SportsScope : Bronco Women Cagers Face Familiar Foes in Title Defense

For Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball Coach Darlene May, there’s a ring of familiarity to this weekend’s California Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

For the second straight year the Broncos, conference champions with an 11-1 record and 24-2 overall, will face the host school in the first round of the four-team event at 6 p.m. Friday.

Pomona, which has won 22 of its last 23 games and is ranked No. 2 nationally in Division II, won the tournament last year by defeating San Luis Obispo and Cal State Northridge en route to its second straight NCAA Division II championship.

For the Broncos to win the tournament again, they will probably have to defeat the same teams. Second-seeded Northridge (15-10) is favored in the other first-round game against Chapman (12-14) at noon Friday.

San Luis Obispo has a 12-15 record and has lost twice to the Broncos this season, 90-62 and 67-43. San Luis Obispo has lost 16 straight games to the Broncos and 26 of 27 overall.

May is concerned about playing the Mustangs at San Luis Obispo but says her team is ready. “It is always difficult playing at SLO,” May said. “But we’re playing well now. The team is on a mission.”

Pomona, which has won four straight games since its 68-53 loss to Cal State Los Angeles on Feb. 6, has been led by 5-10 senior forward Debra Larsen and 5-6 senior point guard Michelle McCoy. Larsen, a strong inside player, is averaging 17.8 points and 11.5 rebounds. McCoy, the floor leader, averages 14.5 points and 7.8 assists.

“Larsen and McCoy are bona-fide All-American candidates,” May said. “If you look at the schedule we’ve been able to get through you realize we couldn’t have done it without those two.”

Pomona has also received solid play from starters Niki Bracken (6-2) at center, Marcine Edmonds (6-0) at forward and Paula Tezak (5-8) at guard. Bracken, a freshman from Compton High, is averaging 13.7 points and 7 rebounds and Tezak 7.8 points and 7.8 rebounds.

San Luis Obispo is led by center Sherrie Atteberry, who averages 16.1 points and 10.2 rebounds. Other top players are forward Janet Jorgenson, who averages 12 points and 6.8 rebounds, and guard Julie Jordan, who averages 13.1 points.

The winner advances to the tournament final at 6 p.m. Saturday, and the tournament champion will receive an automatic berth in the Division II national tournament that starts next week.

If Pomona meets Northridge in the conference tournament final, it will be the fourth match-up against the Matadors this season. The Broncos won all, 66-52, 82-55 and 88-78 in overtime.

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s softball team has rolled up an impressive non-conference record against NCAA Division II teams.

But the schedule figures to get much more difficult for the Broncos starting with their appearance against other Division I teams in the Arizona State University Invitational Tournament today through Saturday in Tempe.

Pomona, which has an 8-1 record and is ranked No. 4 in Division I, opens the round-robin tournament with a double-header against Minnesota at 1 p.m. The Broncos face Arizona State in a double-header Friday and play single games against Arizona and Pacific on Saturday.

The Broncos received outstanding pitching and hitting to post a 7-0 record and win the Cal State Bakersfield tournament last week.

Pomona’s staff is led by senior All-American Rhonda Wheatley, who has a 4-0 record and 0.00 earned-run average in 31 innings. Wheatley, a former Workman High standout, threw a perfect game in a 4-0 win over Cal State Northridge last week.

Sophomore pitcher Lori Thompson, a transfer from San Diego State, tossed a five-inning no-hitter in Pomona’s 14-0 victory over Chapman last week.

Hitting has not been a problem for the Broncos, either. Pomona has a .313 team batting average, considerably better than its .191 last year.

The leader is junior outfielder Alison Stowell, an All-American from Walnut High who is hitting .517, and All-American first baseman Kandi Burke, also a junior, is hitting .323. Other standouts in a strong infield are junior third baseman Dana Ramos and freshman shortstop Heather DeLuca.

Cal State Los Angeles is looking for former players to compete in its varsity-alumni baseball game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Cal State.

Players may call Coach John Herbold or assistant coach Jim Dawson at (213) 224-3248.

The Golden Eagles entered this week with a 7-10-1 record, including a 19-0 win over UC San Diego last week. Junior infielder Steve Hesla set a school record in the game with 6 hits in 6 at bats.

Another standout is catcher Jim Lynch, a former Pasadena High standout, who had four runs batted in against San Diego.

The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team, which has split its first 12 games facing mostly Division I teams, will play two more Division I clubs when it visits San Diego State and United States International University this weekend.

The Broncos, ranked No. 10 in Division II in a preseason poll, meet San Diego State at 5 p.m. Friday and USIU in a double-header at noon Saturday.

Pomona has been led by senior catcher David Schuster, who is hitting .344. Freshman outfielder Jim Stowell leads the team with 12 hits and senior first baseman Tom Weeks has a team-high 3 home runs.

The top pitcher is senior left-hander Tom Gorman, a former Covina High standout, who has a 3-1 record and 2.37 earned-run average.

Cal Poly Pomona has signed two outstanding girl high school volleyball players to letters of intent for next season, 5-10 left-side hitter Anna Dunn of Flintridge Sacred Heart High and 6-1 middle hitter Deborah Frey of Yreka High in Northern California.

Dunn has been the CIF Small School Division most valuable player and Horizon League most valuable player the last two seasons and led her team to the CIF Small School title last season.

Frey was an All-Northern Athletic League selection as a senior.