Bronco Women Cagers Lose First Game, Will Hit Road for Two

After losing its first game of the season last week, the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team will try to get back on the winning track when the Broncos travel to Northern California to face NCAA Division I opponents Friday and Saturday.

The Broncos, 6-1, visit Santa Clara at 7:30 p.m. Friday and St. Mary’s at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Santa Clara and St. Mary’s both entered this week at 2-3.

Pomona, coming off a two-week layoff for final exams, suffered a 61-58 loss to the University of San Diego--another Division I team--last week. It was a defeat that Coach Darlene May said could help the Broncos in the long run.

“The bottom line is that we played very poorly and USD made the most out of their opportunities,” May said. “The two-week layoff really hurt us. Yet I am hoping that this loss will make us realize that we are not unbeatable and we have to play well if we expect to win.”

The Broncos have been led by junior center Niki Bracken (6-2), who scored 23 points against San Diego and is averaging a team-high 17.6 points and 8.4 rebounds for the season.

Two other players averaging in double figures are guards Cathy Gooden (5-5), 16.3 points, and Carrie Egan (5-8) at 10.1. The Broncos also start Susan Luckinbill (5-9) and Stephanie Coons (5-10) at forward.

Pomona will face a St. Mary’s squad that it has already defeated this season. The Broncos won 72-60 score two weeks ago in the first round of the Cal State Fullerton Converse Classic.

St. Mary’s is led by sophomore guard Anja Burt, who averages 19.5 points and 7 rebounds, and sophomore forward Cheree Tappin, who averages 18.8 points. Santa Clara has been led by sophomore forward Chris Choppelas.

Pomona will return home to face another Division I team, Pacific (1-4), at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Kellogg Gym in Pomona.

Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut has been selected as the site for the 1990 U.S.A./Mobil National Track and Field Championships next June, The Athletic Congress has announced.

The annual championship meet, considered the top outdoor meet in the nation, determines U.S. representatives for international competition. The 1990 meet will determine U.S. qualifiers for the 1990 Goodwill Games next August in Seattle.

“Year in and year out, this is the most important track meet in the country,” said Dan Schrum, director of the annual Mt. San Antonio Relays. “It will have been 10 years since the event has been held here and we are happy to have it back. It’s very prestigious for Mt. Sac.”

It will mark the fourth time that Mt. San Antonio has been host to the event. Others were 1962, 1979 and 1980.

Schrum said the school was selected as the site of the three-day meet because of its track facility and its access to experienced track officials.

“I don’t think people realize that our facility is one of the best in the U.S. and we have had plenty of experience putting on large track and field events like this,” he said.

Off to its best start since 1985, the Azusa Pacific women’s basketball team will head north to face undefeated Cal State Stanislaus and Sonoma State on Friday and Saturday.

Azusa Pacific faces Stanislaus at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Sonoma at 7:30 Saturday.

The Cougars, who entered the week with a 6-2 record, will meet a Stanislaus team that is 7-0 and regarded as perhaps the top NCAA Division III team on the West Coast. Sonoma is 1-5.

Azusa Pacific, expected to challenge for the NAIA District III title, has been headed by 6-2 junior center Amy Walter with an average of 20.7 points. The Cougars also have another strong inside player in forward Holly Ingersoll (5-11), who averages 16.2 points and a team-high 10.4 rebounds.

The Cougars will face a tough challenge against Stanislaus, which has been led by center Kirsten Dumford and guard Allison Solis. Among the Stanislaus wins was an impressive 87-56 decision over Cal Baptist, defending District III champion and one of the favorites again.

The Muir High of Pasadena girls basketball team, regarded as one of the top teams in the San Gabriel Valley, will compete against many of the premier teams in the state in the 1988 Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions that starts Monday at Santa Barbara High.

Muir, ranked No. 4 in the preseason CIF 4-A Division poll, will face defending state Division I champion Fremont of Oakland in its first-round game at 5:30 p.m. Monday. The quarterfinals are Tuesday, semifinals Wednesday and finals Thursday.

The Mustangs, who entered this week with a 4-1 record under first-year coach Mel Sims, are led by center Lisa Salsman (6-2) and forward Stacie Gravely (6-0) and point guard Rose Jong (5-4).

Salsman and Gravely are seniors and Jong a junior. Salsman, who scored 77 points in three games in the Alemany tournament two weeks ago, has signed a national letter of intent to attend Arizona State University next season.

Senior left-side hitter Paula Tezak of Cal Poly Pomona, who led the Broncos into the NCAA playoffs, has been named to the 1988 Russell Women’s Volleyball NCAA Division II All-America second team.

The selection marks the second sport in which the 5-8 Tezak has earned All-America honors. She was named to the Division II second team in basketball last year.

Tezak was the leader in kills with 427 and had a .297 kill percentage for the volleyball team, which finished with a 17-16 record. She had previously been selected to the All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn. first team.