THE COLLEGES : Cal State Fullerton Notebook : Titan Women Cautious Despite Their Fast Start

The Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball team, picked in a preseason coaches’ poll to finish seventh in a 10-team division of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., is off to a surprising 5-1 start in conference play and is tied for second place.

But Maryalyce Jeremiah, Titan coach, says it’s not time to be excited yet: The Titans have yet to play the two teams considered to be the conference’s best, Cal State Long Beach and San Diego State.

“We’re off to a good start, but it’s only the first round, and we still have to play those teams,” Jeremiah said.

The Titans (10-5 overall) have lost only to Pacific, a 67-66 game that Jeremiah said Fullerton should not have lost.

“We’re looking to make up for that loss the second time around,” she said.

Fullerton will get an idea where it stands in the next few days. The Titans play host to Nevada Las Vegas Saturday and travel to San Diego State Monday. A week from Saturday, the Titans play host to Long Beach, which went to the NCAA final four last season.

“These games will really give us an indication of where we’re capable of finishing,” Jeremiah said. “Then we’ll have to start over and go through the conference again.”

Amy Torczon, the Titans’ 6-foot center, has been the only steady player, averaging 14.3 points and 10.3 rebounds. But a number of players have had good performances on different nights.

Against UC Santa Barbara, it was Stacy Hunt, who scored 23 points. Wendy Anae had 19 against San Jose State and 17 against Hawaii. Against Fresno State, Felicia Benson had 18.

“That’s been the real key to their being able to win,” Jeremiah said. “We don’t have an impact player, one person who does it for us. Teams don’t know who to key on.”

The men’s gymnastics team will compete in the second of only four home meets this season Friday night in Titan Gym, and it is an important one.

The Titans (3-1) are taking on undefeated UCLA, the defending NCAA champion.

In four competitions last season, UCLA edged Fullerton by fewer than three points on three occasions. On the fourth, the Pacific 10 Invitational at Stanford in April, Fullerton finished more than two points ahead of the Bruins.

UCLA gymnasts to watch include Michael Chaplin, David St. Pierre and David Moriel, the defending NCAA champion on high bar.

Fullerton’s top performers to date are Bill Barham, Matt Stelling and Diego Lopez.

The women’s gymnastics team will be competing against Brigham Young simultaneously in Titan Gym.

James Howard, a junior defensive back on the Titan football team, was slightly injured by a stray shot from a .22 rifle Monday in Redondo Beach, Titan Coach Gene Murphy said.

Howard told Murphy that he and friends had been on the beach when he felt a pain in his buttocks. He later discovered he had been grazed by a gunshot.

He is the fourth Titan athlete in recent years to be hit by a stray gunshot or in a random shooting.

Derek Jones, a starter on the Titan basketball team last season, was seriously injured in a random shooting in August. Jones is recovering and will not play this season.

Running back Michael Moore suffered a gunshot wound in his leg while jogging near his home in August but was only slightly injured. In 1982, John Nevens, a linebacker, missed part of the football season after he suffered a gunshot wound, but he returned to play the next year.

With opening day of the Titan baseball season less than a week away, two Fullerton players are out indefinitely with injuries. Mark Beck, a Collegiate Baseball preseason All-American, has a back problem, and Brent Mayne, the likely starting catcher, has a cast on his wrist.

The Titans open against Cal Poly Pomona Wednesday at Titan Field.