CLARKSVILLE - Austin Peay State University women's basketball team led for the game's final 36 minutes in a regular-season ending 71-51 Ohio Valley Conference victory against Southeast Missouri, Saturday night at the Dunn Center.

Southeast Missouri (8-21, 4-14 OVC) scored the game's opening basket and held that lead for nearly three minutes until Austin Peay tied the game on junior Jasmine Rayner's jumper at the 17:13 mark.

Austin Peay (13-17, 12-6) grabbed the lead, 4-2, with senior Brooke Faulkner's jumper at the 16:00 mark and would not surrender the advantage. The Lady Govs scored 10 consecutive points later in the half - freshman Nicole Olszewski capping the run with a conventional three-point play - to build a 31-18 lead with 3:29 left. APSU would take that 13-point advantage, 39-26, into halftime.

Southeast Missouri could not drop the lead back into single-digits in the second half, narrowing the deficit to 11 points, 52-41, with 9:15 remaining. But Austin Peay scored the next seven points in less than two minutes and was not threatened the game's remainder.

Sophomore Meghan Bussabarger led Austin Peay with 14 points off the bench. Faulkner and Salem Richardson, both seniors, made the most of Senior Night, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively. Rayner  added 12 points and six rebounds.

Brittany Harriel led Southeast Missouri with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Erika Lane chipped in 11 points.

Austin Peay, which finished fifth in the regular-season OVC race, returns to action with a noon, Wednesday, contest against No. 8-seed Murray State in the 2011 OVC Women's Basketball Championship opening round at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium.

-AP-