COLLEGE DIVISION NOTEBOOK : Women’s Basketball Rejoins Chapman Tournament Field

Call it the championship of men’s college basketball in Orange County--sort of.

With apologies to UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and Christ College Irvine, which weren’t invited, Chapman will play host to Southern California College and Pacific Christian Friday and Saturday in the Doubletree Classic.

UC Davis plays Southern California College at 4 p.m. in the first round of the tournament at the Hutton Center. Chapman plays Pacific Christian at 8 p.m. The championship game is scheduled at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Chapman has made a couple of changes for the tournament, which is in its third year. After a year’s absence, women’s basketball rejoins the tournament. Chapman will play St. Thomas (Minn.) at 6 p.m. Grand Canyon plays Cal State Hayward at 2 p.m. The title game will be Saturday at 6 p.m.

The tournament, which has usually been held Thanksgiving weekend, was moved up a week to give Chapman students an opportunity to see the teams play before they leave for the holidays.

“What we wanted to do this year is try to kick off the basketball season with some enthusiasm,” Chapman Athletic Director Dave Currey said.

Southern California College men’s basketball Coach Bill Reynolds is still wondering how his team, picked to finish fifth in the NAIA District 3, defeated Biola, the consensus favorite, 81-73, in the Vanguards’ opener Saturday.

Not only did the victory come at Biola but the Vanguards were playing without three players who were suspended for the game. Point guard Edmond Johnson, 6-foot-8 center Darrin Kramer and junior guard Pat O’Curran were held out for breaking a team rule. Kramer’s absence would seem to be especially difficult to overcome because Biola’s front-line stands 6-10, 6-9 and 6-6. Reynolds moved Keith Randolph, a 6-4 forward, to center for the game.

However, 6-10 Emilio Kovacic fouled out after scoring nine points and although 6-9 Jeff Baker scored 21 points and 6-6 Rodney Camper scored 16, Biola didn’t exploit the size advantage as well as Reynolds had expected.

“I don’t know who was more surprised, us or them,” Reynolds said. “It was a real unusual game in many ways but our kids played as hard as they’ve ever played and I guess that paid dividends.

“Biola didn’t look like they were playing with a whole lot of intensity, at least not the way they usually do, so I think that may have had something to do with it.”

Randolph, a transfer from MiraCosta, led all scorers with 24 points and guard Rick Witmer, who sat out last season, had 15 points and nine rebounds.

“I guess our kids believed more in themselves than the coaching staff did,” Reynolds said. “As long as we look at this as a starting point and not a pinnacle we’ll be all right.”

The Vanguards will get another chance to play over their heads Friday in the first round of the Doubletree Tournament.

“We’re just going to savor this one for the next 24 hours and then we’re back to reality against UC Davis,” Reynolds said.

The outside chance of the Chapman women’s volleyball team to qualify for the NCAA Division II playoffs was crushed when the Panthers lost two matches last weekend.

Friday, Cal State Dominguez Hills upset No. 19 Chapman in four games and Saturday No. 4 Cal State Bakersfield beat Chapman in three games--17-15, 15-10, 16-14--although the Panthers took leads in each game.

Chapman (20-17, 7-5 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.) dropped out of the top 20 in the poll released Wednesday. Although the Panthers were among the others receiving votes, the NCAA will pick only 20 teams when the tournament’s field is announced Sunday.

SCC junior Amber Coley finished 73nd of 343 runners at the NAIA national cross-country championships Saturday at Wisconsin Parkside in Kenosha. Coley, who graduated from Dana Hills High, finished the five-kilometer race in 19 minutes 49 seconds.

“We were hoping for top 75, so she barely sneaked in and we’re happy with that,” SCC Coach Bryan Wilkins said. “She’s got one more year and we’d love to crack the top 30, which would be All-American. Probably, that’s what our goal will be next year.”

Wilkins said the women’s team will have a good chance at qualifying for the national championships for the first time in school history next season. Because Westmont (seventh) and Point Loma Nazarene (10th) both finished in the top 10 nationally, the District 3 will be able to send three teams to Kenosha. This season, SCC finished in fourth place in the district, 11 points behind Azusa Pacific.

College Division Notes

Christ College Irvine women’s volleyball player Miriam Paulus was selected to the All-NAIA District 3 second team.