COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : Road Wins Spur Lions’ Fast Start

The Loyola Marymount women’s basketball team had a rough time on the road last season, but the Lions are having fun away from Gersten Pavilion this season.

A 3-1 road record is a big reason Loyola (4-1) is off to its best start since 1987. The Lions’ only loss was against highly regarded Michigan State in the final of last month’s Michigan State Holiday Classic in East Lansing.

Loyola’s road victories were against Southern California College (76-38), Chicago State (69-65) and Western Michigan (63-56). The Lions beat Southern Utah University, 70-65, at Gersten on Saturday.

Last season Loyola won once in 12 road games, a 95-93 overtime win at the University of San Diego on Feb. 21.

“I think the difference is that it’s early in the year, and we haven’t been thinking too much about where we’re playing,” Loyola Coach Todd Corman said. “Another thing is that we’re so young we don’t care. It’s a very young team, and it doesn’t matter to them where they play.”

Corman also said the Lions’ attitude is better than in 1990-91, when they finished 11-17 overall and 4-10 in the West Coast Conference.

“These kids have a winning attitude,” Corman said. “This is a team that if they’re down five or seven points with minutes to go in the game, they don’t feel they’ve lost. It’s still a very scrappy group, though. They dive for all loose balls.”

One of Loyola’s biggest nonconference games will be at 5:15 p.m. Friday when it plays host to Division II power Cal Poly Pomona. The Lions are 0-3 against the Broncos, but last season the team lost by only three points at Pomona.

“We think we have a better team than we had last year at this point,” Corman said. “If we maintain our composure, we have a great chance to beat them.”

Loyola senior Joelle Longobardi was named the West Coast Conference player of the week on Monday. The 6-foot forward had a career-high 34 points, 14 rebounds and five steals in the Lions’ victory over Southern Utah. She leads the team with a 20.8-points-per-game average and is second to Portland’s Martha Sheldon (23.6) in WCC scoring. Longobardi is fourth in career scoring at Loyola with 757 points and third in career rebounding with 526.

Longobardi, who has scored in double figures in each game, is becoming the team leader, Corman said.

“Joelle had an off-and-on road trip in Chicago, but she is much more relaxed here at home,” Corman said. “She was everywhere on the floor against Utah. I know that they went to her an awful lot, and that’s a sign of a team that knows what its strength is.”

Pepperdine women’s volleyball Coach Nina Matthies, a graduate of Mira Costa High, was named West Coast Conference co-coach of the year with Santa Clara’s Laurie Corbelli. Matthies, 38, led the Waves to their fifth consecutive WCC title and sixth consecutive playoff berth.

The Waves (23-8) were undefeated in conference and ranked 17th nationally. Pepperdine lost to national powerhouse UCLA, 15-3, 15-8, 15-11, in the first round of the NCAA playoffs last week at Pauley Pavilion.

The Waves might have been more competitive against the Bruins if WCC player of the year Carolyn Hueth, a West Torrance High graduate, was at full strength. Pepperdine’s standout setter and defensive specialist broke two fingers on her right hand Nov. 9.

“I am proud of this year’s team and everything it accomplished during the course of the season,” Matthies said. “It was unfortunate that Carolyn hurt herself so late in the season. That really changed the complexion of our entire team. Things may have turned out a bit differently if we had remained healthy down the stretch.”

As she does at the end of every collegiate season, Matthies will concentrate on her volleyball career. The former UCLA standout has been a highly ranked pro beach player since the Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. was established six years ago. She trains regularly in her hometown of Manhattan Beach.

Notes

Dominguez Hills midfielder Jennifer Grasso was named a first team All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Assn. The junior ended the season with 20 points, six goals and eight assists. . . . El Camino College strong safety Donovan Gallatin was named Mission Conference Northern Division defensive player of the year. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound sophomore was the Warriors’ only player named to the JC Grid-Wire All-American first team. Freshman Latario Rachal, who finished third in the state in all-purpose rushing at 197.6 yards a game, was a JC Grid-Wire honorable-mention selection. L.A. Southwest quarterback Jesse Wallace also made the Grid-Wire honorable-mention team. . . . The El Camino men’s soccer team (18-3-2 overall, 10-1-1 in South Coast Conference play) finished first in the conference. Harbor was second (14-5-4, 7-3-2). The El Camino women’s soccer team finished second in the Southern California Athletic Conference at 6-2. They were 20-2-1 overall.