OTAHKS TO OPEN SEASON TONIGHT IN ARKANSAS STATE TOURNAMENT

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team is ready to attack an early portion of its schedule that figures to severely test the Otahkians.

It all begins today, when the 1999-2000 Otahkians tip things off at 5:30 p.m. against Mississippi Valley State in the first round of the Arkansas State Tournament.

A Southeast victory would send the Otahkians into Saturday night's championship game, where they would likely meet host and highly regarded Arkansas State, which received votes in the national poll.

The Arkansas State Tournament is one of two rugged early-season tourneys for the Otahkians, who will face national powerhouse Louisiana Tech Nov. 27 in the first round of an event at Nevada-Las Vegas."We're definitely not opening with many easy touches," said Southeast coach Ed Arnzen. "But I feel like playing these teams will only make us better. We really have nothing to lose playing these kinds of teams."Arnzen, who begins his 17th season in charge of the Otahkians with a 299-160 career record, has high hopes after last year's breakthrough Division I campaign. Southeast had its best-ever Division I record of 19-9 a year ago and finished fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference, just one game out of first place."We had a lot of success last season and hopefully we can continue that this year," said Arnzen, who can notch his 300th career victory today. "I feel good about this club. I think we have a good inside-outside combination. I have confidence with our ballhandling and I think we'll be deeper than we have been."Southeast's starting lineup today will feature five returning players, including three starters.

The Otahkians' top scorer from last season is 5-foot-10 senior Paula Corder-King, who will start at small forward. Corder-King averaged 14.7 points per game as a junior and led the nation in free-throw percentage at 94 percent. She carries an OVC-record 39 straight made free throws into this season.

Southeast's third-leading scorer from a year ago, 6-3 sophomore Pam Iversen, will open at center. Iversen averaged 11.7 points and a team-leading 7.8 rebounds per game as a freshman.

Rounding out the frontline will be 6-1 sophomore Regan Hughston at power forward. Hughston primarily came off the bench last season and was a key contributor, averaging 5.2 points and 3.5 rebounds a contest.

Opening at point guard will be the third returning starter, 5-5 senior Moneik Campbell, who averaged 8.3 points per game last season, when she led the Otahkians in assists with 73.

The most inexperienced of today's starters will be 5-9 senior shooting guard Liea Toedte, who averaged just 1.7 points per game last season in very limited action.

Plenty of other players figure to see action today for the Otahkians."Since I think we're deeper than we've been, we plan on playing quite a few people," Arnzen said.

Like most coaches at this time of the year, Arnzen knows his team still needs to improve quite a bit in most areas. But he said it's about the right time for the Otahkians to begin playing games that count."There are a lot of things we can improve on, but you're not supposed to be at midseason form yet," said Arnzen. "But I think it's good to be opening the season. You can only practice so much."Mississippi Valley State finished second in the Southwestern Athletic Conference last year and Arnzen expects a solid test today."I know they'll be quick and I know they'll press us, which will present a big challenge for us," he said.

Southeast and Arkansas State will probably be favored to advance to Saturday's championship game, which would set up an interesting situation for the Otahkians."That would be a huge challenge for us," Arnzen said. "Arkansas State is very good to begin with, ranked some place in the top 30 or so, and they are extremely tough at home. Even the best teams don't usually beat them at their place."