UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : Now, Anteater Women Want to Keep Improving

Yvonne Catala stood slumped against the wall outside the locker room Saturday. The season was over.

“We tried so hard,” she said. “We competed in so many games, and we still lost. It eats away at you, every little thing.”

The UC Irvine women’s basketball team had played UC Santa Barbara close for a little more than half its final game. But Santa Barbara kept up its intense defense, and Irvine came undone, going down to a 79-61 loss.

“I just told them it was too bad it had to end this way,” Coach Dean Andrea said. “Too many positive things occurred for it to end on a sour note. We did not function.”

With the season over, Irvine’s quirky statistic is in the books. The Anteaters improved their victory total by 400%. Of course, that’s not very difficult after going 1-27.

The disappointment was that they thought they could have done better.

Irvine, which finished with a 5-22 record, 3-15 in the Big West Conference, had three losses by fewer than five points. But the more disheartening ones were the games in which Irvine played close for maybe a half, then folded. Those were too numerous to count, and included games against such top competition as Nevada Las Vegas and Cal State Fullerton.

Catala led the team in scoring, averaging 15.6 points, and was second in rebounding at 7.1. But she didn’t take much comfort in that, nor in the fact that she is already in Irvine’s top-10 career lists in field goals, scoring, rebounds and field-goal attempts, though she is just a sophomore.

“To compete so hard in games and still lose is a really sinking feeling,” Catala said. “You try and you try, and we’re still not where we want to be.”

With four recruits already signed, Irvine hopes to get a little closer next season. One of those players is Brea-Olinda High School’s Jinelle Williams. Another is Christine Adams, a San Diego-area high school player who led the state in scoring two seasons ago.

“You hope it can get better, but you’ve got to be realistic,” Catala said. “You’re not going to go from one extreme to the other automatically. It kind of makes it all that much harder to know that.”

The Anteater men’s team finished the season by winning three of its final four games for retiring Coach Bill Mulligan.

It was also a farewell for Jeff Herdman and Ricky Butler.

Herdman edged Butler for the team’s scoring title, averaging 18.1 points to Butler’s 17.8.

Among Herdman’s distinctions:

--No. 9 on Irvine’s career-scoring list (1,222 points).

--No. 12 on the school’s career-rebounding list (527 rebounds).

--Broke Scott Brooks’ school record for three-pointers in a season by one. Herdman made 112. Also set record for season three-point attempts (262).

--Set records for career three-pointers made (291) and attempted (478).

--Scored a career-high 31 points Feb. 21 in a victory at Cal State Fullerton, and had five double-doubles this season.

Among Butler’s distinctions:

--No. 10 on the school’s career-scoring list (1,213 points).

--No. 8 on the school’s career-rebounding list (611).

--Set record for field-goal percentage in a game by hitting 13 of 13 in the Feb. 21 victory over Fullerton, breaking the mark of 12 of 12 set by Mike Doktorczyk against Pacific in 1989.

--Had career-highs of 32 points and 17 rebounds in a Jan. 26 victory over Fullerton, and had eight double-doubles this season. He also led Irvine with 51 blocked shots.

Jenny Lee, the only senior starter on the women’s team, finished in the top 10 in seven Irvine career lists. She is second in assists, second in field-goal attempts, second in three-pointers made and attempted, fourth in steals, fifth in scoring and sixth in field-goals made.

She also tied the single-season assist-average record of 4.4, set by Erin Higashi in 1985-86. Lee led Irvine with 47 steals this season.

Raycom Management Group, a company associated with the television sports syndicator Raycom, Inc., has been retained to assist in Irvine’s search for a basketball coach.

Among the coaches who say Raycom Management Group has either contacted them or sought references on them: Utah assistant Joe Cravens, UCLA assistant Brad Holland and Stanford assistant Ernie Kent.

The contact of Laker assistant Randy Pfund was made by Raycom, not Irvine, a source close to the search said.

The Raycom Management Group does athletic-department consulting and personnel searches as well as other consulting and management related to college athletics.

Tom Ford, Irvine’s athletic director, formerly worked for Raycom Management Group, which is based in Charlotte, N.C.

Elzie Love, a Perris High School basketball player who has signed a letter of intent to attend Irvine next season, still plans to come “at this point,” despite the coaching change, said Love’s high school coach, Phil Ward.

Love’s recruitment is the subject of an internal inquiry at Irvine after the school received a letter from the Big West Conference, prompted by a charge by the University of San Diego that Irvine made more than the allowable number of contacts with Love.

“I don’t foresee any problems,” said Barbara Camp, an Irvine assistant athletic director who is preparing a response.

If there were an infraction, it would be handled on the conference level, not by the NCAA office.

Irvine’s Big West Conference scholar-athletes are Buffy Rabbitt, a senior track and cross-country All-American, and Pablo Yrizar, a sophomore water polo player.

Rabbitt, majoring in psychology and comparative literature, finished fourth in the NCAA cross-country championships last fall. She also was Irvine’s women’s Big West scholar-athlete in 1989.

Yrizar, majoring in economics, was the second-leading scorer for the water polo team despite missing the last 11 games with a broken finger. He was a member of Irvine’s 1989 NCAA championship team, and also is on Mexico’s national team.

Anteater Notes

Chris Huber, a right-handed pitcher who began the baseball season by winning his first three decisions, lost his first game last week. . . . Steve Ott, batting .340, is Irvine’s leading hitter. . . . Buffy Rabbitt won the 1,500- and 3,000-meter races in a track meet last week, missing the NCAA qualifying time by less than a second in the 1,500, finishing in 4 minutes 23.48 seconds. Traci Goodrich ran a personal best of 17:25.5 to win the 5,000, and Shelly Tochluk ran a personal best 55.17 to win the 400 meters. . . . Brett Hansen-Dent, a freshman tennis player ranked No. 32 in the nation, defeated UCLA’s Jason Netter in straight sets Saturday. Netter was the NCAA singles title runner-up last season. . . . Jeff Klatt, a junior, was the top Irvine finisher at the Big West swimming championships, finishing second in the 200 butterfly and third in the 100 butterfly. None of Irvine’s freshman swimmers finished in the top three in any event, despite high expectations.