COLLEGE BASKETBALL: OTAHKIANS TO BEGIN PRACTICE SATURDAY

As Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team prepares to begin practice Saturday, veteran coach Ed Arnzen is confident that the Otahkians will be able to put a much-improved product on the court during the 2000-2001 season.

The Otahkians slumped to an 11-17 overall record last year, which included a 7-11, seventh-place mark in the 10-team Ohio Valley Conference.

But the return of a healthy Pam Iversen along with several other key players -- plus the addition of six newcomers -- has Arnzen feeling plenty optimistic.

"We're excited," said Arnzen. "Last year was disappointing, especially with the injury to Pam in late January. We dropped five conference games in a row when she went down, but I thought we finished strong.

"Pam is ready to go, and that makes a big difference. I think we're deeper than we were last year and I think we're better in every spot than we were last year. I think we could be considerably better than we were last year. I think we can have a good team."

The Otahkians lost five players from last year, the most notable being leading scorer Paula Corder-King and point guard Moneik Campbell.

Leading the seven returning performers is Iversen, a 6-foot-2 junior center who averaged 12.6 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds per game last season. Iversen is already a two-year starter.

Iversen suffered a serious knee injury during the latter stages of last season and had to have reconstructive surgery, but she appears to have recovered well.

"I'm sure Pam will have some soreness for a while, but she's been released to play and she should be fine," Arnzen said. "She makes a big difference."

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Southeast's other returning starter is 5-11 sophomore power forward Lori Chase, who earned OVC all-freshmen team honors last year as she averaged 8.5 points and 4.4 rebounds.

While Iversen and Chase were the Otahkians' Nos. 2 and 3 scorers last year behind Corder-King, 5-7 sophomore shooting guard Kristy Roherty ranked fifth as a true freshman by averaging 6.8 points. She also led the OVC in 3-point shooting at a sizzling 46 percent despite seeing all of her action off the bench.

LaShelle Porter, a 5-5 sophomore point guard, also made her mark last year as a redshirt freshman, starting two games and seeing plenty of action as Campbell's backup. Porter averaged 5.8 points and tied for second on the squad in assists with 57.

"I thought Lori, Kristy and LaShelle all had solid freshman seasons and we'll be counting on them a lot more this year," said Arnzen.

The Otahkians' other returning players are 5-11 senior forward Kimberly Nicholson (1.3 ppg), the squad's lone senior who has seen only limited action during her Southeast career; 5-9 sophomore guard/forward Jen Gries (2.7 ppg), who made two starts last year but primarily saw spot duty; and 5-9 sophomore guard Tiffany Melis, who redshirted last year with an injury after seeing spot duty as a freshman.

The new crew

As for the six newcomers, Arnzen will be looking for major contributions from quite a few of them, particularly the four junior-college transfers, who all bring in solid credentials.

Jenny Anderson, a 6-footer, is expected to step in for the graduated Corder-King at small forward. Anderson averaged 10 points at Kirkwood CC in Iowa last year.

Veronica Benson, a 5-7 shooting guard, averaged nearly 19 points over two seasons at Bevill State-Fayette JC in Alabama.

Kim Brown, a 5-11 power forward, averaged 13 points and 11 rebounds at Wallace JC in Alabama last year.

Cindy Bates, a 6-3 center, averaged nine points and seven rebounds in helping lead Cowley County (Kan.) JC to a 30-3 record last year.

"I expect the four jucos to come in and help us right away," Arnzen said.

The coach is also high on his two freshmen, 6-2 center Tisa Thomas from Minnesota and 5-8 point guard Christine Rathke from Wisconsin.

"Six out of our 13 players are new and I'm anxious to see how they'll jell with our returning players," said Arnzen. "I think the keys to our season will be getting everyone to mesh together and staying injury free."

The Otahkians will play two home exhibition games, beginning Nov. 3 against St. Louis Goldstar. The regular season tips off Nov. 17 at home against Missouri Baptist.