SALINA, Kan. – Southern Idaho delivered the early haymaker and Walters State never recovered.

The Golden Eagles stormed out to a 28-10 lead in the opening 20 minutes and held off several rally attempts by the Lady Senators in the second half to collect a 62-53 victory Tuesday afternoon in the opening round of the 2008 NJCAA national tournament at the Salina Bicentennial Center.

With the win, Southern Idaho improved to 31-2 overall and a date with the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith at 8 p.m. tonight. The loss dropped Walters State to 29-5 with a game against Lake Region State (N.D.) College Thursday at 10 a.m.

“I thought we played hard,” veteran Lady Senators’ coach Dave Kragel said. “The first 10 minutes of the game, we had trouble stopping their big post players.

“After that, we made some changes, including going to a pressing defense, that allowed us to get back into the contest. In the second half, we cut the lead down to two but never could get over the hump.”

Sparked by the play of Soana Lucet and Anita Burdick, the Golden Eagles raced out to the 2810 advantage midway through the opening half. At that point, the Lady Senators began to cut into the deficit.

Led by reserves Jasmin Coleman, Tiffany Travis and Shakira White, Walters State narrowed the Southern Idaho’s lead down to 34-28 by intermission.

“I thought our bench gave us good minutes and good production,” Kragel said. “We needed a spark at that time and those players gave it to us.”

In the second half, the Lady Senators pulled as close as two points at 38-36 but could never slice the lead down any further as foul difficulties plagued key players like Dana Garrett and Nakisha Strickland.

“It didn’t help that we had Dana and Nakisha on the bench early in the second half in foul trouble,” Kragel said. “We fouled too much in the second half and Southern Idaho did a good job of hitting the free throws.”

The Golden Eagles were led in scoring by Lucet with 21 points, including making 11-of-12 free throws, while raking down nine rebounds. Burdick finished with a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Garrett was the lone Walters State player in double figures with 16 points while grabbing six rebounds. Freshman Chantel Johnson led the Lady Senators in rebounding with nine, a season-high. For the contest, Southern Idaho held a 53-39 cushion on the boards.

“This was the first time this season that we were out-rebounded by our opponents,” Kragel said. “We’re not accustomed to having that happen to us.”

For the game, the Lady Senators were 20-of-52 from the field (2-of-16 on 3-point shots) for 32.4 percent while hitting 7-of-11 free throws.