Northridge Women Keep the Beat : Basketball Team Routs Riverside for 5th Straight, 80-57

Leslie Milke had a goal at the start of the season. The Cal State Northridge coach wanted to guide her women’s basketball team to the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. playoffs.

Those who witnessed the Lady Matadors’ dismal 9-15 campaign last season probably expected to see CSUN drubbed right out of the gymnasium.

Milke, however, seems right on target for meeting her goal, and it’s been Northridge opponents who have been getting bounced out the back door this season. On Saturday night at Northridge, the Lady Matadors added UC Riverside to their list of believers, routing the Highlanders, 80-57.

The win was Northridge’s fifth straight and improved its record to 16-4 overall, 6-2 in conference.

Northridge, which entered the week ranked 13th in the NCAA Division II poll, is in second place behind defending national champion Cal Poly Pomona. It would take a major catastrophe for the Lady Matadors to miss the four-team postseason tournament.

Riverside Coach Nancy Paris, whose team is also in contention for one of the playoff spots, believes Northridge has a better-than-average chance of knocking off Pomona.

“Sure, they’ve just got everything,” she said. “They are more of a contender now than they have ever been.”

Milke isn’t complaining.

“This is perfect,” she said. “We’re really gelling right now. There’s a lot of electricity.”

Northridge used that spark, shocking the Highlanders with a 27-8 run at the start of the game.

According to Milke, one of her team’s problems earlier in the season was its inability to maintain a large lead. That is not a problem now. Northridge is beginning to shred its opponents.

On Saturday night, the Lady Matadors took a 42-20 lead into halftime and increased the margin to 72-40 with eight minutes left in the game.

Guard Renee Loch, who usually takes a back seat to the front line of Denise Sitton, Regan O’Hara and center Tara Flanagan in scoring, spent much of the game scoring easy layups off of fast breaks. She finished with a game-high 19 points and held Vanessa Potter, Riverside’s leading scorer, to only two. Loch also had six steals.

CSUN guard Julie Middleton scored 13 points, Sitton and O’Hara 11 and Flanagan 10.

UC Riverside 20 37 -- 57

Cal State Northridge 42 38 -- 80

UC RIVERSIDE--Spellacy 10; Varisco 16; Gregory 3; Potter 2; Karr 6; Lambrose 8; Orme 2; Upham 2; Cowley 1; Carter 5; Bortolussi 2.

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE--Sitton 11 and 11 rebounds; O’Hara 11; Flanagan 10; Loch 19; Nino 0; Middleton 13; Costello 8; Mallett 4; Enright 4.