SPORTSCOPE : Azusa Pacific Women Launch Cage Season With High Hope

The Azusa Pacific University women’s basketball team opens its season in the University of Redlands Tournament from Friday through Monday.

Azusa opens the tournament against La Verne at 4 p.m.

The Cougars have high expectations after finishing with a 21-10 record and reaching the semifinals of the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 tournament last season.

“No matter how much you practice, you can always do more, but I think we’re ready to play,” said longtime Coach Sue Hebel, who has a 232-138 record in 13 years with the Cougars. “Once we’ve been in a couple of games, we can find out what we need to be more specific in practices.”

The front line does not figure to be much of a problem.

Azusa expects to be led by 6-2 senior center Amy Walter, an NAIA honorable mention All-American last season when she averaged 22.3 points and 10.3 rebounds a game.

Two other players on the talented front line are 5-10 senior forward Holly Ingersoll, who averaged 13.6 points and 7.5 rebounds, and 5-10 sophomore forward Christy Pollard, who averaged nine points and 7.5 rebounds.

The Cougars also expect to start Laura Aronson, a 5-6 junior, and Stephanie Perdomo, a 5-4 senior, at guard.

La Verne returns three starters from a team that finished 10-13 last year: point guard Kelly DeWit (5-7) and post players Wendy Kidwell (6-0) and Tricia Hill (5-11).

More important, La Verne also returns 5-9 senior forward Tricia Wright, an All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection two seasons ago who sat out last season to concentrate on track and won the NCAA Division III title in the javelin.

The Leopards, expected to be considerably improved over last season, will also start guard Letrice Benjamin, a 5-7 freshman.

The Cal Poly Pomona men’s and women’s basketball teams open their seasons as hosts of the fifth annual Bronco Classic on Friday and Saturday at Kellogg Gymnasium.

The women’s team, which finished with a 28-6 record and reached the NCAA Division II final last season, opens against San Francisco State at 5:30 p.m. Friday. In the other game in the four-team tournament, Chico State faces Cal State Northridge at 1 p.m.

Pomona’s men, who struggled to a 7-19 record last season, open the four-team men’s tournament against Pacific Christian at 7:30. The other game matches Chico State and Cal Lutheran at 3.

The women’s championship is at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and the men’s at 7:30.

After their success last year, the Pomona women are expected to be one of the best in Division II again.

The Broncos figure to have one of the most imposing front lines in Division II with All-American center Niki Bracken leading the way. Bracken averaged 20 points to lead the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. in scoring.

She will be joined on the front line by Marcine Edmonds, a 6-1 senior who made the All-CCAA team two years ago but sat out last season with a knee injury, and freshman forward Danielle Carter, who earned All-CIF Southern Section honors in averaging 29 points as a senior at Fontana High.

The Pomona men have struggled to a 19-35 record in Dave Bollwinkel’s first two seasons as coach, but he said that this team is considerably more talented.

The team is headed by 6-6 junior forward Terry Ross and 6-3 junior guard Chancellor McCobb. Two other top players are senior forward Jim Skinner and sophomore point guard D. J. Norman.

Otto Rieger, who has coached the Cal Poly Pomona men’s soccer team since the program was formed in 1983, has announced that he is retiring from coaching.

“When I say retire, I am serious when I say I’m hanging it up,” Rieger said. “It’s time to devote a little more time to my teaching duties, my family and my home. The fact that we have had two disappointing seasons in a row has certainly contributed. I have given this job seven years and I think it’s time for a change.”

Rieger’s team finished this season with a 4-14-1 record. In seven years as coach, he posted a record of 46-76-17. A teacher at Claremont High School, he posted a nine-year record of 171-29-17 with the Wolfpack before becoming coach of Pomona.

He was named CIF Southern Section 4-A Division coach of the year in 1980.