L.A UNIVERSITY BEAT / WENDY WITHERSPOON : With Bonvicini Gone to Arizona, CS Long Beach Women Struggle

The mystique of the Cal State Long Beach women’s basketball team has vanished.

Once, the nation’s top teams feared the 49ers.

But on Dec. 30, third-ranked Stanford (8-2) defeated Long Beach, 98-61.

Times changed for the 49ers when Joan Bonvicini, their former coach, left before last season for a four-year, $75,000 contract at University of Arizona.

When she left, the women’s basketball program that Bonvicini had built over 12 years at Long Beach seemed to crumble.

Bonvicini’s former assistant, Glenn McDonald, led the 49ers to a 21-10 record last season, with only a brief appearance in the national rankings, and Long Beach suffered its only first-round loss in the NCAA tournament in 11 years.

In the previous 12 years, Bonvicini’s 49er teams never lost more than nine games in a season, never finished lower than 18th in the rankings and twice advanced to the NCAA Final Four.

“It’s tough any time there is a coaching change,” Bonvicini said.

She should know.

At Arizona, Bonvicini took over a dusty, forgotten program. It is a program that will take time to resurrect. The Wildcats finished 9-19 overall and 3-15 in the Pacific 10 last season.

But Bonvicini seemingly can do no wrong at Arizona, currently 5-3, because it has nothing to lose. The same cannot be said for McDonald, but he says he is not bothered by the pressure.

“I don’t look at it as a being a big deal,” McDonald said, “because the most important factor is (Big West) Conference (games). Now, if we falter in the conference and start taking third and fourth place, then I might start to think I need to readjust.”

Long Beach (2-6) defeated UC Irvine, 82-74, on Saturday night in its conference opener.

McDonald has had to do some quick shuffling. Danielle Scott, who led the 49ers’ volleyball team to the NCAA Final Four this month, did not to return for her junior season in basketball.

Scott, 6 feet 2, was an honorable mention all-Big West Conference center last season.

After spraining her left ankle twice during volleyball season, Scott decided to sit out the basketball season to recover.

Also gone from last season are three starters who scored most of the 49ers’ points. They are Trise Jackson, last season’s leading scorer, forward Kari Parriott and center Bolivia Gaytan.

Without them, McDonald has a smaller lineup.

Marsheela Harriston, a 5-10 guard, is the best player remaining from the Bonvicini era, and Harriston is the most dominating Long Beach player. Against UC Irvine, she led the 49ers with 19 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists and three blocked shots.

McDonald’s best recruit, Princess Murray, was ineligible for the first six games of the season because she transferred from Loyola Marymount last year. Murray was an all-Southern Section selection and the Ocean League player of the year at Morningside High in 1990-91.

Murray started for the first time against Stanford, playing point guard as Harriston moved to off guard.

“(Long Beach is) struggling right now, but once conference hits I think they’ll do better,” Bonvicini predicted.

The 49ers will play host to Cal State Fullerton tonight at 7:30.

The Loyola Marymount women’s basketball team (7-3) has won more games this season than last, when it finished 6-21, its worst season ever.

The Lions are having their best start in a school history in which they have never finished higher than third in the West Coast Conference and have never advanced to the NCAA tournament.

This is the first season that the Lions have played all NCAA Division I opponents, including UCLA. Loyola Marymount lost to the Bruins, 81-47, on Saturday.

But two players new to the Loyola Marymount roster have the ability to take the program to a higher level. They are Sheri Brown, a 6-1 junior forward, and Amy Lundquist, a 6-5 freshman center.

“We’ve improved significantly, and mostly inside,” said Todd Corman, Loyola Marymount’s coach.

Brown was a redshirt last season after transferring from Fresno State, where she was named honorable mention all-Big West Conference in 1990-91.

Lundquist, from Frederic, Wis., adds height. She led Loyola Marymount with 15 points and 10 rebounds against UCLA (4-4).

The Lions suffered a setback, however, when they lost point guard Nikki Rouillard for the season because she injured her knee in a 60-53 victory over Buffalo on Dec. 30. Rouillard, a senior, was one of two returning starters for the Lions, along with Tanya White, a sophomore forward.

Marlee Webb, a freshman from El Paso, started against UCLA in place of Rouillard.

Loyola Marymount will play host to New Mexico on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The Pepperdine women’s basketball team (4-6) won its first four games for its best start in more than a decade. Then it lost its next seven.

The problem for Pepperdine has been rebounding.

“Our big people just are not doing the job on the boards for us,” Coach Ron Fortner said.

Barbara Tanner, a senior center, and Kelsey Kline, a senior forward, have not provided the necessary leadership. Through the first eight games, Tanner and Kline, combined for eight rebounds per game.

Pepperdine plays host to Fresno State on Friday at 7 p.m.