OTAHKS MAKE FINAL TUNEUP TONIGHT

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team will have its second and final exhibition tuneup tonight. After that, the games begin to count.

The Otahkians will take on the University of Missouri-St. Louis at 7 o'clock at the Show Me Center. There is no admission charge.

"One more (exhibition) and then the regular season is here," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen. "It goes by fast. Hopefully we'll continue to progress and improve."

Fans might wonder why Southeast will be playing an exhibition game against another collegiate team. For the first time this year, NCAA Division I squads are allowed to have exhibitions against lower-division teams.

"It seems like the trend is away from playing foreign teams," Arnzen said. "I think playing another college team will probably be good because they'll probably be more organized."

Southeast's first exhibition game, Friday night against Goldstar Basketball Club of St. Louis, resulted in a 78-74 Otahkian victory even though they trailed by 11 points at halftime.

"I was happy with the second half. We ran our offense and most of our shots came off the offense," said Arnzen. "In the first half, we were extremely nervous."

Sophomore point guard LaShelle Porter scored 15 points against Goldstar to lead the Otahkians, who got 12 points from freshman center Tisa Thomas and 10 points and 10 rebounds from sophomore forward Lori Chase.

"I was very impressed with Tisa Thomas," said Arnzen. "She played better than she had in practice."

Arnzen said he hopes to have junior center Pam Iversen, the Otahkians' leading returning scorer and rebounder from last year, play more minutes tonight. Arnzen continues to progress after having reconstructive knee surgery late last season.

"Her knee is getting better," Arnzen said. "We played her nine minutes (against Goldstar) and we want to play her about 20 minutes (tonight)."

The Otahkians will open the regular season Nov. 17 at home against Missouri Baptist.