Loyola Women’s Coach Shopping for a Better Bench : Basketball: Coach Todd Corman is scouting high schools and junior colleges for better reserves to improve on this season’s 14-14 record.

The Loyola Marymount women’s basketball program is looking for a few good players.

After a season that saw the Lions post an overall record of 14-14 and finish in third place in the West Coast Conference at 7-7, Coach Todd Corman is not pleased.

Poor play by reserves this season has made Corman step up his recruiting.

“I need to find players who can help me now by going out and playing a good game off the bench,” he said.

Usually, Corman said, he looks only for high school talent, but this year he is scouting the junior colleges for players who have already developed their skills.

“Several (junior college) players are definitely looking like good prospects to shore up the bench,” he said.

At the top of his shopping list is a post player to replace Michelle Bettencourt, who averaged 7.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

“Right now I’m talking to a few kids, but I don’t have any firm commitments yet,” Corman said. “I think that we need to expand the area from where we recruit our players, and that’s what I’m trying to do this year.”

He said he has a good shot at the two or three players he needs to upgrade the defense and get more consistent shooting from the bench.

Five of the Lions’ current reserves averaged less than 2.5 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, Corman said, adding that poor rebounding hurt the team the most.

The season started with high hopes for the Lions, who were coming off their best year (17-11) since Corman took over, though they faced a tougher schedule.

“We played well the first half of the season,” he said. “Once we hit the conference, though, things began to fall apart.”

Early in conference play, the Lions were challenging for first place. But they didn’t finish strongly, especially having problems on the road, and finished at .500 in the WCC, a distant third behind St. Mary’s.

Corman said the team often wasn’t ready to play and seemed distracted on the court.

The core of that team will be back next year, including its two scoring leaders: two-time all-conference guard Kristen Bruich, who averaged 14.3 points per game, and guard Lynn Flanagan, who averaged 12.4. Bruich also led the team with five assists and four steals per game.

A disappointment, Corman said, was the play of 6-3 junior center Tricia Gibson. She averaged nine points and 6.6 rebounds per game--virtually the same as the previous year--but was expected to do more.

This year, Corman said, he hoped that Gibson would assert herself offensively, but she was slowed by injuries most of the season, though she still set a school record for blocked shots.

No players have been cut, but there will be competition for spots on the team next year, Corman said.

“One of two things is going to happen next year,” he said. “The first is that the current players will come back with an attitude that will allow them to focus on basketball. The second is that they will again be distracted by things outside of basketball and not be ready to contribute.”