Oct. 8—Anita Oplotnik said she is proud of her achievements as a star player on the Lions’ women’s basketball team from 1984-1988, and credits lessons learned on the court with her professional and personal successes.
Oplotnik, from Springfield, who serves on the Missouri Southern Board of Governors, was among the former female athletes who participated in Southern’s homecoming parade on Saturday.
Southern’s first women’s sports team started in 1974, and the university is planning several events this fall and winter to recognize all its female athletes from the past 50 years, including the homecoming parade.
On Saturday, Oct. 12, the first women’s basketball team at Southern will be inducted into the MSSU Hall of Fame, and a 50th anniversary event is also scheduled for Jan. 24-25.
Oplotnik said she’ll be back this Saturday for the Hall of Fame event.
“I’m looking forward to seeing some of the faces from the 1980s when I played and some of those that were there before me and the stories they have to tell,” she said.
Oplotnik has turned her 1988 degree from Missouri Southern in business with a minor in computer programing into a successful career in finance and investment. She’s a senior vice president and financial adviser at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in Springfield and has served on Southern’s Board of Governors since 2016, completing a two-year term as president of the board in June 2024.
“I think the skills you learn playing a sport — you gain work ethic, hard work, dedication — those are all important to being successful after college,” Oplotnik said. “I think it helps you with teamwork and communication skills and we know in a job we have all those things. Whether you work in finance or whether you work in media or whether you work at the hospital or any place else, you’ve got to be able to communicate with people or clients, have conversations, have difficult conversations, set goals, reach goals and work hard. I think people don’t get promoted if they don’t work hard or have many of those skills.”
She still indulges a lifelong love of basketball, speaking to teams of student athletes at the high school and college levels and coaching her children’s basketball teams.
“I started playing basketball with friends in fifth or sixth grade and then through high school and we took second in state in high school,” Oplotnik said. “Basketball was something I truly loved and I always felt like I was really blessed with some gifts in the ability area, so I got a college scholarship and went on to Missouri Southern to play. I think it taught me hard work because basketball is a long season. Nowadays the rules are different, but back in the day we did three-a-day practices. I arrived in college in August and we started basketball workout and practices. The season didn’t end until February so there were a lot of games and a lot of travel. I think it taught me hard work. It taught me teamwork — you have to work with 12 girls and your coaches. A lot of dedication, and I think it taught me the ability to juggle my school work, along with practices and friends and traveling to games. I had to balance my school work with all my commitments to basketball and all of that.”
Oplotnik was inducted to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame twice, once in 2016 for her record at Lincoln High School, and in 2019 for her achievements at Southern.
According to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, she led the Lincoln Lady Cardinals to a 75-10 record over her four seasons, including 11-0 her freshman year. They were state runners-up her senior year and state quarter-finalists her junior year.
At MSSU, Oplotnik was a two-time first team NAIA All-District selection and a three-time, first team all-conference pick, plus the 1987 conference Player of the Year.
She set a number of records, including single-game scoring, 42 points, set in 1988. The record stood until 2003. She also scored 40 and 39 points in separate games the prior two years.
Some other MSSU records cover career field-goal percentage (.564), fouls (376), and games started in a season (32), but most relate to free throws, most made in a game (17), in a career (476), consecutive in a game (15), attempted in a game (21), attempted in a career (600), and more.
“I didn’t think I was all that talented but strategically smart on the court,” Oplotnik told the Hall of Fame. “I got to the free-throw line by making good decisions on the court and keeping a positive mental attitude.”
Oplotnik said she still holds three records, including the career scoring record, at 1,842 points.
She said she arrived at MSSU in 1984, the 10th year for women’s basketball at Southern and the year of the introduction of the three-point shot and the smaller basketball for women.
“I played with a men’s basketball in high school so I did have to alter my shot a little bit because we played with a smaller, lighter basketball,” Oplotnik said.
She said she believes the education she got at Southern both in the classroom and on the court gave her the foundation she needed to succeed in her later life.
“I feel like I got a great education at Missouri Southern. My degree was in business and I had a minor in computer programming, which was a big deal in the 1980s,” Oplotnik said. “So I feel like I got a great education from a smaller, more personal school that allowed me to succeed in my career. When you have a degree it doesn’t always have to be from Yale or Harvard to mean you’re going to have success in life. I didn’t go to Mizzou but I felt like I got a great education and learned a lot at Missouri Southern and I was able to take that and apply it to a field that I was interested in.”
