UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : Cox Awaits End of Basketball to Turn Her Talent to Track
Like most of her coaches and teammates, Kim Cox is ready for the UC Irvine women’s basketball season to end.
With an 82-28 loss to the University of the Pacific Sunday, the Anteaters finished the regular season with their worst record in the program’s 16 years: 1-26 overall, 0-18 in the Big West Conference.
At 1 p.m. today, they play Pacific (13-14, 7-11) again, in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament at Long Beach Arena.
Although Cox, a freshman center from Livermore, Calif., says Irvine can win today, her tone is not too convincing.
“I can’t say what the attitude is for everybody else, but it’s been so hard losing all these games that you want it to end,” said Cox, who has started 18 games and averages 4.2 points and 3.9 rebounds.
“But you can’t think that way. We play (Pacific) again. I want to get back at them, they beat us by so much, they just killed us. It would be great to win. “
But, Cox said, it will be even better to get the next season going. Not basketball, but track and field.
Cox will high jump for Irvine’s track and field team this season. That’s good for Irvine, which has only one other high jumper, Jeannie Amos. It’s also good for the 6-foot-4, 150-pound Cox because high jumping has been her first love since she cleared 4-10 as an eighth-grader.
A three-time North Coast Section champion and a two-time state finalist, Cox jumped 5-9 as a sophomore while training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Although she decided to make basketball her priority for her senior year, Cox still managed, on limited training, to clear 5-6 to win her third sectional championship in 1989.
“The thing I like about basketball is it’s a real team sport,” Cox said. “But now I can do an individual sport. High jump is just you--if you lose it’s your fault. If you win, it’s all for you. . . .
“Also, it’s such a neat feeling, like you’re flying.”
When Danny Williams, women’s track and field coach at Irvine, recruited Cox from Livermore Granada High, he felt she had tremendous potential. Cox, who came to Irvine on a basketball scholarship, said she told all recruiters that she was only interested in attending a university that would allow her to compete in both sports.
“I think she could definitely go over six feet,” Williams said. “In our conference right now, there’s probably only three that can go 5-7, 5-8. . . . I know she’ll score in our conference championships.”
In the Big West Conference tournament this week, Cox will be introduced to another center who competes in the high jump--Fresno State’s Simone Srubek. The 6-6 Srubek, who averages 21 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots a game, won the 1988 Big West high jump title with a mark of 5-10 3/4.
But basketball remains Srubek’s top priority, as it does for Cox. During track season, Cox will work out with the basketball team two afternoons a week, squeezing in high jump training when she can.
Anteater Notes
Irvine is the 10th-seeded team in the 10-team Big West tournament, Pacific is the seventh-seeded team. The winner of today’s game meets second-seeded Hawaii (25-2, 16-2) at 3 p.m. Thursday. Hawaii is ranked 12th in the Associated Press poll. Asked how he feels about the rest of the season, Irvine women’s basketball Coach Dean Andrea said: “Get it over with. There’s no two ways about that. We want to bury the body.” . . . Irvine’s baseball team has won 10 of its past 11 games. Irvine (12-7) had its nine-game winning streak stopped Saturday by San Diego State, 4-3. Irvine beat San Diego State, 4-3, the next day. Senior right-hander Ken Whitworth (5-1) earned his fifth consecutive victory Sunday, and now has a 2.75 earned-run average. Senior first baseman Osmar DeChavez leads the team with a .441 batting average. Al Rodriguez (.373) and Freddie Combs (.367) are next. Irvine hosts Wyoming at 2:30 p.m. today. . . . The sailing team is ranked third nationally behind Old Dominion and Tufts. . . . Irvine track and field All-American Mike Morales qualified last week for his second consecutive NCAA championships with a hammer throw of 204-7.