Remodeled Otahkians look to thrill

He's in his first year as coach and has virtually a brand-new roster, but B.J. Smith doesn't plan on taking his time building a winner.

Smith expects his inaugural Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball team to make plenty of noise right away, which was his theme during the Otahkians' media day Monday at the Show Me Center.

"I feel like we've created some high expectations, which I like," Smith said. "Maybe I'm naive, but I really believe we have a chance to be successful in our conference. Our goals are to win the conference championship, win the conference tournament, and I really believe we can last more than one game in the (NCAA) tournament."

Lofty aspirations indeed, especially considering the Otahkians return just two players off last year's team that went 16-12 overall and finished fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference with an 8-8 record.

But Smith's background -- and some of the players he has brought in -- suggests that he knows what he's doing.

Coaching at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College the past three years, Smith's teams went 98-7. Last year's Norse squad finished second in the national junior college tournament and averaged close to 100 points per game to easily lead the nation.

Smith plans on having the Otahkians employ the same style that his Northeastern Oklahoma A&M teams did -- which means putting pressure on the opposition offensively and defensively from buzzer to buzzer.

"We're going to pressure people for 40 minutes, we're going to push the ball," Smith said. "We want offensive and defensive pressure the entire game."

Added a smiling Smith, with a word to the fans, "Come one time and I promise you'll come back. We're going to be fun to watch."

Carina Souza, a 6-foot-1 center-forward who played for Smith in junior college the last two years, echoed her coach's thoughts.

"We always got comments about how exciting to watch we were," Souza said. "I want to see people come out and bring friends until we finally have that gym packed this year."

Souza is one of nine newcomers who will be counted on to make an immediate impact.

Among the other six junior-college transfers, who all had impressive careers on that level, are two more who played for Smith at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M: 5-11 forward Miah Shelford and 5-8 guard Kenja White.

The other juco transfers are 5-7 guard Natasha Starkes (Trinity Valley, Texas); 5-11 forward Yashika Sidbury (Trinity Valley, Texas); 6-1 center-forward Louise McGoldrick (Marshalltown, Iowa); and 5-4 guard Sarah Costello (Seminole, Oklahoma).

Rounding out the newcomers are two freshmen, 5-8 guard Tiffanne Ryan from Oklahoma and 5-10 forward Shannon Proffit from New Zealand. Proffit is one of five international players on the squad, joining Souza (Brazil), Shelford (New Zealand), McGoldrick (Scotland) and Costello (Australia).

The two returnees, both seniors, should play key roles. Lori Chase, a 5-11 all-OVC forward, averaged a team-high 16.5 points per game last year as she became the 13th Otahkian to score more than 1,000 career points. LaShelle Porter, a 5-5 guard, averaged eight points per game. She ranks in the school's top 10 all-time in steals and assists.

"I really believe we have the chance to do great things," said Porter. "We're going to play a more exciting style to hopefully bring more fans in the stands."

Rounding out the 12-player roster is 6-foot redshirt freshman center Tanya Guell, who was in the program last year but missed the entire season with a knee injury.

"We have 12 players and I feel like any one of them can contribute on a given night," Smith said. "I really like our basketball team as people, as young ladies, as student-athletes. I think it's a team the community will be really proud of."

The Otahkians play home exhibition games Nov. 8 and Nov. 15 before tipping off the season Nov. 22 at home against Henderson State.

Among notable non-conference games are contests at defending national runner-up Oklahoma and perennial power Southwest Missouri.Two players leave

Jackson High School product Andrea Koeper is one of two returning players who recently decided to leave the program.

Koeper averaged 3.2 points last year as a freshman reserve forward. The other playing that left, Kristy Roherty, averaged 1.6 points as a reserve guard.

"Both just wanted to go in different directions," Smith said. "We hope things go well with them."