SportsScope : Golden Eagle Basketball Teams Garner Excellent Prospects for Next Season

The Cal State Los Angeles women’s basketball team, which struggled to an 8-16 record in its first year under Coach Fran Buckless last season, has signed three top prospects to letters of intent.

The Golden Eagles landed one high school player and two junior college transfers, including sharpshooting guard Geri Montanio (5-7) from Bakersfield College.

Montanio, who made the all-state team last season and has been an All-Metropolitan Conference selection the last two years, averaged 28.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4 assists last season. She made 70% of her field-goal attempts last year.

Cal State also landed Sue Doody, a 5-11 forward and center who averaged 19.9 points and 9.3 rebounds at Inver Hills Community College of Minnesota, and Tina Slatinsky, a 5-11 All-Baseline League forward from Alta Loma High who averaged 15.8 points and 18.2 rebounds last season.

Cal State men’s Coach Jim Newman also announced the signing of four players, including Blair High standout Teddy Jones, a 6-6 forward.

Jones, who averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds as a senior, was an All-CIF 2-A Division and Times All-San Gabriel Valley selection.

The Golden Eagles, who finished with a 16-8 record last season, also added 6-2 guard Derrick Williams from Jefferson High, 6-7 forward Sean Sells from El Camino College and 6-2 guard Ken Horton from Westchester High. Williams, a Times All-Central City selection, averaged 16 points and 4 assists last year.

Mike LeDuc, former basketball coach at Damien High in La Verne, has been named coach at Baseline League rival Glendora High.

“I had a couple of (coaching) offers but the Glendora job was the most attractive because of my familiarity with the program, and it has also been a winning program,” LeDuc said.

Glendora has missed the CIF Southern Section playoffs the last two years but finished with a 17-8 record last season under Coach Jim Smith, who later resigned.

“How far we’re going to go and how fast, I don’t know,” LeDuc said. “It’s going to take a little time to get the program back to where it was. But it’s a good program. We’re not exactly starting from scratch.”

LeDuc, 31, posted a 134-57 record and his teams reached the playoffs six times in seven years at Damien. Damien advanced to the CIF 3-A quarterfinals and finished 21-8 last year.

Three high school teams from the San Gabriel Valley have been named winners of the 1986 CIF Southern Section Team Academic Award for having the top grade-point average in college-prep courses in their sports.

Rosemead High won in badminton with an average of 3.44 on a scale of 4.0, Pasadena Poly was first in girls softball at 3.44 and Glendora led in girls track with 3.36.

Athletes from 12 valley schools have received CIF Southern Section individual academic awards.

They are Fidel Vargas and Noemi Villa Franca of Baldwin Park, Shane Brooks and Shanna Haines of Claremont, Scott Hilinski of Damien, Geoff Cook of Duarte, Phyllis Fang of Keppel, Kimberly Stone of La Verne Lutheran, Adrian Alcazar and Andrea Lynn Aregini of Los Altos, Michelle Bodily of Northview, Eric Hood and Ann Fromholz of Pasadena Poly, Jenyne Rene Condon of Rosemead, Marilou Ligan of Sierra Vista and Devon Martin of South Pasadena.

Team and individual award winners will be honored at a ceremony before the California Angels-Baltimore Orioles baseball game tonight at Anaheim Stadium.

Manuel Anguiano, a second baseman for the USC baseball team, has been selected to tour with an Athletes in Action team that will play in Colorado, Kansas, Alaska, West Germany and Holland starting Wednesday.

Anguiano, a 19-year-old junior who was a high school standout at Bishop Amat in La Puente, was the only Southland player named to the team. He batted .280 last season for USC.

For the second straight year, Julie Curtis, a former standout at Wilson High of Hacienda Heights, has been named female athlete of the year at Whittier College.

Curtis, a junior, is a top basketball and softball player. In basketball, she was named her team’s most valuable player, Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference most valuable player and made the NCAA All-West Region first team. Curtis was also named team and Southern California Softball Conference most valuable player.

The CIF Southern Section has added six members to its Hall of Fame including Walter Opp, track and field coach for 34 years at Muir High School who died in 1982.

Under Opp’s direction, Muir won 20 Pacific and Foothill league titles, 10 CIF Southern Section titles and two state championships. His teams also placed second in the state meet five times and second in the Southern Section meet five times.

His teams were also dominant in dual meets, posting an impressive record of 326-18 (.947 percentage) including 51 wins in a row in the mid-1960s.

Others added to the Hall of Fame were Howard Frost, Richard Olmstead, Harry Sheue, Walter Stewart and Tex Wallis.

Three players from Cal Poly Pomona have been named to the 1986 All-Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. women’s softball first team.

They are junior pitcher Rhonda Wheatley, sophomore second baseman Alison Stowell and junior outfielder Margaret Ziegler.

Wheatley, a former Workman High standout, posted a 31-15-1 record and 0.41 earned-run average during the regular-season. She also struck out 288 batters in 359 innings and pitched six one-hitters.

Stowell was the team’s top hitter with a .298 batting average, 16 runs batted in and 20 stolen bases and Ziegler batted .210 with 5 doubles and 11 RBIs.

The Broncos also placed sophomore outfielder Betsy Burr, a .213 hitter, on the second team.

Cal Poly Pomona has placed two players and Cal State Los Angeles landed one on the 1986 All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn. baseball first team.

Pomona placed senior outfielder Steve Manes and junior designated hitter Tom Lorenz on the first team and Cal State L.A. added sophomore pitcher Chris LaRiviere.

Manes and Lorenz were the top offensive players for Pomona, which posted a 24-28 record and finished second in the CCAA. Lorenz batted .376 with 5 home runs and 26 runs batted in and Manes hit .320 with 10 home runs and 37 RBIs.

LaRiviere, who was among the leaders in most of Cal State L.A.’s pitching departments, had an 8-5 record with a 3.09 earned-run average 84 strikeouts and 7 complete games.

Second-team selections included sophomore catcher David Schuster and senior third baseman Marty Rivero, both from Pomona, and Cal State Los Angeles freshman designated hitter Loy McBride and junior utility player Steve Nichols.

McBride, a former standout at Pasadena High, was the only freshman named to the All-CCAA squad. The speedy McBride batted .312 and stole 16 bases.

Center Vickie Mitchell, a 6-0 Cal Poly Pomona senior who led the Broncos to their second straight NCAA Division II women’s basketball championship last season, has been named to the American Women’s Sports Federation College Division All-American basketball first team.

Teammate Michelle McCoy, a 5-6 junior point guard, made the second team and Bronco Coach Darlene May was named to the All-American coaches list.

Mitchell, who was already named Division II Player of the Year, averaged 15 points and 11.2 rebounds and McCoy averaged 12.6 points and 5.7 assists. May, who guided Pomona to a 30-3 season, has a 12-year coaching record of 312-78 (.800 percentage).