Otahkians give sneak peek with exhibition today

Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball coach B.J. Smith has created plenty of hype surrounding his first Otahkian team.

While the game won't count on the record, tonight Smith gets to take a look at his new squad against outside competition for the first time when St. Louis Goldstar visits the Show Me Center for a 7 p.m. exhibition contest. There is no admission charge.

Tonight's game will be the first of two exhibitions for the Otahkians, the other being next Friday against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Southeast opens the regular season Nov. 22 against Henderson State.

"I'm excited to finally see us against another team," Smith said. "We need a game. We're at a point where it's hard to show up consistently every day at practice. And for us, with so many new faces, we just need to get out there and play.

"For us right now, we need to start getting a feel for what our rotation is substitution-wise. There are areas we feel like we're pretty good at, but until we do it in a game atmosphere, we won't know for sure."

Smith took over the Southeast program after longtime coach Ed Arnzen retired following a 16-12 season last year. So far Smith said he's been pleased with the Otahkians, who feature three returning players and nine newcomers.

"I've been really pleased in practice," Smith said. "The returning players have progressed well and the new players are really coming along."

Added Smith with a laugh, "The last week especially, we're actually starting to look like we know what we're doing."

Smith said he doesn't know who will start tonight's game against Goldstar, a team made up primarily of former collegiate players from the St. Louis area. But he plans to get everybody plenty of work.

"I really have no idea who's going to start, but everybody will play," Smith said. "I'm truly not worried about if we win or lose. I just want to see where we're at and what we need to work on."

Goldstar features two former Southeast players: Renee Rogliardi and Sandy Fletcher.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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