COLLEGES : Lions Had Their Roar Reduced to a Whimper

With two senior forwards and several talented freshmen, it appeared that Coach Todd Corman’s vision of turning around the Loyola Marymount women’s basketball program would finally materialize.

That vision was reinforced after the Lions won five of their first six games, including an impressive 70-62 victory over NCAA Division II powerhouse Cal Poly Pomona.

But the start proved to be nothing more than an illusion. The Lions would lose 20 of their next 21 games and finish with their worst West Coast Conference record in Corman’s seven seasons as coach.

The result was an 0-14 record and last-place finish in the eight-member WCC. Loyola was 6-21 overall, the worst season since Corman’s first (1985-86), when the Lions went 3-25 and 0-12.

The poor season can be traced to a series of injuries, the loss of a standout recruit and the need to depend on inexperienced players.

Although Loyola has not exactly been a WCC powerhouse, it has shown gradual improvement under Corman. In 1986-87 the Lions went 1-11 in league and in 1987-88 finished 5-9. Their best conference finish was in 1988-89 when they placed third with a 9-5 record.

In 1989-90 Loyola tied for third place with a 7-7 record and last season was seventh with a 4-10 record.

Loyola hasn’t won a WCC game since Feb. 21, 1991, when it beat San Diego State, 95-93, in overtime. The Lions have lost 15 consecutive conference games.

Their last victory was against lowly Cal State Northridge on Jan. 9 at Northridge. The Matadors, in their second season in Division I, finished 2-24. One of those victories was against Division II opponent Chapman.

Corman is on a recruiting trip this week and is unavailable for comment, but his assistant, Shannon Wright, said the Lions’ problems started around Christmas break.

“At that point the freshmen were not sure what was going on,” she said. “They lost confidence in themselves and each other. It was a rough year for them, but we got through it.”

The Lions’ fall actually started before the holiday break. In the first week of December, senior forward Jamie Jesko was lost for the season because of a back injury, and freshman point guard Princess Murray transferred to Cal State Long Beach.

Jesko, who was considered the team leader, averaged 11.9 points and 6.8 rebounds a game. Murray, Loyola’s prize recruit, was an All-Southern Section selection and the Ocean League player of the year at Morningside High in 1990-91.

The Lions also lost sophomore guard Christy Fortney for the last seven games because of a back injury. Fortney had started 17 games.

“It’s hard to pinpoint,” said forward Joelle Longobardi, the team’s only senior after Jesko was sidelined. “It seemed like each month a new thing happened. It was tough losing and doing so bad. It was really hard.

“I guess I see this season as more of a growth period than anything else. Basically we had lots of freshmen. It was an all-new team and I didn’t know anybody, so the chemistry I would say wasn’t quite there. Toward the end it got easier because we’d go into games with nothing to lose. There was no nervousness or pressure.”

Wright said that the Lions were overmatched in most games but that they always gave a 100% effort.

“We just didn’t have the talent or experience to beat some of those teams,” she said. “We played our last three games really hard. For a team to lose as much as we did and have as many problems, we really did try.”

The 1992-93 Lions are expected to be built around Jesko, who has been granted a redshirt season.

“We’re really optimistic about next season,” Wright said. “We’re actually glad the freshmen got to play even though it was rough for them. Hopefully, we won’t have any major tragedies next year.”

Despite Loyola’s disappointing season, the 6-foot Longobardi had a good season. She finished fourth on the school’s all-time career scoring list with 1,012 points and was named to the WCC honorable mention team earlier this week.

“I feel like I started the season really well, but then it seems like everything hit, and it hit me hard too,” Longobardi said. “There were games I didn’t play well. I think last year I had a better season.”

Longobardi led the Lions with averages of 13.8 points and 7.4 rebounds despite moving from power forward to small forward after Jesko’s injury. She earned WCC player-of-the-week honors early in the season.

“I guess the good thing is that maybe all the bad things that happened this year will help (the team) grow for next year,” she said. “Hopefully it will do some good.”

Longobardi, who will graduate in May, is eager to put basketball behind her. She has no plans to compete or coach.

“I’m looking forward to getting on with my life,” she said. “This is definitely the end of basketball for me.”

Rick Batt and Darvin Jackson have more than basketball on their minds, although it has been a big part of their lives for the past four years. Batt, a graduate of Rolling Hills High, and Jackson, a Serra High graduate, spent as much time in the library as the gym.

Both men recently completed their collegiate basketball careers at UC San Diego.

Batt, a 6-foot-7 forward, is a mechanical engineering major, and Jackson, a point guard, is a premed major who hopes to attend USC Medical School.

Although preoccupied with studying, the South Bay prep standouts had good athletic careers at the Division III college. Batt was second on the team in scoring at 13.2 points and averaged 6.6 rebounds. Jackson set a school career assist record.

Batt and Jackson served as team co-captains this season and helped lead the Tritons to the second round of the playoffs and a No. 3 national ranking. San Diego lost to Cal Lutheran University in the playoffs, but finished 22-5. Last season the Tritons were 23-4.

Notes

El Camino College forward Mark Johnson was named to the All-South Coast Conference first team. Sophomore forwards Tyrone Paul and Mike Reynolds were named to the second team. Johnson led the SCC in scoring by averaging 18.2 points a game and Paul led the conference in rebounding at 9.8. Paul, a Morningside High graduate, also averaged 13.2 points. Reynolds averaged 12.9 points and 7.8 rebounds. . . . Cal State Dominguez Hills forward Vince Washington was named to the All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn. second team and forwards Michael Moore and Segaro Bozart were named honorable mention.

Dominguez Hills pitchers Mark Tranberg and Tom Ball each have a 3-1 records. Ball leads the team with a 2.76 earned-run average and 28 strikeouts in 32 innings. Junior Armando Plascencia leads the Toros with two saves in three relief appearances. . . . The El Camino men’s golf team leads the seven-member SCC with a 4-0 record. . . . The El Camino women’s swim team is 2-0 with victories over Rio Hondo and Santa Monica. The men are 1-1 with a loss to Santa Monica and a win against Rio Hondo. . . . The Loyola Marymount men’s volleyball team earned its third victory on Tuesday when it defeated George Mason University. The Lions are struggling with a 3-18 record.