Lions win title, lose reward
It figures that a Hall of Fame coach who has won nearly 81% of his games over 21 seasons would find a way to turn some unfortunate logistics into a win-win situation.
Though Coach Russ Davis’ Vanguard University women’s basketball team won the Golden State Athletic Conference regular-season championship to earn the No. 1 seed for the GSAC Tournament, the No. 3-ranked Lions (26-2) will likely meet fourth-place The Master’s University on the Mustangs’ floor in the GSAC Tournament semifinals on March 4.
The potential home game for the lower-seeded Mustangs was a bit of a fluke, as The Master’s had been named host site of the first-round and semifinal conference tournament games long ago.
But Davis, who has guided the Lions to 12 regular-season and eight GSAC Tournament titles in 20 previous seasons, is actually looking at the scheduling anomaly as a positive.
“It has to do with the dynamics of the conference and travel considerations,” Davis said of not playing a single GSAC Tournament game at home as the No. 1 seed. “They are rotating all the championships, and that’s OK. I like the fact that we have play road games to get us ready for the NAIA Tournament. We’re looking at [the GSAC Tournament, for which the title game is scheduled March 7 at Hope International] as a mini-national tournament. We’re going to go up [to Santa Clarita] on Friday to watch our opponent [No. 21-ranked The Master’s plays No. 5-seeded Arizona Christian for the right to play in the semifinal the next night], stay the night, have a shoot-around and play Saturday. It gives us a little dry run for having to win five games in six days to win the national tournament [March 15-21 at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont.].”
Regardless of the outcome of the GSAC Tournament, which includes No. 6-ranked Westmont and No. 17-ranked Biola, the Nos. 3 and 2 seeds, respectively, Vanguard will make its 16 straight NAIA Tournament appearance, its 19th under Davis, who brings a 551-131 record (.808 winning percentage) into Saturday’s regular-season finale against San Diego Christian.
Vanguard’s regular-season GSAC title is just the second in the last seven seasons, after it has won seven in eight seasons from 2003 to 2010. The Lions, national champions in 2008, last won the GSAC Tournament in 2013 and earned seven of their GSAC Tournament crowns at Vanguard.
“It is kind of a bummer, because in the old days, if you own the conference, you would be playing all those [GSAC Tournament] games at home,” Davis said. “But playing road games will get us battle-ready.”
Pirates at Palomar
The Orange Coast College women’s basketball team makes its 23rd postseason appearance in 27 seasons under Coach Mike Thornton on Friday at 7 p.m. at Palomar.
The Pirates (17-13 after finishing fourth in the Orange Empire Conference) are the No. 12 seed in the Southern California Regionals.
Palomar, coached by Costa Mesa High and OCC product Leigh Marshall, who was also an assistant coach under Thornton at OCC, is the No. 5 seed. The Comets (25-2) won the Pacific Coast Conference North Division crown and have won 17 straight.
Palomar has thumped OCC three times this season by scores of 98-53 (Dec. 21), 77-44 (Dec. 3) and 70-46 (Nov. 11).
OCC has lost four straight and will be without second-team all-conference selection Sydney Driggs (hamstring), who has missed the last three games.
The Pirates feature sophomore first-team all-conference honorees Michelle Wu and Chyann Pendergrass.
Wu is averaging 13.4 points per game (17.4 in her last 16 games), while Pendergrass, a two-time first-team All-OEC pick, is averaging 9.6 points, 5.8 assists and 5.1 rebounds per contest.
Water polo mecca
The UC Irvine women’s water polo team will play host to the inaugural Barbara Kalbus Invitational Friday through Sunday at UCI and Corona del Mar High.
The tournament, named for the late former desk manager for UCI men’s and women’s programs, dating back to the 1980s, features 16 of the top 22 teams in the country, including the top nine.
No. 6-ranked UCI (7-4) meets San Diego State in the first round on Friday at 4:15 p.m. at UCI.
All-Americans Mary Brooks and McKenna Mitchell lead Coach Dan Klatt’s Anteaters with 24 and 23 goals, respectively.
Kalbus, a 1993 inductee into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame, was the longtime manager for the U.S. men’s national team and was president of USA Water Polo from 1980 to 1984. She also worked for decades with Newport Harbor High water polo.
If victorious on Friday, UCI would likely face No. 3-ranked UCLA on Saturday at 11:45 a.m.
The Bruins (8-0) through Thursday, feature Olympian and CdM High product Maddie Musselman, a freshman, as well as sophomore goalie Carlee Kapana, a Newport Harbor High product.
Kapana, who had 13 saves in UCLA’s 16-1 win over UCI on Friday, was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the week on Tuesday. She has allowed 77 goals in eight games, a 2.77 goals-against average.
Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5
