San Bernardino Women Looking for Some Respect
All the Cal State San Bernardino women’s basketball team wants is a little respect.
The Coyotes are in the midst of their longest winning streak in school history. They have 21-3 record, winning 20 in a row after losing three of their first four games.
Their most significant victory was a 79-65 decision Feb. 9 over Colorado College, ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division III at the time.
But, for all of their success, the Coyotes, a Division III independent, have yet to make much of an impression on the division’s national ranking committee.
Last week, San Bernardino finally cracked the Division III top 20 for the first time this season, slipping in at No. 19.
“We’ve had a little problem with the national and regional ratings committee,” first-year Coach Gary Schwartz said. “It took a long time for us to get any recognition despite the fact that we have a pretty good team.”
First impressions have hurt.
Two of the losses in the early going came against unranked teams in a tournament at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y. The tournament is often the only chance some of the ranking committee members get to see a West Coast team such as San Bernardino. At the time, the Coyotes were playing without second-leading scorer Lori Peters, who couldn’t make the trip because of exam commitments.
And even after defeating Colorado College, it was apparent that San Bernardino’s status was hurt by what at least one coach thinks is a lack of competition.
“From what I’ve seen the rankings are accurate,” Colorado College Coach Beth Branson told the San Bernardino Sun. “California is weak (in Division III) except for San Bernardino.”
It is comments such as those, Schwartz said, that have helped spur the Coyotes.
“That’s the one thing about this team,” the coach said. “They really are motivated and they are goal-oriented. It’s become apparent in the last 10 or 12 games that this team is on a mission. They really want to go to the playoffs.”
To make the playoffs, San Bernardino needs to finish the regular season in the top four in the Division III West Region. With the victory over Colorado College, the Coyotes moved up from No. 5 to No. 3 in the region. Colorado College is No. 4.
San Bernardino would probably wrap up a playoff berth by winning its remaining games against Occidental tonight and UC San Diego Friday.
That would put the streak at 22.
The Coyotes are led by forward Teri Paine-Walsh, a 5-foot-10 senior who averages 20.1 points and 7.6 rebounds. But Schwartz said San Bernardino is not a one-player team. Two other leaders are Peters, a 5-7 forward, and Laura Beeman, a 5-5 point guard.
Schwartz said he wasn’t sure what to expect when he became coach of the Coyotes this season after coaching Division I Montana State to a 69-42 record in the previous four seasons.
“I felt it would be a transition year and our slow start was evidence of it being that kind of a year,” he said. “But I also felt like it had a lot of potential. So I don’t think I’m totally surprised. We set our goals high here, and we’ve had some things go well for us.”
It couldn’t go much better against California teams, where San Bernardino has defeated two Division II schools, San Francisco State and Cal State Hayward. San Bernardino also beat Biola, a 20-3 team that is top-ranked in the NAIA District III.
“We have beaten some very good teams this year, and I think that’s another thing the (national ranking) committee hasn’t taken into account,” Schwartz said. “It was not just the Colorado game.”
Last week was a time for milestones for the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team.
First, longtime Coach Darlene May gained her 100th California Collegiate Athletic Assn. victory when her team defeated Cal State Northridge, 61-38. That gave her a record of 100-4 in her nine seasons in the conference.
May, who reached another milestone early in the season with her 400th victory, has an overall record of 418-94--the most victories of any women’s coach in Division II history.
Then, the Broncos clinched their ninth consecutive CCAA title when they defeated Cal State Los Angeles, 72-60, the night after beating Northridge. The team has 14 consecutive victories since losing to Southern Utah State, an NCAA Division I team, in December.
Pomona (21-3) is 10-0 in the CCAA and ranked No. 2 in Division II behind Delta State of Cleveland, Miss.
The University of La Verne will try to clinch its first conference championship in women’s basketball this week.
La Verne is 8-0 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and can clinch the title with a victory over either Redlands (2-6) or Pomona-Pitzer (6-2) in its final two games this week. La Verne is 17-7.
That would complete an about-face from last season, when the Leopards were 10-13. In fact, this will be the first time the team has finished above the .500 mark.
In men’s basketball, Cal State Bakersfield has clinched at least a share of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title. The Roadrunners, ranked No. 14 in the NCAA Division II at 22-3, are 10-2 in the CCAA and two games ahead of UC Riverside (8-4) with two games remaining.
In the SCIAC, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (8-3) and La Verne (7-3) appear headed for a tie for the top spot. That would force a playoff game Saturday at a neutral site to determine the conference representative in the Division III playoffs.
College Division Notes
If the recent National Small College Indoor Championships in Bloomington, Minn., are indicative, it should be a good year for California Collegiate Athletic Assn. teams in tennis. Leading the way were Neal Berryman and Alex Havrilenko of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, who defeated conference rivals Kevin Klabunde and Greg Skaggs of UC Riverside for the men’s double title. In women’s play, Edna Olivarez of Cal State Los Angeles finished second in singles, and Onnaca Heron and Donna Ewing were second in doubles. . . . Kurt Bruich, a former All-CIF Southern Section wide receiver from Fontana High, has announced that he is transferring from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to Redlands. Bruich, who started seven games for San Luis Obispo last season, played on a Fontana team that went undefeated en route to the Southern Section title.
Cal Lutheran has named Joe Harper, former coach of Northern Arizona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, as its new football coach. Harper has a record of 117-64-4 in 18 years of coaching. Harper’s best season was in 1980, when he guided San Luis Obispo to the NCAA Division II national title. He replaces longtime coach Bob Shoup, who was fired after 28 seasons at the school.