Defeat Douses UCSD Women’s Playoff Hopes
UC San Diego’s women’s basketball team has a right to feel dazed. Like boxer who had won 14 rounds before being decked by a sucker punch, the Tritons (21-5) on Friday were knocked out of a spot in the NCAA Division III playoffs.
UCSD lost to Christ College Irvine, 73-63, in their season finale at home. The defeat snapped a string of 15 victories by the Tritons. UCSD approached each one of those games with a now-or-never philosophy after it started the season 6-4. Then the Tritons learned that the one defeat in their 15-1 stretch run cost them a playoff berth.
The top four teams from each of eight regions earned bids to the Division III tournament. UCSD is ranked fifth in the West Region, but the Tritons were told Sunday they would have moved up to No. 4 had they beaten Christ College. During the weekend, No. 4 St. Benedict of Minnesota also lost, suffering its seventh defeat of the season. Region officials were prepared to flip-flop the two teams in the rankings when they heard of the Tritons’ defeat.
Men make it: UCSD’s men, facing the same dilemma because of their independent status, posted victories over Whittier (88-70), Cal State San Bernardino (81-62) and Pacific Christian (106-60) last week to assure themselves a playoff berth. Closing the season with a 14-game winning streak, UCSD finished 22-3 and ranked third in the nation in Division III.
When the Tritons play visiting Claremont at 7 p.m. Saturday, San Diego will get its first taste of NCAA tournament basketball at any level since 1975. That was when San Diego was the site of the Division I West Regional.
Miles from UCLA: When Michelle Miles transferred from UCLA to SDSU to play basketball last fall, she brought along some strong credentials . . . academic credentials. Miles was a member of the Pac-10 All-Academic team. It was obvious this 5-foot-7 junior from Denver could score in bunches in the classroom. She was on the dean’s list for six consecutive semesters--as a redshirt freshman, a freshman and a sophomore--her after graduating from Thornton High with 3.7 grade-point average.
After starting at point guard for the Bruins as a freshman, Miles had to sit out 1989-90 with a knee injury. But if anybody knew what to expect from Miles when she showed up at SDSU, it was Coach Beth Burns, who has known Miles since her junior high days. In two games last week, Miles had 26 assists. She averages nine assists a game and would rank fifth in the NCAA in that category. However, because she wasn’t cleared to play until Dec. 18, Miles has missed too many games to qualify.
“She’s the biggest reason for our success,” said Burns, whose Aztecs are 14-11, 6-4 and in third place in the WAC. “Had we had her the first eight games, our record would be better. She runs our team. She’s our coach on the floor. She makes everyone around her play at a different level.”
Darla’s dash: San Diego State’s Darla Vaughn, a senior from Mira Mesa High, might be the fastest female sprinter in the WAC. She was certainly fast enough to impress the officials at last weekend’s WAC Indoor Championships in Colorado Springs.
Vaughn captured first places in the 200-meter dash (24.52 seconds) and the 55-meter hurdles (7.79) and was a close second in the 55 meters.
Vaughn was named outstanding female athlete of the meet as SDSU (56 3/4 points) finished a distant second behind champion Brigham Young (168).
The only other Aztec athlete to finish first in an event was Darren Huston, who won the 100 meters (47.9) over teammate Floyd Barco (48.0).
But can he score?: Neal Curry, an assistant football coach and former offensive lineman at the University of San Diego, bears a striking resemblance to USD basketball player Kelvin Woods. So much so, Curry said, a sports writer began interviewing him after a basketball game this season thinking he was Woods.
Add Woods: Woods, a junior, is short for a forward but he has parlayed a number of crafty moves, including hook shots and pump fakes, into 787 career points. That ranks 20th on the all-time Torero scoring list. Woods is also 10 for 16 (62.5%) lifetime from three-point range.
After scoring 21 and 17 points against Pepperdine this season, Wave Coach Tom Asbury said, “I’ve always liked the way Kelvin Woods plays. We recruited him (out of Damian High), but I wish we would have recruited him harder.”