Struggling Aztecs Win Big Against 1-16 UC Irvine

You think things have been tough at San Diego State for first-year Coach Beth Burns? Try life in the women’s basketball program at UC Irvine.

SDSU routed the Anteaters, 67-39, in a Big West Conference game at SDSU’s Peterson Gym. The victory was just the fourth in 20 games for SDSU, but the Aztecs are 3-5 in Big West games. UC Irvine fell to 1-16, 0-8.

Julie Evans scored a game-high 26 points on 12-of-18 shooting to lead the Aztecs, which led, 33-18, at halftime. Jenny Lee had 15 for UC Irvine.

Lynda Jones scored 21 points on nine-of-15 shooting to lead the University of San Diego women to a 66-53 West Coast Conference victory over Santa Clara at USD.

USD (12-7, 2-4) had a 47-24 rebounding edge. Freshman Chris Enger had 13 rebounds and Jones added nine. The Toreras led at the half, 38-24.

Christine Choppelas and Amy Vanos each scored 10 points for Santa Clara (5-13, 1-5).

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Christian Heritage, the top-ranked team in the National Christian College Athletic Assn., routed Claremont College, 104-70, in a nonconference game in Claremont.

Brad Soucie led the Hawks with 23 points and became the fifth Christian Heritage player to score 1,000 career points. Of those five players, he reached 1,000 points the fastest, in 41 games.

Mark Kraatz, Rundy Foster and Rob Meeter added 18 apiece. Christian Heritage, which has won eight in a row and 14 of 15, improved to 16-4. Claremont, ranked 14th in the NCAA Division III, fell to 14-5.

Christian Heritage also tied a school-record with 13 three-pointers, including Kraatz’s four.

TRACK AND FIELD

San Diego State’s Pat Thiss won the hammer throw with a toss of 197-feet-8 to highlight the men’s field events at an all-comers meet at San Diego State. Jose Barbosa, of the Brazilian national team, won both the 400 meters (47.7) and 1,500 meters (3:54.2).

In the women’s events, Tracy Crawford, of Southwestern College, won the shotput (41-9 1/2) and the discus (132-9). SDSU’s Wendy Petersen won the 1,500 meters in 4:51.3 and Chrystee Perkins the 3,000 meters in 10:40.6.

SDSU will play host to another all-comers meet next Saturday at 9 a.m. at Choc Sportsman track.

MEN’S TENNIS

The University of San Diego and UCLA split six singles matches, but the second-ranked Bruins took two of three doubles to defeat USD, 5-4, at UCLA.

Jose Luis Noriega, ranked second in the nation in singles, defeated Jason Netter, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, in No. 1 singles.

No. 14 USD fell to 1-1 and plays at No. 1 Stanford Saturday.

Point Loma Nazarene easily defeated Cal State Los Angeles, 8-1, in Point Loma. PLNC’s Gary Rees defeated Jay Tamiya, 7-5, 6-2, in No. 1 singles, then teamed with Hans Hoegstedt to defeat Tamiya and Bobby Toyery, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6, in No. 1 doubles.

Other singles winners for PLNC (1-0) were Hoegstedt, John Norton, Mike Lee and Rob Pearson.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

San Diego State won every match except No. 1 singles and doubles in defeating Nevada Las Vegas, 7-2, in its season and home opener. Michelle Apra, Eva Olivarez, Susan Hawke, Nicole Storto and Paige Hammond won singles for SDSU, ranked 17th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn. preseason poll.

Dorey Brandt lost 7-5, 6-4, to the Rebels’ Jolene Watanabe in No. 1 singles.