Lions Take a Youthful Approach : Loyola Women Try to Rebound From 11-17 Season

Despite losing the top two scorers to graduation and a prize recruit because of a shoulder injury, Loyola Marymount women’s basketball Coach Todd Corman is excited about the Lions’ 1991-92 season.

Few coaches would sound as enthusiastic if they were in Corman’s situation. Loyola has six freshman, no true center and a walk-on point guard. But the sixth-year coach is happy to be essentially starting over.

“Last year we had lots of ups and downs,” he said.

The Lions opened the 1990-91 season with a promising backcourt of off-guard Lynn Flanagan and point guard Kristen Bruich, but 10 games into the season, Bruich, a feisty, hard-nose player, quit the team. She played in the first half of a nonconference game against Cal State Northridge and didn’t return to the court after halftime. She later blamed her sudden departure on differences with Corman.

“When Kristen quit it was tough for the team to adjust,” Corman said.

With only two weeks left before the West Coast Conference opener, Corman started an inexperienced freshman, Christy Fortney, at the point.

“The turmoil just killed us,” senior forward Joelle Longobardi said. “We went from a senior leader to a freshman leader. That was thrown at us in the middle of the season. It was hard.”

Loyola’s season went downhill from that point. The Lions finished 11-17 and were seventh in the eight-member WCC.

This season’s team also has a tough road ahead. Gone is Flanagan, the school’s all-time scorer, and center Tricia Gibson. Flanagan, now an assistant, averaged 16.8 points and 5.2 rebounds and finished her career with 1,436 points. Gibson averaged 13.4 points and 9.9 rebounds.

The Lions have been picked to finish sixth in the WCC. They will start two seniors, two freshmen and a sophomore. In addition, Princess Murray, the former Morningside High standout who was expected to become the point guard, is out indefinitely because of a chronic shoulder problem. Murray was an All-CIF and All-Ocean League selection last season.

But Corman is hopeful some of his other recruits can develop quickly.

“This year is a year of rebuilding and transition for us,” he said. “We have two new coaches and lots of new players, but with the type of talent we brought in this year, we will be very competitive and hopefully a force in this league in the next couple of years.”

The 6-foot Longobardi and 5-9 Jamie Jesko are the team’s only seniors. Longobardi, who averaged 11 points and 8.9 rebounds, will start at power forward, and Jesko, who averaged 11.9 points and 6.8 rebounds, will start at small forward.

“Jamie brings leadership to this team and she always gives 110% on the floor,” Corman said. “Joelle is a great offensive rebounder and a great perimeter shooter.”

Fortney, a solid shooter and ball handler, will start at off-guard, and freshman Kim Cunningham, a walk-on, will start at point guard. Cunningham was a Street & Smith All-American honorable-mention selection last season at Lapwai High in Idaho.

“Kim brings lots of high school laurels with her, but she needs a little experience,” Corman said. “Unfortunately, she won’t get that until we start playing games.”

Freshman Desiree Warren, a 6-footer, will start at center, and freshman Miki Graf, who is 6-1, will back up Warren.

Warren was a second-team All-State selection last season at Georgetown High in Texas, and Graf was an All-State honorable-mention selection at Ft. Vancouver High in Washington.

Junior Nicki Rouillard, a junior college transfer from Kansas, will be a backup guard. Freshman Tanya White, an All-CIF player from Moreno Valley High, will be a backup forward.

“Our team strength, as opposed to last year, is our overall depth,” Corman said. “We don’t have any star players, but we have more players at more positions than we’ve ever had here. We can go at least two deep at every position, which is a luxury we’ve never had here before.”

Loyola also has its first full-time assistant in Shannon Boyd-Wright, who played basketball at league rival Pepperdine and was an assistant at Northridge last season.

“It helps tremendously to have a full-time coach,” Longobardi said. “It’s great during practice and it really makes a difference. This is a program on the rise. We’re going to improve game by game. We have nothing to lose.”

The Lions open the season Saturday at Southern California College. Their nonconference schedule includes games against Michigan State, Nebraska, San Diego State and Division II power Cal Poly Pomona.

Michigan, ranked among the nation’s top 25 teams, was picked to finish second in the Big Ten Conference, and Nebraska was picked to finish third in the Big Eight.

Loyola opens league play Jan. 16 at Portland. Santa Clara, the defending league champion, is the preseason favorite for the WCC title, and Pepperdine is picked to finish second.

The WCC women’s champion earns an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, a first for the league.