Good game, mate

It's not that Sarah Costello played poorly during her first season as Southeast Missouri State University's point guard last year.

But Costello and Otahkian coach B.J. Smith are quick to acknowledge that her senior season improvement has been akin to night and day.

"She's playing really well. I really feel like she's been our most consistent player," Smith said. "She's playing so much more under control, making good decisions."

Told that Smith felt she was often out of control last season, a grinning Costello responded, "Yeah, definitely, but I feel a lot more comfortable with the team now, through the experience. As a senior, you don't have more chances to let your teammates down."

Costello will look to continue her strong season today when the Otahkians (10-10, 5-4) shoot for their third straight Ohio Valley Conference victory as Murray State (9-11, 5-4) visits the Show Me Center for a 5 p.m. tipoff. The squads are in a four-way tie for fourth place in the OVC.

"We haven't done as well as we would have liked so far, but I still think we're going to have a really good season," Costello said.

The speedy 5-foot-5 native of Sydney, Australia, has certainly done her part so far. With 84 assists and 46 turnovers, Costello is second in the OVC in assists (4.42 per game) and third in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.83. She also ranks third in steals with 35, seventh in free-throw shooting at 74.7 percent and is averaging 7.7 points per game following Thursday's 16-point performance in an 83-60 home win over Tennessee-Martin.

A difficult junior season

Last season, after transferring to Southeast from Seminole State Junior College in Oklahoma, Costello's 97 assists were fifth in the OVC and her 69 steals were second. But she also had 87 turnovers for a not-so-impressive assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.1. She averaged 8.2 points.

"Mentally, she's just so much more consistent this year," Smith said. "She wasn't with us at NEO like some of our players, so it was her first year in our system."

Smith, in his second season at Southeast, previously coached national junior college powerhouse Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and several of his former players followed him to Cape Girardeau.

While Costello didn't play for Smith in junior college, she saw enough of his teams to know she wanted to join him at Southeast. The Otahkians employ an up-tempo style of play, with Costello usually leading their fast break.

"We played against his teams in junior college, and they always beat us," she said. "His style of play is exactly how I wanted to play. At Seminole State, we'd walk the ball up the court. I'm used to running, so this is lot better.

"I like his style of coaching. I can see he gets the best out of his players. He only wants to make you better."

Costello, who fits the stereotypical Aussie profile of personable and easy-going, wanted to come to the United States to play college basketball for about as long as she can remember.

"When I was little, I was always telling my mom I would come to America one day to play basketball. She never believed me, but it happened," Costello said.

She began her American odyssey in Seminole, Okla. -- and soon faced a big culture shock.

"I came from Sydney, which has nearly 5 million people, to Seminole, Okla., which has about 5,000 people. It was a big change," Costello said, laughing.

Although Costello misses her parents -- they visit her about once a year and will be at the senior night game later this season -- she said she enjoys Cape Girardeau and the family type atmosphere surrounding the Otahkians.

Costello is majoring in social work and would like to give professional basketball overseas a try before setting into her adult life.

"I want to see how far I can go with basketball, but wherever it takes me, it's been a great experience being over here, playing basketball and getting an education," she said.

But before Costello even begins thinking about her post-college days, she and her teammates have plenty of unfinished business. Southeast went 19-11 last season, placing second in the OVC and conference tournament -- both firsts for the school.

Expectations were even higher this year as the Otahkians were tabbed the OVC preseason favorites. While they have so far not done as well as anticipated, Costello is unfazed. She believes the Otahkians will reach the NCAA Tournament, a goal they'll attain if they win the OVC tournament.

"That's our one big goal and we're just taking one small step at a time," Costello said. "We're a bunch of fighters. We're not going to lay down for anybody and that's one of the best things about this team."