SportsScope : Lady Sagehens Seek NCAA Crown

After winning its 10th straight Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship, the Pomona-Pitzer College women’s basketball team opens competition in the NCAA Division III playoffs Friday.

The Sagehens, ranked No. 7 in Division III with a 22-4 record, will meet perennial power Bishop College of Dallas (21-5) in the first round of the NCAA West Regional at 6 p.m. Friday at Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock.

In the other game of the four-team regional at 8:15 Friday, sixth-ranked Concordia of Minnesota meets Stanislaus. The winners meet for the title at 8:15 p.m. Saturday. The regional winner will face the South Regional winner in the quarterfinals next week.

The Pomona-Bishop game matches different offensive styles. Bishop, which averages 88 points, excels with its fast break, and the Sagehens prefer a slower tempo.

“We’re a much more disciplined team and don’t shoot as much, so there’s a real difference,” Coach Nancy Breitenstein said. “If we shoot well and keep a reasonable tempo, we think we can be right there.”

Bishop, which finished second in Division III last season, has an outstanding scorer in 5-7 guard Mary Carey and a solid rebounder in 5-8 forward Roshan Washington. Carey averages about 20 points.

Pomona-Pitzer has been led by 5-9 junior forward Regina Juniel and 5-10 sophomore forward Lara Boyd. Juniel averages 20.3 points and 10 rebounds and Boyd 13.6 points and 7 rebounds. Two other standouts are 5-6 senior guard Melissa Barlow, a floor leader who averages 8 assists, and 6-0 sophomore center Liz Peters, who averages 9.4 points and 7.5 rebounds.

“We’re playing only about seven players, don’t have a lot of size and don’t have great team speed,” Breitenstein said. “But we’re aggressive and have a lot of heart.”

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s softball team, ranked No. 4 nationally in NCAA Division I, will open its Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. season with a double-header against San Jose State at 1 p.m. Saturday at Police Athletic League Field in San Jose.

The Broncos, who finished third in the PCAA last year, take a 13-2 record into the games after winning the Arizona State University tournament last week. San Jose State, competing in the PCAA for the first year, entered this week with a 5-1 record.

Pomona has received outstanding pitching and hitting.

The top pitcher is senior All-American Rhonda Wheatley, who has a 6-1 record and a microscopic 0.14 earned-run average. Wheatley, who has allowed only one earned run in 50 innings, has 5 shutouts and 2 saves.

Sophomore Lori Thompson, a transfer from San Diego State who has a 4-1 record and 0.53 earned-run average, has 2 shutouts and has allowed only 2 earned runs in 26 innings.

The Broncos, coached by Carol Spanks, have one of their top hitting teams in recent years with a .308 average. The leaders are junior All-American center fielder Alison Stowell, who is batting .426 with 20 hits and 13 runs batted in, and junior All-American first baseman Kandi Burke, who is hitting .367 with a team-high 8 extra-base hits.

Perhaps the most surprising player is junior third baseman Dana Ramos, a walk-on from Golden West College, who is batting .373 with 19 hits.

Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball Coach Darlene May has been named California Collegiate Athletic Assn. coach of the year for the third time in six years.

May, who guided the Broncos to their third straight conference title and sixth consecutive NCAA Division II playoff berth, directed Pomona to an 11-1 conference record and 26-2 overall. May, who has the most wins of any Division II coach, holds a 13-year record of 338-80 for an .808 winning percentage.

Pomona forward Debra Larsen was named the conference player of the year. Larsen, a 5-10 senior, averaged 17.5 points and 11.7 rebounds to lead the Broncos in both categories.

The Broncos, national Division II champion for the past two years, also placed Michelle McCoy on the first team for the second straight season. McCoy, a 5-6 senior, averaged 14.4 points and 7.7 assists and was the floor leader.

Another first-team selection was 6-0 sophomore center Lupe Quintana of Cal State Los Angeles, who led the Golden Eagles to a 19-9 record, their best mark since 1981. Quintana, the top rebounder in the CCAA, averaged 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Pomona placed 6-2 freshman center Niki Bracken and 5-8 junior guard Paula Tezak on the second team. Bracken, a prep standout at Compton High, averaged 14 points and 7.1 rebounds.

With six players ranked among the top 34 players in singles, the Cal Poly Pomona women’s tennis team is ranked No. 2 in NCAA Division II in this week’s Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn. poll.

The Broncos, ranked behind Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, will take a 3-0 California Collegiate Athletic Assn. record and 4-5 overall mark into a conference match at 2 p.m. today at Cal State Bakersfield.

Cal Poly’s top singles players are Xenia Anastasiadou, ranked No. 4 in Division II, and Mary Holycross, rated No. 5. Anastasiadou is a sophomore from Greece and Holycross a senior from Bishop Amat High in La Puente.

Other ranked singles players for the Broncos are senior Debbie Jung at No. 17, senior Chris Ryan (No. 23), junior Pat Choomngern (No. 31) and junior Margie Mateljan (No. 34). In doubles, Anastasiadou and Ryan are ranked No. 2 and Holycross and Jung are No. 4.

Cal State Los Angeles has the top-ranked singles player in Edna Olivarez, a sophomore from the Philippines. The Golden Eagles are tied for No. 9 in the rankings with Ferris State of Michigan.

The Citrus College men’s basketball team, which reached the Southern California Regionals of the state tournament, has landed two players on the All-Orange Empire Conference team: Reggie Brown, 6-4, and Kevin Kurz, 6-6, both sophomore forwards. Brown averaged 17.1 points and 9.8 rebounds and Kurz 18 points and 8.6 rebounds to lead the Owls to a 16-14 record and fourth place in the conference.

Cal State Los Angeles and Cal Poly Pomona both placed one men’s basketball player on the All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn. second team: forward Curtiss Bradley of Cal State and guard Bill Dobbs of Cal Poly. Bradley, a 6-7 junior, averaged 16.3 points and 9 rebounds to lead the Golden Eagles in both departments. Dobbs, a 6-1 junior with excellent shooting range, averaged 14.7 points and made 48.1% of his three-point shots.