OTAHKS SHOCK MISSOURI; SOUTHEAST POSTS 1ST WIN OVER TIGERS 90-71

Paula Corder signed a letter of intent with Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team after a standout career at Ellington High School.

Corder, however, quickly became homesick after arriving at Southeast and transferred to Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, where she had an impressive two-year career and earned All-American honors last season.

But now Corder is back at Southeast, and she couldn't be happier -- although the University of Missouri Tigers probably wish she had stayed away from Cape Girardeau entirely.

Corder, in just her third game on the Division I level, poured in 34 points Tuesday night as the Otahkians stunned Missouri 90-71 in front of 714 fans at the Show Me Center.

Southeast is now 2-1 while MU fell to 1-1.

The Otahkians had never before beaten the Tigers, losing all 11 meetings. And the last two years, Southeast had fallen by an average of more than 30 points.

But Corder -- along with a host of other Otahkians -- made sure the losing streak against the Tigers would not reach 12.

"This feels really good," said Corder, a 5-foot-10 junior sharpshooter who hit 10 of 15 shots from the field, including four of six from 3-point range, and also nailed all 10 of her free throws. "Our whole team pretty much said we were going to win tonight."

Added a smiling Corder of her earlier extremely short stay in Cape Girardeau, "I was just homesick. But I'm glad to be back. I'm feeling more comfortable all the time."

Corder is now averaging 21.3 points per game and she has hit 16 of 17 free throws. Last year at Three Rivers, she was one of the nation's top junior-college foul shooters.

Pam Iverson, a 6-3 freshman center, also had a huge hand in the victory. Iverson, who was heavily recruited by MU before signing with Southeast, scored 16 points and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds.

"Since they (MU) also recruited me, it's nice to beat them," said a grinning Iverson, a native of Iowa. "Plus, there are a couple of girls on their team from Iowa and they had beaten my team in high school. It's nice to kind of get them back."

Senior guard Rusty Sowers scored 14 points while junior point guard Moneik Campbell added 10 to go with a team-high five assists.

Senior forward Tajuana White and freshman guard Tiffany Melis also played key roles in the victory with eight points apiece. Six players accounted for all of Southeast's scoring.

MU got 19 points from its star, Julie Helm, but she hit just seven of 23 shots. Freshman Natalie Bright came off the bench to score 18 points on seven-for-eight shooting.

"It's a great win for our program," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen, who saw newcomers score 58 of his team's points. "We've got a bunch of young kids. Sometimes it's hard to believe when you're young. I think they will believe now."

Arnzen has had some outstanding teams at Southeast, but the Otahkians have hit hard times the last two seasons, winning a total of just 13 games. He hated to put a label on Tuesday's win, but knew it was big.

"I hate to call it one of the biggest because our program has had a lot of big wins," he said. "But certainly for this group, it's probably the biggest. Things have been rough the last two years."

The Otahkians led by as many as nine points in the first half before settling for a 40-37 halftime lead behind Corder's 20 points.

After MU briefly went ahead early in the second half, the Otahkians bolted to a 66-59 lead with under eight minutes to play.

MU then scored four quick points and appeared to have the momentum -- but the Otahkians responded with a basket from White and a 3-pointer from Corder that started a 13-0 run that featured six points from Sowers. When the spurt was over, Southeast led 79-63 with under five minutes left.

The Tigers never got closer than 13 the rest of the way as Southeast was able to ice the win from the free-throw line. The Otahkians hit 19 of 23 foul shots in the second half, many of them in the late going. They were 28 of 33 overall for the game.

"We had answers for everything they did to us," Arnzen said. "A lot of players stepped up tonight."

Although Corder wasn't around for the Otahkians' struggles the past two seasons, she has heard enough about them. She's determined to help reverse that trend.

"One of our goals this year is to turn it around," she said.

Tuesday's performance was certainly a step in the right direction.

OTAHKIAN NOTES: Former Otahkian Sarah Frazier was at the Show Me Center Tuesday as a member of the MU squad, although she will not be eligible until December because of transfer rules...

Southeast will face Alcorn State at 2 p.m. Friday in the first round of the McNeese State Cowgirl Classic in Lake Charles, La. Texas-Pan American is the fourth team in the field.