May 20, 2002

2002-03 Otahkian Basketball Roster

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach B.J. Smith announced on Monday that three players have decided not to return to the Otahkian basketball team for the 2002-03 season. Senior-to-be Tiffany Melis, junior-to-be Tisa Thomas and sophomore-to-be and walk-on Candice Coffey have all left the squad.

"At this point for our program, everybody is new," said Coach Smith. "We will definitely lose and miss the experience those players brought to the floor. But they are looking to pursue other things at this point in their life as everyone does at some point. We wish them well in all their future endeavors."

Melis started 24 of the 25 games she played in a season ago at small forward, averaging 6.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per contest. She shot 34% from three-point range in 2001-02 and finished her career at Southeast Missouri ranked fifth on the all-time three-pointers made list with 69 total trifectas. Melis, who would have been a fifth-year senior this season due to a redshirt campaign in 1999-00, graduated with a degree in Human Resource Management on May 11. She will not transfer to another school and will instead enter the workforce.

Thomas appeared in 27 total games last season, mainly as the backup to senior center Pam Iversen. Thomas averaged 7.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per contest while shooting 52.1% from the field. Her 16 blocked shots ranked second on the team in 2001-02, and in two years she blocked a total of 31 shots, good enough to rank 11th on the Southeast all-time list. At this time, it is unknown what Thomas plans to do, although she indicated she might return to Southeast to take classes and just not play basketball.

Coffey played in 17 games as a freshman walk-on last season. She averaged 1.4 points and 0.3 rebounds in 93 total minutes of playing time. Coffey, who is on an academic scholarship and is a biology/pre-med major, will remain at Southeast and concentrate on her academics.

Southeast will return five total scholarship players next season. Two returning starters, seniors-to-be Lori Chase and LaShelle Porter, are among the five that do return. Coach Smith has already signed nine players to fill out the Otahkian roster for next season, and intends to sign a 10th and final player to bring the team to 15 total scholarship players, the maximum allowed for a Division I women's basketball team.

Southeast finished last season with a 16-12 record and 8-8 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference which placed them fifth in Coach Ed Arnzen's final season as head coach, as he retired at the completion of his 19th year on the bench. Smith, who guided Northeastern Oklahoma A&M to a runner-up spot at the national junior college tournament last season, was hired as head coach on March 25.