CSUN Hurting for Wins After Injuries Strike

Call it the Cal State Northridge cover jinx.

Of the three players featured on the cover of the Northridge women’s basketball media guide, only one, junior center Sandi Olson, is healthy.

The others, seniors Bridgette Ealy and Lisa Senette, each have played in just two games because they sustained injuries to their right anterior cruciate ligaments that could sideline them for the season.

The net result: an 0-9 start for the Matadors.

Ealy’s injury, sustained during the Wolf Pack Thanksgiving tournament in Reno, was the biggest blow to the Matadors’ fortunes. Ealy led the team in rebounding, assists and shooting percentage last season and was the player the Matadors could turn to for instant offense.

“It’s almost like we have had to go back to (Oct. 15, the first day of practice),” Coach Janet Martin said. “We’ve had to learn how to play our system all over again. We have to play a different style now. A very slow, controlled game.”

With opponents such as USC, UCLA and San Diego State ahead of them, the Matadors will have to learn quickly.

“It’s going to be a challenge that we all have to step up and face,” said junior forward Jody Bittner, who led CSUN with 16 points in an 85-51 loss to Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday. “We just have to get it in our heads that we are here to play.”

At least Olson is still around and playing well. She leads the Matadors in scoring (8.0-point average) and rebounding (6.2).

JUMP START

Antelope Valley’s Chris Walters, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard, has jumped to a good start--in more ways than one.

Walters, a former All-Southern Section player at Antelope Valley High who played sparingly at Texas El Paso last season, is averaging 20.7 points, 4.4 assists and 2.3 steals for the Marauders (3-4).

But perhaps Walters’ most impressive number--his vertical leap--remains a mystery.

While in high school, it was determined that Walters had a 44-inch vertical leap. Last season at UTEP, he recorded a jump of 46 inches.

And this year? “I don’t know, and I’m scared to look,” Walters said last week after soaring to a show-stopping, alley-oop dunk during the first round of the Antelope Valley tournament.

The alley-oop play does not always result in two points, but when guard Tracy Acquaah lofts a pass that leads Walters perfectly, all opponents become onlookers.

“I keep telling (Acquaah) you don’t have to make it a perfect pass; just throw it, and I’ll catch it,” said Walters, who will get a chance to work the play today when Antelope Valley opens play in the Merced tournament.

LEARNING THE ROPES

The surprise team of the Antelope Valley tournament was Canyons, which pushed Sequoias to overtime in the championship game before falling, 78-74.

With sophomores Reggie Bell, Marquis Wilborn and David Langley leading the transition game, Canyons (6-2) scored impressive victories over Merced and Antelope Valley to reach the tournament final for the first time since 1980.

But Canyons, the defending Western State Conference South Division champion, also displayed an effective inside game when 6-9, 260-pound freshman Jason Joynes was inserted in the lineup along with 6-5 Jeff Dorst and the 6-4 Bell.

Joynes, who came to Canyons from Adelaide, Australia, blocked five shots in one game and averaged nine points a game in the tournament in limited action.

“I think he’s going to get stronger and stronger,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said of Joynes, who did not play high school basketball. “He’s over here learning American basketball. He’s looking to learn the game here and go back to play pro (in Australia).”

ON THE WAY UP

Nobody is predicting a worst-to-first turnaround a la the Minnesota Twins, but the Glendale College women’s basketball team is taking significant steps on the road to respectability after last season’s 0-22 campaign.

Second-year Coach Kathy Pudelko, who had to seek non-basketball players to field a team in 1990-91, has a new group of players and some encouraging results.

The Vaqueros beat Desert, 62-58, last month for their first win and improved to 3-4 after beating MiraCosta, 57-43, on Saturday.

Freshman guard Stephanie Ball from Duarte High recorded 10 steals against MiraCosta.

BATTLE CRY

Brandon Battle, a 6-7, 190-pound sophomore forward whose career at Cleveland High was interrupted by academic ineligibility, averaged 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench in three games for Santa Monica City during last week’s Antelope Valley tournament.

ONE OR THE OTHER

When Moorpark met De Anza in the state junior college women’s soccer championship Saturday, a former Simi Valley High player was assured of winning a championship.

Moorpark midfielder Liz Albin and her De Anza counterpart, Cristine Spencer, both 1991 Simi Valley graduates, played integral roles on Pioneer teams that advanced to the Southern Section 4-A Division final in 1989 and ’90 before losing to Capistrano Valley (4-3 in overtime) and El Toro (3-1), respectively.

So when Moorpark defeated the Dons, 2-0, at El Camino College, Albin could finally celebrate. “It’s about time for a championship,” she said.

Ron Twersky, Mike Glaze and staff writers Theresa Munoz, John Ortega and Wendy Witherspoon contributed to this notebook.