COLON INTRODUCED OTAHKIANS TO DIVISION II NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball program began to place itself on the Division II national map in the early-to-mid 1980s, thanks in large part to a home grown player who was virtually unstoppable.

Pat Colon is one of the most successful female basketball players to ever emerge from Southeast Missouri, turning in brilliant careers for both Cape Girardeau Central High School's Lady Tigers and Southeast's Otahkians.

In fact, her playing days at Southeast from 1982-87 were so successful that she was the first female player at the school to have her uniform number retired.

Colon, a 6-foot-2 powerful inside player, is Southeast's second all-time leading scorer for women's basketball with 2,034 career points. She is the school's all-time leading rebounder with 1,003 and also ranks first on the school's career charts in field goals (875), career field-goal percentage (59.8) and single-season field-goal percentage (62.7).

Colon was selected to the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association all-star team during her last three years in college and at one time she held the MIAA's all-time scoring and rebounding records. She helped lead the Otahkians to a pair of Division II national tournament berths during her final two seasons.

At Cape Central, Colon was a member of two conference, two district and two sectional championship teams. She earned Class 4A all-state honors during her season in 1981-82.

Colon is Cape Central's third all-time leading scorer with 1,005 points. She averaged 15 rebounds per game, which ranked fifth in the state. Colon also established school records with 34 points and 21 rebounds in a game. Those records have since been broken.