Notebook / Mitch Polin : Cal Poly Women Cagers to Add Two More Stars to Their Galaxy

If you think the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team is talented this season, just wait until next year.

That’s when the Broncos will have the services of two not-too-shabby transfers, 6-2 center Charlotte Jones and 5-6 point guard Michelle McCoy, both starters at UCLA two years ago.

Both left UCLA after academic problems midway through the 1983-84 season and have redshirted at Cal Poly this year. Jones will be a senior next year and McCoy a junior.

Not only was Jones a full-time starter for the Bruins as a sophomore and junior, she is the eighth leading scorer and sixth best rebounder in UCLA history.

McCoy, a prep All-American from Gahr High in Cerritos, is regarded as a premier point guard. She averaged 7.9 points and 3.8 assists in her last full season at UCLA as a freshman.

Add returning starters Vickie Mitchell (6-0) at forward and Violet Palmer (5-8) at guard and the NCAA Division II Broncos have the makings of a team should be tough for most Division I teams to beat.

The Muir High School girls basketball team has had to settle for second best the last two seasons.

In the 1983-84 season the Mustangs finished second to Buena in the CIF 4-A Division, posting a 27-1 record. Their only loss was a 48-41 defeat by Buena in the championship game.

The results this season were similar. Muir finished No. 2 behind Compton with a 24-2 record and both losses were to the Lady Babes. The Mustangs lost 42-39 in a regular-season game and 50-42 in the title game.

Will the third time be the charm for the Mustangs?

Muir certainly will be one of the teams to beat for the top spot, especially since the Mustangs return their top two scorers, twin sisters Geannine (6-2) and Pauline Jordan (6-3), and another top player, 6-1 freshman Tasha Bradley.

Cathy Watlet of San Gabriel High, considered one of the top girl basketball players in the San Gabriel Valley, has made a verbal commitment to attend the University of Nevada-Las Vegas next season.

Watlet, a 6-2 senior, averaged 21.5 points and 13.5 rebounds to lead her team to the CIF 3-A Division quarterfinals this season. An All-CIF selection, Watlet was voted the most valuable player of the Foothill League and earned honorable mention on the Street & Smith Prep All-American squad.

Watlet said Nevada-Las Vegas was her top choice in every respect. “It’s a great program, they have first-class facilities and they also have a good business school, which is what I want to study,” she said.

Two other valley-area players, Bruce Wheatley of Nogales and Dana Childs of Western Christian, already have signed national letters on intent. The 6-9 Wheatley has signed with Arizona (men) and the 6-3 Childs with UCLA (women).

The 1985 edition of the Cal Poly Pomona baseball team has been nicknamed the Hit Men and it only takes one brief look at the Broncos’ offensive statistics to understand why.

Pomona has four players listed among the top eight hitters in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. and the Broncos have six players batting .350 or higher.

The leader is 5-10, 175-pound second baseman John Love, a senior from El Monte High who is batting .452. That is second best in the conference behind Monty Waltz of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (.462).

The other .350-plus hitters are center fielder Brian Grier (.379), shortstop Tom Scaletta (.368), designated hitter David Schuster (.364), first baseman Tom Weeks (.362) and left fielder Jim Torchia (.356).

Unfortunately for the Broncos, their success with the bat has not helped much in the won-loss column. The Broncos, facing mostly NCAA Division I teams in non-conference play, are 7-10-1.