TITAN NOTEBOOK : Ray Works at Keeping Things Even

It’s a dubious honor, but not one Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball player Joey Ray can deny. About a week ago, Ray was voted “most picked-on” by her teammates.

“Don’t ask me why,” said Ray, a junior guard who averages 12.5 points. “I guess I give her (Coach Maryalyce Jeremiah) good reasons to be mad at me.”

Tops on Jeremiah’s Why-I-Get-Mad-at-Joey list is Ray’s penchant for getting too mad at herself when things go wrong.

Ray is the Titans’ best outside shooter, a key component in Fullerton’s Genia Miller-led attack, but when the shots aren’t falling, Ray will pout, stomp her feet, and sometimes forget other parts of the game, like defense.

“The biggest challenge for me is to keep her more even temperamentally,” Jeremiah said. “I’ve gotten on her real hard about how moody she is when things aren’t going her way, but she’s learning that she can contribute more by maintaining an even keel.”

A game Feb. 23 against UC Irvine was something of a breakthrough for Ray. She had one of her worst offensive nights, making four of 18 shots and scoring only eight points, but played a solid defensive game, with three steals, and grabbed seven rebounds.

“I challenged her at halftime to play hard defense when her shots aren’t falling,” Jeremiah said. “And she did a good job.”

When Ray’s shots are falling, Fullerton (22-6)--which plays Fresno State at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament at the Long Beach Arena--can be very difficult to stop.

Most opponents double-team Miller, but the center has still averaged 29.4 points, with a low game of 21, and forward Claudette Jackson has been consistent, averaging 16 points. Point guard Michelle Hennessey rarely shoots, and guard Cheryl Hightower is shooting 31% from the floor.

So, much of the Titans’ fortunes swing with Ray. When she’s hot, opponents must focus more on the Titans’ perimeter offense, and that usually opens up the middle for Miller and Jackson.

Ray has made 37 of the team’s 46 three-point shots and has scored 20 points or more in four games, all Titan victories. But in Fullerton’s six losses, Ray has averaged 9.7 points, with lows of five and six.

Add women’s basketball: Miller, the Titan center who averaged 32 points and 13 rebounds in eight games last month, has been chosen Windex Women’s College Basketball Player of the Month for February.

The award, selected by ESPN announcer Dick Vitale, is presented to the month’s most versatile and hard-working player, whose rebounding achievements contributed to the most noteworthy performance of the month.

Windex will donate $1,000 in Miller’s name to the Watts/Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club of America in Miller’s hometown of Los Angeles.

How quick is Nevada Las Vegas’ transition game? So quick that Fullerton Coach John Sneed didn’t even see it at times during Saturday’s 104-83 loss to the top-ranked Runnin’ Rebels.

“We’d make a big play to score, and by the time I sat down in my seat and turned around, they’d dunk on us,” Sneed said.

One of those fast breaks had jaws dropping in Titan Gym. UNLV guard Greg Anthony fired a half-court, alley-oop pass to forward Stacey Augmon, who caught the ball with his back to the basket and, in one motion, slammed behind his head. That was one of 11 Las Vegas dunks in the game.

Add UNLV: The Rebels also blocked 11 shots, despite Sneed’s Ivan Lendl-like practice tactics. Sneed played center with a tennis racket in one hand, in order to simulate shooting conditions against UNLV centers George Ackles (6-foot-9) and Elmore Spencer (7-0).

Though Spencer blocked seven shots, Fullerton did have some success inside. Titan center Aaron Wilhite scored 15 points, and forward Agee Ward had 10. Fullerton stayed close with the Rebels for a half and kept the final score well under Las Vegas’ average margin of victory, 29.4 points.

“I’ve never had so many congratulations after a 21-point loss,” Sneed said. “Everyone was talking about how well we played. I think people were excited because we beat the point spread.”

Titan Notes

The Fullerton men’s basketball team, which plays University of the Pacific in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament 1 p.m. Friday at the Long Beach Arena, has not lost a first-round conference tournament game since the 1983-84 season. . . . With San Jose State’s failure to qualify for this season’s tournament, the Titans are the only team to have appeared in all 16 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn./Big West Conference postseason tournaments. . . . Senior Anne Witkowski, a starting middle blocker and four-year letter-winner on the Fullerton volleyball team, and senior Damien Macaluso, an offensive lineman on the Titan football team, have been named the school’s female and male scholar-athletes of the year. Witkowski, a physical education major with a minor in health/science, is a Dean’s List student. Macaluso, a biology major, is a Dean’s List student who is active in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Both will be honored along with 19 other student-athletes at the sixth annual Big West Conference Scholar-Athlete Recognition Luncheon at noon Thursday at the Long Beach Sheraton Hotel.

Titan guard Joe Small, who has made 74 three-pointers this season, is two three-pointers away from breaking Mark Hill’s single-season record of 75, set in 1988-89. . . . Starting times for the Fullerton baseball team’s Amerige Park games against USC today and Iowa State on Friday have been moved from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. . . . The Titan Athletic Foundation is sponsoring a Western Casino Night from 7 to 11:30 p.m. March 30 at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange. Price ($50 individual, $90 couple) includes dinner, entertainment, $100 in free chips per person and a door prize ticket. All proceeds go to the Fullerton student-athlete scholarship fund. . . .