OTAHKS LOOK TO BUILD ON EARLY MOMENTUM

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team will shoot for its sixth victory of the young season tonight when Division II Oakland City visits the Show Me Center for a 7 o'clock tipoff.

Coach Ed Arnzen figures his Otahkians should be able to pull it off. But he's not taking anything for granted.

"They (Oakland City) are a Division II team and, to be honest, it's a game we should win," said Arnzen. "But I've been in the business long enough to know that we can't take anybody for granted. We have to be ready to play. If we do, we should win the game."

Oakland City is off to a 4-1 start. The Mighty Oaks are led in scoring by forward Lisha Fair, who averages 16.2 points per game. Other starters in double figures are center Shelbi Spray (11.4 ppg), guard Mychelle Coon (11.4 ppg) and guard Casey Mills (10.2 ppg).

"They'll score a lot of points. I think they average about 85 points per game," said Arnzen. "They've got three guards who can shoot the ball from the perimeter and two fairly big inside girls."

The Otahkians are off to a 5-2 start and they opened Ohio Valley Conference play Saturday with an impressive win at Tennessee State.

After winning just five and eight games over the past two seasons, Arnzen brought in several touted recruits that he truly believed could help the Otahkians turn around their recent struggles.

So far, that has certainly been the case.

Junior forward Paula Corder, an All-American at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff last season, is leading the Otahkians in scoring (16.1 ppg). She's shooting 52 percent from 3-point range (16 of 31) and 89 percent from the free-throw line (31 of 35).

Freshman center Pam Iversen is second in scoring (12.3 ppg) and first in rebounding (9.7 rpg). She's shooting 51 percent from the field and has amazingly made all 22 of her free throws.

Several other newcomers are also contributing as key players off the bench.

"We were really happy with this group when we signed them. We were anxious all year waiting for the kids to come in," Arnzen said. "I thought we would be a lot better this year and I thought we could improve as the season went along. That remains to be seen.

"But it is nice to be winning some games again. The new players have really helped us. We knew what kind of a shooter Paula was. Pam is probably doing better than I even thought. I didn't know if she would be able to score like this."

Three returning players from last season round out the starting lineup and are the next three in scoring: senior guard Rusty Sowers (10.7 ppg), junior point guard Moneik Campbell (7.6 ppg) and senior forward Tajuana White (6.6 ppg).

"The blend of our returning players and newcomers has been really good so far," said Arnzen. "It's really been a fun group to coach. These kids come to practice early every day and really seem like they're having fun."

Of course, winning some games generally makes things more enjoyable all the way around.

"There's a long way to go (in the season)," said Arnzen. "But it's certainly nice to be 5-2 right now instead of the other way around."