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. in Norman Oklahoma. Oklahoma leads the series 1-0, after downing Southeast last year, but tomorrow's match-up should prove to be very competitive and intense. After playing Oklahoma, the squad will travel to Corpus Christi, Tex. for the Flint Hills Resources Islander Classic.

Scouting Southeast... The Otahkians (1-1) are coming off their first season win over Southern Illinois 73-64 on Saturday. Southeast led at the half 37-24 and never relinquished their lead. The squad built a 19-point lead with five minutes left in the game, but Southern Illinois wasn't ready to quit. SIU went on a 13-point unanswered run to cut Southeast's comfortable lead to only six with just over one minute to play. The Otahkians silenced Southern Illinois for the last minute to pull off a 73-64 victory. Junior college transfers, Chandra Brown and Sami Jo Cotton, led the team scoring 17 and 12 respectively.

The offensive attack is currently being led by two newcomers, junior Chandra Brown and freshman Jessica Aebi, as they are averaging 12.5 and 11.5 points per game respectively. Senior Kenja White is also chipping in 10 points per game for the squad. Junior Chandra Brown has also come up big for the Otahkians defensively as she leads the team in rebounds, pulling down seven per game. Newcomer Brandi Russia is also providing strong defense for the squad as she is leading the way with six steals on the season.

Scouting No. 21 Oklahoma... The No. 21 ranked Sooners blew past Oral Roberts Saturday night 90-42. Oklahoma has been scoring in extremely high numbers, as they also recorded two high-scoring exhibition games. They scored 94-points against Sparta Praha and 90 on Oklahoma Christian. Oklahoma also dominated the boards during exhibition, pulling down 52.5 per game. Southeast has been struggling on boards as they are averaging 32.5 per game. The squad will need to play tough under the basketball to beat Oklahoma.

OU is led by seniors, Maria Villarroel and Caton Hill, scoring 20.0 and 17.0 points per game, respectively. The duo is also shooting better than 50 percent from the field and is flawless at the free throw line. Freshman Krista Sanchez came off the bench against ORU to score 13 points, hitting four-of-six shots and all four free throws. She also grabbed eight boards in just nine minutes of action. Junior guard Dionnah Jackson fills the point guard position for OU. She produced a solid game Saturday as she dished out seven assists, had zero turnovers, scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds and pocketed two steals in 24 minutes of play. As a team, Oklahoma is shooting 42.5 percent from the field, compare to its opponent's 30.9. OU also connected on 13-of-15 free throws Saturday for 86.7 percent.

Up Next... Southeast will travel to Corpus Christi, Tex. to participate in the Flint Hills Resources Islander Classic. The Otahkians will square off against Bowling Green State on Friday, Nov. 28, at 7:00 p.m. If Southeast wins, the squad will face the winner of the Corpus Christi/Prairie View game for the championship on Nov. 29, or if they lose, they will face the loser of that contest in the consolation game.