SPORTSCOPE : Cal Poly Women Risk Perfect Mark Against Riverside

Alone in first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. after three weeks of play, the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team will try to maintain its perfect conference mark when it faces UC Riverside in a home-and-home series Friday and Saturday.

The Broncos, ranked No. 2 nationally in NCAA Division II with a 16-3 overall record and 5-0 mark in conference games, will play host to Riverside at 6 p.m. Friday in Kellogg Gym before visiting the Highlanders at 6 p.m. Saturday. Riverside is 9-10 overall and 2-3 in the CCAA.

Riverside has not beaten the Broncos in 19 meetings.

Riverside will face a Pomona team that has won nine games in a row since losing to Southern Utah State--a Division I squad--on Dec. 18 at Cedar City.

The Broncos remained undefeated in conference last week with victories over Cal State Northridge, 70-52, and Cal State Los Angeles, 75-64.

Pomona has been led offensively by All-American center Niki Bracken, a 6-2 senior who tops the conference with an average of 19.8 points and 10.2 rebounds.

Other top scorers for the Broncos are forward Marcine Edmonds, a 6-1 senior who averages 12.3 points, and reserve center Danielle Carter, a 6-2 freshman who is averaging 11.5. Pomona’s other starters are Kelly Connelly at forward and Denise Ogburn and Stephanie Coons at guard.

Riverside has been sparked by 5-11 junior center Becky Geeson and 5-8 junior guard Stephanie Strauss. Geeson is averaging 13.8 points and Strauss 11.9.

The Cal Poly Pomona men’s basketball team expects a difficult assignment when it faces California Collegiate Athletic Assn. rival UC Riverside in a home-and-home series Friday and Saturday.

The teams will play at 8 p.m. Friday at Kellogg Gym and at 8 p.m. Saturday at Riverside.

Riverside, defending conference champion and third-place finisher nationally in Division II last season, entered the week with a record of 14-5 overall and 4-2 in the CCAA. Pomona is 8-11 and 2-4.

Pomona will need more consistency than it displayed last week to defeat Riverside. Pomona played impressively in a 103-90 upset of Cal State Northridge, which was undefeated in the CCAA. But the Broncos suffered a surprising 72-53 loss to weak Cal State Los Angeles the next night.

Riverside, a perennial conference power, has been led by All-CCAA forward Chris Ceballos (6-5) and guard Mike Ritter (6-4). Ceballos is averaging 19.8 points and Ritter 13.0. The Highlanders defeated Cal State L.A., 72-63, and Northridge, 86-62, last week.

The Broncos have been paced by junior forward Terry Ross (6-6), who ranks among the conference leaders with averages of 21.1 points and 12.5 rebounds.

Other Pomona players averaging in double figures are junior guard Chancellor McCobb at 16.4, senior forward Jim Skinner at 11.4 and junior forward Ken Scalmanini at 10.8.