COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : Loyola Women Get a Pleasant Surprise in Center Brown

Before his team’s Dec. 1 opener, Loyola Marymount women’s basketball Coach Todd Corman said it would take “three to four games” before center Sheri Brown would become a steady contributor.

But Brown, who sat out last season, has been a surprise from the opening tip. The 6-foot-1 junior transfer from Fresno State leads the Lions in scoring and rebounding through two games.

Brown had 18 points and 11 rebounds in Loyola’s 67-36 victory over Cal State Northridge and 21 points and eight rebounds in a 59-45 loss to San Diego State.

“I still think she’s not nearly up to her capacity,” Corman said. “She’s still off to a slow start. She is only going to get better. She still makes mental mistakes and errors.

“As soon as she gets her feet wet and she becomes comfortable on the floor she will become more of a team leader.”

Brown red-shirted last season after transferring. At Fresno State, Brown was an All-Big West Conference honorable-mention selection as a sophomore in 1990-91. She led the Bulldogs in scoring (13.8 points a game) and rebounding (6.9 a game).

“She can be very good,” Corman said. “She has the capability of making other teams be so concerned about her that it helps the rest of our team. She makes everybody worry.”

Brown is featured on the cover of this season’s media guide along with Corman and players Nikki Rouillard and Jamie Jesko. The tri-captains appear on the end of Manhattan Beach Pier during sunset. Corman is pictured at their side in a suit and tie.

“Our sports information guy came up with the idea and the girls really like it,” Corman said. “The captains thought it was a great idea. But the first day the camera broke and it didn’t work so we had to go back a second day to get the picture.”

Rouillard is a 5-6 senior guard who transferred to Loyola before the 1991-92 season from Barton County Junior College in Great Bend, Colo. Jesko is a 5-9 senior guard who sat out last season because of a back injury.

At the start of the season, El Camino men’s soccer Coach Jim Millinder knew he had talented players, but with nine freshmen starting, he was somewhat skeptical about the chances of winning a state title.

But the Warriors overcame youth and the odds of playing every playoff game on the road. On Sunday, El Camino won its fourth men’s soccer state title in 10 years.

The Warriors beat Chabot College, 4-2, on a muddy Livermore field. David Kaemmerer scored two goals and Ceasar Macedo and Mauricio Escobar each scored one.

In Saturday’s semifinal game, El Camino upset top-ranked Deanza College, 2-0, to earn a spot in the final.

“We are a real Cinderella team,” Millinder said. “We had a lot of talent, but we also peaked at the right time.”

Kaemmerer, a midfielder from Palos Verdes High, was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Defender Jon Sibbald (Redondo High), midfielder Macedo (Leuzinger) and goalkeeper Mark Antrobiouse (Palos Verdes) were named to the All-South Coast Conference first team.

Kaemmerer, defender Mike Hartman and midfielder Escobar (Bishop Montgomery) were named to the league’s second team.

Millinder also coached the El Camino women’s team to a 16-3-3 record and the semifinals of the Southern California Regional playoffs.

Midfielder Natalie Sur (Hawthorne), defender Karri Middlebrook, forward Carolette Thomas (Hawthorne) and defender Michelle Moses (Miraleste) were All-SCC first-team selections.

Forward Marcelle Moses, forward Maria Steenburgh (South Torrance), midfielder Monique Camou (Torrance) and goalkeeper Bobbie Ross (Hawthorne) made the second team.

The Loyola Marymount women’s volleyball team ended the season with a 22-13 record after finishing second in its pool at the National Invitation Volleyball Championship tournament in Kansas City last week.

The Lions lost to Northern Illinois in five games and finished 3-1 in their pool. Northern Illinois lost to Washington State in the tournament’s championship match.

Notes

Loyola Marymount signed 5-foot-8 guard Amber Magner, a two-time all-state selection from Palmer High in Palmer, Ala. Magner averaged 17 points, six rebounds and six assists as a junior last season. . . . The El Camino women’s basketball team is ranked 17th in the JC Athletic Bureau’s state preseason poll. The Harbor women’s team is ranked 18th.

El Camino defensive lineman Ken Talanoa and wide receiver Latario Rachal were named to the JC Grid-Wire All-American first team. Tailback Ivan Wilson was an honorable-mention selection and quarterback Jerry Singleton, a pre-law major with a 3.6 grade-point average, made the JC Grid-Wire’s scholar-athlete All-American first team. . . Senior outside hitter Heather Perini was a bright spot on the Cal State Dominguez Hills volleyball team. The Toros finished 2-29 (1-11 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play), but Perini became the second player in school history to have 400 kills in a season. Perini finished with 411 kills in 118 games.