SportsScope : Diamond Bar Lineman Mellon Chosen for All-CIF Southern Section Team

Diamond Bar High interior lineman Bascom Mellon is the only player from the San Gabriel Valley named to the All-CIF Southern Section football team.

Mellon, a 6-4 and 255-pound senior, starred on offensive and defensive lines as the Brahmas finished 8-3-1 and reached the CIF Eastern Conference quarterfinals. They allowed only 49 points in the regular season.

Selected to the Southern Section team as a defensive player, Mellon was credited with 126 tackles, 13 quarterback sacks and one interception. He was selected the Times San Gabriel Valley lineman of the year and made the All-CIF Eastern Conference and All-Sierra League teams.

Considered one of the top college prospects in the valley, he has been recruited by USC, Arizona State, Washington and Washington State.

It will be a homecoming for Al Padilla when he coaches East Los Angeles College of Monterey Park in its return to football next season.

The 57-year-old Padilla was coach of ELAC from 1973 to 1977 and was an assistant in 1978 and ’79 and in 1984 and ’85. In 1974 he coached East Los Angeles to the state community college title. The last two seasons Padilla has been defensive coordinator at nearby Garfield High.

“I’ve always coached in the East Los Angeles community, and that’s what is so nice about it for me,” Padilla said.

East Los Angeles dropped football after the 1985 season because of financial problems, but Padilla thinks conditions are better now.

“It really started with the turnaround of the (Los Angeles Community College) Board of Trustees last spring,” Padilla said. “ . . . They have really directed the administrators at the various colleges to bring back football. They think it is important to the student body and the overall athletic program.”

Padilla said the program has the potential to be competitive but that a lot depends on recruiting. “Our success in the future hinges upon the athletes we can recruit,” he said. “We don’t have scholarships to offer, but what will help us is the increased entrance requirements at the four-year institutions.”

East Los Angeles will be placed in a new conference, yet to be named, that includes Rio Hondo, Citrus, Antelope Valley, San Bernardino, Chaffey, College of the Desert and Mt. San Jacinto.

After a 12-day holiday break, the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team will play its 10th straight road game at Loyola Marymount at 3 p.m. Sunday in Westchester.

Pomona, 9-2, has posted an 8-1 record on the road, losing only to UC Berkeley (74-66) in the final of the Golden Bear Classic.

The Broncos, who finished second nationally in NCAA Division II last season, are 5-1 against Division I teams and will be favored against Loyola, which is off to its best start with a 6-3 record.

Pomona, which defeated United States International University (76-59) in its last game Dec. 22, has been led on offense by guard Cathy Gooden (5-5), center Niki Bracken (6-2) and forward Marcine Edmonds (6-1).

Gooden, a junior, is averaging 18 points and 5 assists; sophomore Bracken averages 16.6 points and 7.9 rebounds, and junior Edmonds averages 15.7 points and leads the California Collegiate Athletic Conference in field-goal percentage at 66.7%.

The Broncos have received strong all-around play from 5-8 guard Paula Tezak, the only senior on the 12-player roster. Tezak leads the conference in assists with an 8.4 average and is among the leaders in rebounds at 8.6.

Loyola, which has lost all of its games with Division I teams, including nationally ranked Stanford (83-38), has a strong group of guards that includes freshmen Kristen Bruich and Lyn Flanagan. Both were All-CIF 3-A players last year. The Lions have an effective rebounder in center Michelle Betancourt (6-0).

Senior Rod Wright has become the first University of La Verne soccer player named to the NCAA Division III All-American team.

Wright, a four-year starter as a midfielder, was named to the second team chosen by the National Soccer Coaches Assn. of America. He led the Leopards to a 13-5-2 record and the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference co-championship with Claremont-Mudd and their first berth in the Division III playoffs.

It is the most impressive honor in a brilliant career for Wright, who was an all-conference and All-Division III Far West selection four straight seasons. During that span, La Verne posted a 46-25-6 record.

Wright led the Leopards in assists with 10 and was second on the team with 30 points. He also established La Verne’s career record for assists, 39.

He will be honored at a banquet Jan. 16 in Washington D. C.

The Citrus College football team, which struggled to a 3-7 record and seventh place in the 10-team Mission Conference, has placed four players on the all-conference first team: defensive backs Mark Smith and Kevin Drayton, defensive lineman Terry Cook and place-kicker Earl Wessel. Wessel was the leading scorer for the Owls with 44 points, including 9 field goals in 13 attempts.

Citrus landed inside linebacker Sean Telish on the second team. Defensive back Terrell Johnson, who led the Owls with four interceptions, received honorable mention.

Mt. San Antonio, which finished sixth in the South Coast Conference and was 4-5-1 overall, has two players on the first team and four on the second.

Quarterback Rick Carter and defensive back Tyrice Roderick are on the first team and tight end Pat Patterson, offensive tackle Jack Montes, offensive guard Don Iaspparo and defensive tackle Craig Lashley are on the second team.

The UCLA women’s basketball team, 4-5 at the start of the week, will play host to North Carolina at 2 p.m. today at John Wooden Center. The Bruins will open Pacific 10 Conference play at 5:15 p.m. Jan. 7 at Pauley Pavilion. Senior forward Dora Dome leads UCLA with an average of 18.8 points a game.