Feb. 27, 2002

The 2001-02 Southeast Missouri Otahkian basketball season marked the beginning of several new careers, a couple of firsts for the team, record setting seasons for several individuals and the end of an era as Coach Ed Arnzen decided to retire at the completion of this, his 19th year.

The week prior to tipping off the season at the University of Texas-Pan American Tournament in Edinburg, Texas, Coach Arnzen made his official retirement announcement at his annual media day on November 14.

"I've been coaching for 36 years and I think that's about enough," Arnzen said with a smile at his annual media day. "It has been a great run. Very few people have the opportunity to be happy at work everyday but I have. Basketball has been extremely important to me but there has to be more to life than coaching basketball. I have a list of things that I want to do including seeing my grandchildren more often and spending time with my wife. I want this to be a year our players and I will remember forever."

And a memorable year it was. The Otahkians were picked to finish fifth in a preseason vote and hopes were high since all five starters from a season ago returned. Southeast dropped its first game at the UTPA Lady Bronc Classic to a very tough, and very tall Montana Lady Griz team. But the Otahks were able to salvage a split at the tournament, defeating the host team in the consolation game. Junior forward Lori Chase was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 22.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in the two-game tournament.

That win would be the start of a five-game winning streak that saw the Otahkians improve to 5-1, the best start the team had since joining Division I basketball a decade ago. In that run Southeast bested Oakland City, rival Southern Illinois in the two squad's first meeting in 20 years, Lipscomb and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the opening round of the Missouri Lady Tiger Invitational.

The victory over TAMCC set up a championship meeting with in-state rival, the Missouri Lady Tigers, a Sweet 16 participant during the 2000-01 season. Southeast was able to hold close with Mizzou for most of the first half before superstars Kerensa Barr, a teammate of Lori Chase in high school, and Evan Unrau, the tournament's most valuable player, took over and the Lady Tigers opened up a 16-point halftime advantage and never looked back. Chase was once again named to the all-tournament team after averaging 11.5 points in two games and knocking down 4-4 three-pointers against Corpus Christi in the first round. Sophomore guard Christine Rathke also made the all-tournament squad after averaging 18 points in the tournament.

Southeast's quick start even drew a little national attention when one basketball magazine, Full Court Press, predicated Southeast as a number 14 seed if they were to make it into the NCAA Tournament.

The Otahkians next had to take a long road trip to battle Northern Illinois in DeKalb, Illinois. Southeast would drop the 71-63 advantage to the Lady Huskies, although they were in the game most of the way. Having dropped their overall record to 5-3, Southeast came home to close out the first semester with a 90-41 blasting of future OVC foe Samford on December 8, to run their record to 6-3 at Christmas Break.

As Coach Ed Arnzen is accustomed to doing, the team would take a three-week break from games to give the players a rest and a chance to go home. The players returned to campus right after Christmas as they prepared for the team's second half of the season.

Not all the Otahkians came back after the break to join the team however. Rathke and junior forward Ta Keela Ball both decided to leave the program over the break. Rathke cited homesickness and Ball decided she was tired of basketball and moved back to her native Mississippi. The defections made even more of an impact considering Southeast had played the whole season without freshman center Tanya Guell. Guell scored 14 points in the team's first exhibition game before suffering a serious knee injury in the next practice that required two surgeries and ended her season before it really even got started.

Southeast tuned up with a 70-53 victory over Missouri-Baptist at the Show Me Center before heading into conference play with their new 10-person rotation. Eastern Illinois would be the Otahkians first opponent in OVC play and the two teams battled in a great game. With EIU leading late in the game, senior guard Veronica Benson hit a leaner in the lane and drew a foul and Southeast outscored the Panthers 10-0 in the game's final 50 seconds to bring home the victory. Benson poured in 16 of her team-high 22 points in the second half of that contest.

The Otahks returned home to face a tough three-game stretch against three of the OVC's top squads in Tennessee Tech, Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State. As many games have been between Tech and Southeast at the Show Me Center over the years, the team's waged another classic. Last season, Tech got a miracle length-of-the-court play at the buzzer in overtime to shock Southeast. This season the Golden Eaglettes did not need that type of play to pull off the victory but they had to overcome a great Southeast effort. Southeast led at halftime and increased their lead to as many as 12 in the second half before Tech stormed back to take the lead. A furious last minute comeback was not enough for Southeast as the team fell to 8-4 overall and 1-1 in the conference.

Eventual league co-champion Eastern Kentucky visited the Show Me Center two days later and handed Southeast its second worst loss ever in the building, a 94-67 loss. To make matter worse, the Otahkians let a tie game with four minutes remaining against Morehead State slip away that weekend and dropped their first ever game to Morehead in Cape Girardeau and third overall consecutive game.

The streak looked like it would extend to four straight losses when Tennessee State led the Otahks by nine late in the first half on January 14. But a late first-half rally, highlighted by five straight points from Chase, cut the lead to four at the break. In the second half TSU could not buy a basket, shooting a mere 24% in the game's second twenty minutes as Southeast grabbed the lead and blew out the Lady Tigers 77-53 to end the losing streak.

