Lightner Sniffed Out an Opportunity at PLNC

Rochelle Lightner turned out to be the University of San Diego’s loss and Point Loma Nazarene’s gain this season. After playing 2 1/2 seasons at USD, Lightner transferred to PLNC and was named the District 3 player of the year after averaging 18.3 points and 10.2 rebounds for the Crusaders.

But Lightner, 15th in career rebounds and 11th in career free throws for the Toreras, did not leave USD for the usual reasons--lack of playing time or poor grades. She left USD because her nose kept finding opponents’ elbows.

After breaking her nose five times, Lightner no longer could get medical clearance from USD to play.

“Our doctors concluded that if we let her play it could cause permanent damage,” said Brad Thomas, a USD assistant coach. “We didn’t want to lose her. We were going to give her a full ride and we wanted her to graduate, but she wanted to play. It turned out to be the best thing for her.”

Lightner, a 6-1 senior center from Torrance who sat out last season, kept her nose out of elbow range and led the Crusaders to a 20-7 record and semifinal appearance in the District 3 playoffs. In the Crusaders’ season-ending 87-70 loss to Fresno Pacific last Friday, Lightner finished her collegiate career with a 28-point, 14-rebound performance.

Lightner wound up leading District 3 in scoring and field-goal percentage (60.4%). She was second in rebounding and fifth in free-throw percentage (79%).

Thomas said he wasn’t surprised.

“Rochelle leads with her nose, but she’s a little higher above the elbows over there,” Thomas said. “She’s playing against people smaller than her. Here, she kept running into players that were 6-3 and 6-4.

“She’s a great player and we really missed her. She is a tremendous one-on-one player. She is almost unstoppable near the basket.”

Saipe comes out smoking: Mike Saipe, a freshman pitcher from University City High, has been nearly untouchable in his three starts for the Toreros (5-4). Saipe (1-0) has allowed only three earned runs in 21 1/3 innings for an ERA of 1.27. On Tuesday he was named West Coast Conference pitcher of the week. In all three starts, Saipe has pitched seven scoreless innings.

Saipe picked up his win with a four-hit shutout in a 7-0 USD victory Saturday at Cal Poly Pomona.

Cal State Fullerton is the only team to score on Saipe. The Titans touched him up for two homers and three runs in the eighth inning last week.

But Saipe has not been the only hot Torero. After a slow start, USD’s bats have come alive.

In their past four games, the Toreros are 4-0 and have banged out 49 hits and 41 runs. Before the streak they were hitting .208. They now are at .271.

Pope and Price make the grade: Dana Pope, who played at Mt. Carmel, and Jerome Price, who played at University City, were named to the Pacific Coast Conference All-League team.

Price, a 6-1 sophomore guard, averaged 24 points for Grossmont College. Pope, a 6-3 freshman guard, averaged 15.9 points and 8.9 rebounds for Palomar.

Terrence Gibson of Imperial Valley and Bruce Robinson of Southwestern were selected co-players of the year in the PCC. MiraCosta’s Clete Adelman was named coach of the year.

Tritons await third consecutive playoff berth: The UC San Diego men’s basketball team will gather at the Torrey Pines Inn Sunday to learn their fate via a satellite television hookup. First-round pairings and sites will be announced by Jeff Gamber, chairman of the Division III men’s basketball committee.

The Tritons (22-4) finished their season with 17 consecutive victories and are ranked third by the NCAA. Their last defeat came Dec. 30 to Washington, a Division I team.

“We haven’t lost a Division III contest now in 2 1/2 years in the regular season,” USD Coach Tom Marshall said.

UCSD is expecting to receive a No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the five-team West Regional. If that happens, the Tritons would play host for a second-round game on March 7 against possibly Cal Lutheran, Colorado College or St. Thomas (Minn.).

Did Marshall expect this kind of season? “No,” he said. “I was hoping to try to squeeze into the tournament with 16, 17 wins.”