Notebook : Even With Help of Workman Coach El Monte Falls Short in Shot at Title

El Monte High School basketball Coach John Gillette received assistance from an unusual source for his team’s CIF 2-A Division championship game against Santa Clara last week.

It was none other than Workman High Coach Tim Stimpfel, who scouted for El Monte during the playoffs and sat on the Lion bench for the championship game.

Why was Stimpfel helping Gillette?

Well, Gillette did the same for Stimpfel when Workman won the CIF 2-A title and CIF Southern California Division II finals last year.

When Workman failed to make the playoffs this year, it was the perfect opportunity for Stimpfel to return the favor. “We’re very close friends and it was fun working alongside him,” Stimpfel said.

Stimpfel’s scouting may have helped El Monte in its first four playoff games, but not in the championship game. Santa Clara won handily, 57-36.

Will the Pomona-Pitzer College women’s basketball team ever lose another conference game?

That is the question people around the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference may be asking after the Sagehens rolled through their fourth straight undefeated conference season.

The Sagehens, coached by Nancy Breitenstein, have won 48 straight conference games over the last five seasons. Their last conference loss was to La Verne, 63-59, on Jan. 2, 1981.

Pomona-Pitzer has gone 81-7 since it joined the SCIAC in 1976.

Don’t be surprised if the streak stays intact next season. Pomona-Pitzer returns two first-team All-SCIAC players, 6-0 center Nora Seager and 5-7 guard Libby Gates, from a team that finished with a 28-2 overall record and reached the NCAA Division III semifinals.

It may be small consolation for second-year Cal State Los Angeles Coach Jim Newman, but the 1984-85 season was a turnaround year for the Golden Eagle basketball program.

Small consolation because Newman’s team did not win the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship or make the NCAA Division II playoffs.

But the Golden Eagles still had to be happy about posting an 18-10 record, a reversal of Cal State L.A.’s record in Newman’s first season.

The 18-10 mark was Cal State L.A.’s best in six years and its best winning percentage (64.3%) since finishing 18-8 (69.2%) in 1970.

Cal State L.A., which finished third in the CCAA with a 9-5 record, also has a lot to look forward to because four starters return next season, including 6-3 guard Sam Veal, who led the conference in scoring with a 22.5 average.

It was no small feat when Troy High of Fullerton upended La Salle of Pasadena, 3-2, in the boys CIF 2-A soccer semifinals last week.

The three-goal outburst by Troy marked the first time this season that La Salle had allowed more than one goal. It also snapped a 22-game unbeaten streak for the Lancers (21-1-1) whose only regular-season blemish was a 0-0 tie with Santa Fe League rival Chaminade.

Those were not the only impressive numbers that La Salle posted.

The Lancers, who won back-to-back 1-A titles the previous two seasons and have won their league title five straight years, set CIF Southern Section records for most goals scored in a season (140) and fewest goals allowed (8).