The TSU game then started a four-game winning streak for Southeast as the Otahks defeated Tennessee-Martin and Murray State on the road and IP-Fort Wayne at home to improve to 12-6 on the season. It was during the Murray State game that senior center Pam Iversen scored her 1,000th career point, becoming only 12th Otahkian to reach that milestone.

The next matchup was the first of three classics between Southeast and the Lady Govs of Austin Peay. Although APSU led at the half, Southeast would take control in the second half and lead by 10 points with 4:08 to play. Unfortunately for the Otahkians, they would not score again as the Lady Govs ran off the game's final 14 points and won 77-73. That heartbreaking loss would send the team into a five-game losing streak.

The next game Southeast went to double-overtime for only the second time in school history in dropping a 88-79 decision to Tennessee State, the league's last place team. TSU used a 22-0 run in the first half to outdistance Southeast. The comeback effort was great and when Veronica Benson went to the free-throw line at the end of regulation with the game tied Southeast looked to have the game in the bag. Benson, who was fourth in the OVC in free-throw shooting and a perfect 7-7 in the game's final two minutes, missed both attempts and the game went into overtime and the Lady Tigers eventually pulled out the improbable victory.

The Otahks then dropped games at Tennessee Tech, Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky to finish the key four-game road swing at 0-4. But the EKU game marked a turning point for the team. Chase scored her 1,000th career point in the game, becoming the 13th Otahkian to reach that mark and her and Iversen became the first teammates to enter the club in the same season since Southeast became a Division I program. In that game, Southeast led the Lady Colonels at the break and was competitive the entire way before falling 82-73, although the game was much closer than the final score indicates. Had it not been for 31 turnovers in the game, the Otahkians may have pulled the upset.

Returning home in seventh place in the OVC standings, after having a chance of moving into third place before the road trip, Southeast faced three must-win home contests to lock up the fifth seed in the OVC Tournament. The Otahks took care of business on the home swing defeating Tennessee-Martin, Murray State and Eastern Illinois all in a stretch of a week.

The Eastern Illinois game also marked the last Show Me Center game of seniors Cindy Bates, Veronica Benson and Pam Iversen and Coach Ed Arnzen. Not wanting to repeat the embarrassing loss Eastern Illinois handed Southeast last season at home (on the night the Otahkians honored the 1990-91 National Runner-up team) the Otahkians came out focused, built up a 20-point halftime lead and never looked back The game also marked the first collegiate three-point attempt from Iversen, although the shot did not go in.

Needing to win to avoid a seven-hour bus ride to Morehead, Kentucky for the OVC Tournament First Round, Southeast traveled to Clarksville for another great game with Austin Peay. The game was very similar to the first meeting between the two squads, as Southeast built up a big second half lead but this time did not let that advantage slip away. Austin Peay managed to hit only 5-23 three-pointers and Southeast's Iversen blocked five shots. The five blocks moved her into a tie for first place on Southeast's all-time career list.

The win set up a second matchup in four days with Austin Peay in Clarksville, this time in the opening round of the OVC Tournament. Southeast once again seemed to have an advantage, after a late first half run gave them a two-point lead entering halftime. But Austin Peay would not be denied a trip to the OVC's Final Four for the third consecutive year, as they used a 9-0 run out of halftime and went up by as many as 16 points before winning 76-67 and ending Southeast seasons and the careers of Bates, Benson, Iversen and Coach Arnzen.

Although the end result was disappointing, Coach Arnzen's career was far from that. He finished his 19-year Southeast career with a 340-202 record, an OVC Coach of the Year award, three MIAA Division II Coach of the Year awards and a runner-up finish at the 1990-91 Division II National Championship.

Individually, junior Lori Chase, named to the All-OVC second team, led Southeast in scoring at 16.5 points per game and ranked second on the team in rebounding at 6.3 per contest. Senior Veronica Benson was second in scoring at 14.0 per contest, 15.8 in 16 OVC conference games.

Iversen finished her career with an 11.6 point and 7.4 rebound season. She finished her career third in career rebounding (770) at Southeast, tied for first in blocks (115), tied for first in blocks in a season (46) and ninth in scoring (1,157) and her 115 blocks ranks eighth all-time in OVC history. She also became only the second Otahkian ever (Renee Rogliardi was the other) and first at the Division I level to record at least 1,000 points, 700 rebounds, 150 assists, 100 steals and 100 blocks in a career. She was also only the 28th Division I player to record that incredible feat.

Next year's squad returns three starters (Porter, Melis and Chase) along with four reserves and will get Tanya Guell back from injury. Still up in the air, however, is who will be the head coach in 2002-03. Once that decision is made the recruiting process can be finished and the Otahkians will welcome up to five newcomers next season, several of who will be asked to contribute right away.