COLLEGE DIVISION : Paine Has 27-Point ‘Honeymoon’

When she started planning for her wedding last August, senior forward Teri Paine, of the Cal State San Bernardino women’s basketball team, thought she had come up with an ideal date for the ceremony.

She scheduled the nuptials for last Saturday, when the team would be in the midst of a nine-day break.

Paine figured that would give her time to complete preparations for the ceremony and have a few days for a brief honeymoon trip with her groom, Phil Walsh.

The plan appeared solid until the start of the season, when she learned that first-year Coach Gary Schwartz had added a game against Midland Lutheran of Nebraska on Jan. 14 in San Bernardino.

So much for planning.

When she learned about the game, Paine, 21, admitted she was more than a little disturbed.

“I thought (Schwartz) was trying to hamper my plans,” she said. “But we smoothed things out and everything was fine.”

Except that Paine, the all-time leading scorer and rebounder for the Coyotes, would have to play the day after the wedding.

“(Her fiance) wasn’t happy about it when I first told him,” she said. “It was like, ‘No, you’re not going to the game!’ But then he said it was OK with him. He likes to watch me play, anyway.”

Added Walsh: “I want them to make the playoffs, and this (was) kind of a big game for them. So I think it was kind of important for her to be there.”

The couple reached an agreement with Schwartz that they would keep their wedding date as scheduled, spend their wedding night in the mountain ski resort town of Idyllwild, return for the game Sunday night, then go back to Idyllwild after the game for another day or two.

Walsh said the coach also made another concession.

“I made a deal with the coach that I get to go to the playoffs with the team if we get there,” he said. “That was my part of the agreement.”

Paine says that Walsh is understanding about athletes having to make sacrifices because he is an outside hitter for the volleyball team at San Bernardino.

But Paine added that if she had been pressed to choose between the wedding and the game, she would have chosen the wedding.

“I’ve been at every game since I’ve been there,” Paine said. “I didn’t want to miss a game but if it came down to choosing between the game and my husband, it would have been my husband.”

Fortunately for Paine, everything went off without a snag.

She was married during a ceremony Saturday in the chapel at March Air Force Base in Riverside, where her father had served as an Air Force sergeant.

As planned, the couple stayed overnight in Idyllwild and returned for the game despite snowy road conditions.

Paine had her best game of the season. She made her first five shots, scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in leading San Bernardino to a 75-70 victory over Midland Lutheran, a perennial power in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics. The victory was team’s ninth in a row.

The San Bernardino athletic department also did its part to make the game memorable for Paine.

With a little help from a nearby restaurant, the athletic department distributed wedding cake to everyone at the game. The sheet cake was decorated to resemble a basketball court.

The department also offered congratulations to Paine in an insert in the game program.

About the only thing missing was a lengthy honeymoon, but the couple plans to spend spring break in Hawaii to make up for it.

In the meantime, Paine is content to focus on basketball. With her team’s 10-3 record, the NCAA Division III playoffs appear within reach.

With the understanding that her husband will be there as well, that is just fine with Paine.

“I’m starting off the year right and hopefully, come March, we’ll get another added bonus,” she said.

In the opening weekend of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. men’s basketball season last week, Cal State Northridge provided a perfect example of how nonconference records can sometimes be deceiving.

The Matadors began CCAA play with the second-worst record in the eight-team conference at 5-8.

Moreover, the Matadors were scheduled to open the conference season against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and then play Cal State Bakersfield--two of the favorites for the title. San Luis Obispo began conference play at 10-3 and Bakersfield at 12-1.

So what happened?

Northridge beat San Luis Obispo, 90-78, and Bakersfield, 61-58.

That leaves the Matadors tied for first place in the CCAA at 2-0 with defending conference champion UC Riverside after the first week of the season.

College Division Notes

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team, which reached the NCAA Division II final last season, was No. 4 in the first Division II rankings last week. The Broncos, 13-3, are listed behind top-ranked and defending champion Delta State of Mississippi, Central Missouri State and North Dakota. All of Pomona’s losses have been to Division I schools. . . . Westmont of Santa Barbara is ranked No. 19 in the latest National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics men’s basketball poll. The Warriors, a perennial District 3 power, are off to one of their best starts in recent seasons at 14-1.

The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo women’s track team, which won the NCAA Division II title last season, will be well represented at the 31st annual Sunkist Invitational indoor track meet Friday night at the L.A. Sports Arena. All-American distance runner Teena Colebrook will compete in the women’s 880-yard run along with teammate Aeron Arlin, and Aina Albanese is entered in the 440. The only other College Division athlete from the Southland competing is Dan Ratjes of Point Loma Nazarene in the men’s high jump.

Cal State Los Angeles has chosen Dan Silver, an assistant with the University of Oregon women’s tennis team last season, as its men’s tennis coach. Silver, 24, replaces Ed Charles, who resigned last month. Cal State L.A. finished 3-17 overall and 0-10 in the CCAA last year. . . . Kicker Greg Maw of Cal Lutheran’s football team has been named to the College Division Academic All-American second team by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Maw, who led the Kingsmen with six field goals and 34 points as a senior, is a political science major and has a 3.83 grade-point average.