SportsScope : No. 1 Lady Broncos Face Tough Trip When They Hit the Basketball Trail

Facing perhaps its toughest week of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. season, the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball visits Cal State Los Angeles on Friday and Cal State Northridge on Saturday for 5:45 p.m. games.

The Broncos, two-time NCAA Division II champions and ranked No. 1 again, have not faced much difficulty in building a 20-1 overall record and 7-0 mark in the CCAA.

But Coach Darlene May expects her team’s toughest games this week.

The Broncos have defeated Cal State Northridge this season, 66-52 and 82-55, and Cal State L.A., 60-53.

Pomona has won behind 5-10 senior forward Debra Larsen, who averages 17.2 points and 11.4 rebounds, and 5-6 senior guard Michelle McCoy, who averages 14.8 points and 7.6 assists. McCoy scored 20 points and added 11 assists in her team’s 80-56 win over conference rival Chapman last week.

Other top players for the Broncos include freshman center Niki Bracken, who averages 13.7 points and 7 rebounds, and junior guard Paula Tezak, who averages 8 points and 8 rebounds.

Cal State L.A., which entered this week at 15-6 overall and 3-3 in conference play, has been led by 6-0 sophomore center Lupe Quintana and 5-8 junior guard Shelly Bowcutt. Quintana averages 10.1 points and 11.9 rebounds and Bowcutt 13 points.

The Golden Eagles, ranked No. 18 in Division II last week, also start junior guard Geri Montanio, junior forward Sue Doody and sophomore forward Monica Cansler in a lineup that does not have a senior.

Five former stars at Cal Poly Pomona will be inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame during a banquet at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Kellogg West dining facility.

Heading the list is pro football quarterback Jim Zorn of the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Zorn, who played for Pomona in 1973 and 1974, led the NCAA Division II with 3,000 yards in total offense in 1973.

As a pro, Zorn starred for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks from 1976 to 1984. He is the team’s career passing yardage leader with 20,122 yards and was named American Football Conference player of the year in 1978.

Other inductees are former football standouts Michael Curran, Karl Finch, John Hardy and Reginald Southerland. Curran also starred in track, Finch played basketball and competed in track and Hardy was in basketball, track and baseball.

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s softball team is ranked No. 4 in NCAA Division I in a preseason poll of coaches.

The Broncos, coached by Carol Spanks, are listed behind No. 1 Cal State Fullerton, Texas A&M; and Nebraska.

Pomona, which visits Fullerton College for a practice game at 1 p.m. Saturday, has several top players from last year’s team that was 36-19-1 and reached the NCAA playoffs for the fifth straight season.

Leading the way is All-American pitcher Rhonda Wheatley and All-American infielder Alison Stowell. Wheatley, a senior, has a career record of 104-39-2 and an earned-run average of 0.34. Stowell, a junior, batted a team-high .287 last year.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College, which won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title last season, will open its 1987 baseball season against Menlo College in the first round of the Claremont Colleges Invitational Tournament at 2:30 p.m. today at Arce Field.

In the other opening game of the four-team tournament at 2:30 today, Pomona-Pitzer plays host to Occidental. In Friday games, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps visits Pomona-Pitzer and Occidental meets Menlo at Arce Field.

The top teams advance to the championship game at 2:30 Saturday at Arce Field and the consolation game is at the same time at Pomona-Pitzer.

Top youth boxers from Azusa will compete in the regionals of the United States Amateur Boxing Federation’s Senior Boxing Championships from Friday through Sunday at Azusa VFW Hall, 250 S. 1st St.

Bouts start at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and the finals start at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Among the Azusa boxers are Leroy Vigil at 139 pounds, Jerry Moran at 165, Johnny Chavez at 132, Ralph Rodriguez at 119, Rudy Salcido at 139 and Joe Falzone in super heavyweight.