Together Again, CSUN Women Seek CCAA Title

You wouldn’t expect a team that finished sixth in conference play last year to be brimming with optimism. But the Cal State Northridge women’s basketball team has good reason to look forward to this season.

Third-year Coach Leslie Milke is back. The return of a coach is not usually news, but Milke had resigned at the end of last season.

“The coaching job here was just a part-time position,” she said. “I was also working another job and it got to be too much.”

Milke’s resignation prompted the opening of a full time coaching job at Northridge, and she was re-hired in August after a nation-wide search.

Milke will not be the only familiar face on the Northridge court this season.

The Lady Matadors return four starters from last season’s 9-15 team and another starter from the 1983-84 season who redshirted last year.

Add to that a core of returning backup players and an impressive group of incoming recruits, and Milke could be coaching a contender for the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title. Northridge has never won a CCAA championship.

“The last time we went to the playoffs was in 1977-78, and I think this season’s team is as good, if not better than that team,” Milke said. “We have never had this much depth. When people come off the bench, we won’t be losing much at all. Last season, we had a strong starting five and that was it.”

Forward Regan O’Hara figures prominently in the Lady Matadors’ plans. As a freshman last season, she led the team in rebounds (12.1 per game) and assists (63) and earned All-CCAA honors.

Senior All-CCAA guard Lori Costello led Northridge in conference scoring last year, averaging 11 points.

Junior center Liz Enright and senior point guard Renee Loch also return from last season’s starting lineup. Denise Sitton, who sat out last season with a knee injury, was an All-CCAA selection as a sophomore two seasons ago and again is playing at full-strength.

THE MASTER’S COLLEGE

First-year Coach Mark Gruss has a lot of work ahead of him. He inherited a program that finished “around .500” last season. He hasn’t been able to find the exact figure.

“Nobody had any records,” he said. “It’s as if no one kept them last year. All I know is that they were somewhere around .500.”

The Master’s (formerly L.A. Baptist College) has moved up from free lance to NAIA District III this year, and Gruss is hoping his team performs better than last season’s statisticians.

“A .500 season would sure be a pleasant surprise,” he said. “But if we try to define success by a won-lost record, we’re just going to be butting our heads against the wall.”

Gruss believes that if The Master’s is to break even this season, it will need steady play from senior point guard Julie Gleason.

CAL LUTHERAN

The Regals won just one NAIA District III game last season and were 9-16 overall. They do, however, return 10 players and their top four scorers.

Coach Norm Chung believes that this is the best team in his four years at Cal Lutheran. He said the Regals have a legitimate chance to break the school record of 11 wins in a season.

Junior forward Kim Peppi set a school mark last season with 466 points. She also led the team in rebounding with 9.2 per game.