Cal Poly Pomona Women Get Break

After winning an unprecedented 11th consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title last Saturday, the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team is in the midst of a break from play until the start of the NCAA Division II playoffs.

The Broncos, who have a 23-5 record and are ranked No. 15 in Division II, will not play their first postseason game until either March 12 or 13.

Considering that they have only eight players on their roster, that sounds like good news for the Broncos.

But longtime Coach Darlene May doesn’t know if she likes the idea.

“I guess it doesn’t hurt to have a little time off, but I don’t like having that much time off,” she said. “We have a few people who are banged up a little but we’d just as soon keep playing.”

It is not as if the Broncos are the picture of health. The team has been short-handed since forward LeeAnna Hiestand and center Danielle Malone were lost to knee injuries early in the season.

Among the team’s eight sound remaining players, center Mildred Conston and guard Sylvia Castaneda are nursing injuries.

“It’s just little things,” May said. “Mildred and Sylvia both have sore knees. So I guess it will help them to have the time off. It would be nice to be healthy going into a game for once.”

But the injuries apparently haven’t fazed Pomona in its quest for another conference title. In fact, the Broncos will take an 18-game winning streak into the playoffs.

“We kind of got our rotation down,” May said. “So everyone knows their roles and the minutes they will play. Everyone’s worked very hard to get to this point.”

May said she was also optimistic about the team’s chances in the Division II playoffs after its success in the CCAA tournament last week. The Broncos defeated Chapman in the conference semifinals, 74-55, and Cal State Dominguez Hills in the title game, 57-45.

“I was really pleased with the effort we gave,” she said. “I just hope we don’t lose our momentum with this time off.”

The Broncos are expected to play in the four-team West Regional along with Portland State, UC Davis and Alaska Anchorage. The official teams and pairings will be announced Sunday.

The Cal Lutheran men’s basketball team has earned a berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs, but the Kingsmen could have difficulty in their first game.

They will visit Division III power UC San Diego in the second round of the West Regional at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in La Jolla. Both teams received byes in the first round of the five-team regional.

Cal Lutheran, which wrapped up the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title with a 100-46 victory over Caltech last week, has a 15-11 record that includes two nonconference losses to UCSD. The Kingsmen lost by a 67-65 score in December at La Jolla and by an 83-71 margin in January at Thousand Oaks.

San Diego, ranked No. 3 in Division III with a 22-4 record, has a 17-game winning streak.

Cal Lutheran, which won the SCIAC title in its first season in the conference, has relied on the outside shooting of guard Jeff deLaveaga. The 6-foot-4 senior is the Division III scoring leader with a 29-point average.

On the surface, UC Riverside appears to be the favorite heading into the CCAA postseason men’s basketball tournament Friday and Saturday at Riverside City College.

The Highlanders, ranked No. 6 in NCAA Division II with a 22-4 record, are top-seeded in the tournament after winning the regular-season conference title last week. They will meet fourth-seeded Cal Poly Pomona (15-12) in the first round at 8:05 p.m. Friday.

In the other first-round game, second-seeded Cal State Bakersfield (21-6) takes on Cal State Dominguez Hills (16-11). The winners meet for the championship and the conference’s automatic berth in the Division II playoffs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

But Riverside has struggled late in the season with defeats in its final two regular-season games against Dominguez Hills and Cal State San Bernardino.

It will be a first for Christ College Irvine women’s basketball team when it competes in the NAIA tournament that starts Wednesday in Jackson, Tenn.

The Eagles will play fourth-seeded Wayland Baptist of Texas in the first round Wednesday. Christ (25-4) advanced to the 32-team national tournament by winning its first District 3 title with an 85-64 victory over Fresno Pacific last week.

Fresno Pacific (24-5) also qualified for the tournament as an at-large team and will meet 11th-seeded Auburn Montgomery in its opener Thursday.

Christ won the district title largely on the play of sophomore center Gitte Mejer, who averages 17.8 points and 8.6 rebounds.

The championship game of the single-elimination tournament is Tuesday.

Top-seeded Biola will be a heavy favorite when the NAIA District 3 men’s basketball tournament opens with four games at 7:30 tonight.

Biola, ranked No. 5 in the NAIA with a 28-3 record, wrapped up the best record in the district with easy victories over The Master’s (99-73) and Bethany (105-70) last week.

The Eagles will open district play against visiting Christ College Irvine. Other first-round games are Fresno Pacific at second-seeded Westmont, Cal Baptist at third-seeded The Master’s and Southern California College at fourth-seeded Azusa Pacific.

The semifinals are 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday at Whittier College and the championship game is next Tuesday at Whittier. The winner earns a berth in the national tournament that starts March 17 at Kemper Arena in Kansas City.