CS Bakersfield in Familiar Role

Cal State Bakersfield’s men’s basketball team will be in a familiar position when it plays host to the NCAA Division II West Regional tournament Friday and Saturday.

It is the fifth consecutive season the Roadrunners have reached the Division II playoffs and the fourth season that the team has hosted the regional.

A victory in the regional tournament would move Bakersfield into the Division II national tournament March 26-28 in Springfield, Mass., for the third season in a row. The Roadrunners finished second in Division II in 1990 and reached the semifinals last season.

Bakersfield, 23-6, will take on Cal State Chico, 22-8, and second-seeded UC Riverside, 23-5, will play Grand Canyon, 20-6, during the first round. The winners meet for the title Saturday.

Despite being ranked as high as seventh in Division II in preseason polls, the Roadrunners had to settle for second place in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. for the regular season.

But Bakersfield appears to be peaking at the right time. The Roadrunners defeated Cal State Dominguez Hills, 71-51, in the semifinals and Riverside, 69-55, in the title game of the CCAA tournament last week.

Bakersfield is expected to receive its strongest competition in the regional from Riverside, which also is making its fifth consecutive appearance in the Division II playoffs. The best showing for the Highlanders was third place in 1989.

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team has won 18 consecutive games since a nonconference loss to UC Davis on Dec. 20 in Davis.

But the stakes will be considerably higher when the teams meet in a rematch during the first round of the NCAA Division II West Regional on Friday night at Portland State. Davis, which defeated Pomona in the first meeting, 85-54, is ranked No. 20 in Division II with a 24-2 record and Pomona is ranked No. 15 at 23-5.

In the other first-round game Friday, second-ranked Portland State, 27-2, will play host to unranked Alaska Anchorage, 19-8. The winners will meet for the regional title Saturday night in Portland, and the regional champion advances to the Division II quarterfinals next week.

Pomona will make an unprecedented 11th consecutive appearance in the Division II playoffs. The Broncos have advanced to the quarterfinals in nine of the last 10 seasons, have taken six trips to the Division II finals and have won three national titles.

Davis, which won the Northern California Athletic Conference, is led by junior center Aimee Conner and senior guard Lori Ann Donnell.

Pomona will counter with a front line of forwards Carrie Stritenberg and Leslie Ellis and center Mildren Conston. Stritenberg averages 16.9 points, and Conston, a transfer from Nevada Las Vegas, is the team’s top rebounder with a 10.3 average.

After its 88-70 upset of third-ranked UC San Diego during the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs Saturday, Cal Lutheran will be in an underdog role again when it travels to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., for the Great Lakes-West Sectional on Friday.

The unranked Kingsmen, 16-11 overall, will meet Otterbein of Ohio in their first game of the four-team sectional. Otterbein, ranked No. 13 in Division III with a 26-3 record, upset second-ranked Webster of Ohio, 80-73, in a second-round game last week.

In the other sectional game, Gustavus Adolphus, 22-6, will play host to top-ranked Calvin of Michigan, 27-1. The winners will play Saturday, and the sectional champion advances to the Division III final four tournament March 20 and 21 at Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio.

In ending San Diego’s 17-game winning streak, senior guard Jeff deLaveaga scored 32 points. DeLaveaga is the leading scorer in Division III with a 29.2 average.

The Biola men’s basketball team will be hoping for a berth in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics tournament when it faces Westmont in the NAIA District 3 final at 7:30 tonight at Whittier College.

Biola, ranked No. 4 in the NAIA with a 30-3 record, defeated Christ College Irvine, 87-55, in the quarterfinals and Southern California College in the semifinals, 85-72.

Among the leaders for Biola have been center Emilio Kovacic and forwards Rodney Camper and Mike Coffin. Kovacic, a 6-foot-10 senior who is a two-time District 3 player of the year, scored 25 points and grabbed 15 rebounds against Southern California College.

Westmont, which won the Golden State Athletic Conference title, is 20-10 after defeating Fresno Pacific and The Master’s during the district tournament last week. The team is led by center Greg Zuanich and forward Mike Spears.

College Division Notes

Marcia Murota, who guided the Cal State Los Angeles women’s basketball team to a 9-18 overall record and 2-10 in the CCAA as interim coach last season, will remain the team’s coach. Murota is a former player and assistant at the school. . . . The Pomona-Pitzer women’s basketball team was passed over for a berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs despite a 22-4 record and winning the SCIAC title for the second season in a row. The conference does not receive an automatic berth into the Division III playoffs in women’s basketball. With a mark of 11-1 in the conference, the Sagehens won the conference title by three games.

The most impressive College Division baseball team in the Southland so far has been Cal Lutheran. The Kingsmen are the only remaining undefeated team at 16-0 overall and 9-0 in the SCIAC.