COLLEGE DIVISION NOTEBOOK / MARTIN BECK : This Time, Chapman Women Need Team Effort Against San Bernardino

After Friday’s game with Cal State San Bernardino, the Chapman College women’s basketball team will have played half of its six games against the Coyotes.

The Panthers (4-1) will face San Bernardino for the third time in seven days in the first round of the Cal State Hayward tournament. Chapman won the first meeting last Friday at the Hutton Center, 81-62, but lost, 80-68, the next day.

“Not a good scheduling move on my part, but I’m learning,” Chapman Coach Lindsay Strothers said.

The re-rematch, Strothers said, will give his team a chance to redeem itself after a poor performance at San Bernardino, which will join the Panthers in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. next season.

“What happened there was we didn’t play as a team,” he said. “We played as individuals.”

Strothers said he was pleased with the Panthers’ effort Tuesday in an 86-71 victory over Biola. Community college transfer Linda Kirby scored 25 points, and Jackie Saunders had 19 points and 18 rebounds. Kirby is averaging 21 points a game, and Saunders is averaging 19 points and 15 rebounds.

Limping Panthers: Chapman, which lists nine players on its roster, will suit up only eight the next three weeks. Junior guard Missy Abraham, who played only in the first game, will be out the next three weeks because of an undetermined illness. Kim Rieff, a six-foot senior reserve center who scored 19 points in 24 minutes against Biola, is suffering from a back injury that may limit her from playing two days in a row.

The Chapman men’s team takes to the road for the first time with games Friday afternoon at Hayward and Saturday night at UC Davis.

Panther Coach Bob Boyd said he was pleased with the team’s play in three victories at home. Chapman is off to its best start since winning its first five games in 1983-84.

Added depth from transfers has allowed Boyd to give as many as nine players significant playing time.

“I think you can really utilize nine people--we used to say seven--but I think the game has changed,” Boyd said.

Transfers Zlatko Josic (Clemson), Al Jackson (West Valley College) and Chuck McGavran (Cal State Northridge) have contributed, and returning starters Rog Middleton, Frantz Reyes and Andre Hill are averaging 20, 16 and 16 points a game.

The Chapman women’s volleyball team was eliminated from the NCAA Division II playoffs Friday by West Texas State, the No. 1 team in the nation, 15-7, 15-10, 7-15, 15-7.

All things considered, Chapman Coach Mary Cahill was happy with the Panthers’ performance in the match played before a crowd of 2,392 in the 2,000-capacity Tascosa High School gym in Amarillo.

“Last year (in the playoffs) we went to Riverside and lost three straight and we played like we were nervous,” Cahill said. “This year we didn’t play that way. The match lasted about two hours and we stayed with them. They didn’t just kill us.

“It’s a great experience for the girls who are returning because that’s probably the largest crowd they will ever play in front of.”

The only Panther player who won’t return next season is setter Brooke Schakel, who was an all-Southwest Region selection. Returning juniors will be outside hitter Debi Waller, who was a second-team All-American selection by the volleyball coaches and an all-Southwest selection; middle-hitter Rena Strange, who was also all-Southwest pick; and Heather Mead, who was 10th in the nation in digs (419). Waller and Strange were also first-team all-CCAA selections.

After losing its first four games, the Christ College Irvine men’s basketball team defeated Whittier College, 69-60, Tuesday to give Coach Greg Marshall his first victory as a head coach.

“We were thinking it wasn’t going to happen this year,” Marshall said, jokingly. “I thought it might take a couple of years to do that.”

Marshall took the job at Christ College after serving five years as an assistant at Westmont. He also was an assistant coach at Idaho State and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The Eagles play Redlands in the first round of the Redlands Tournament at 8 tonight.

College Division Notes

Chris Briones, a catcher at Brea-Olinda High School, has signed a letter of intent to play for Chapman. Briones, who batted .370 with 10 doubles last season, was a first-team all-Orange League selection and helped the Wildcats to the league title. . . . The City of Orange is sponsoring a youth baseball camp, featuring Chapman Coach Mike Weathers, Dec. 26-29 at Hart Park. The four-day camp costs $99 and will include instruction from Weathers and other college coaches and players. For information, call Weathers at 997-6663.