COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : With Recruiting, Cal Lutheran Women Become Concrete Success

It’s good to see the Cal Lutheran women’s basketball team finally having some success. The program, which has struggled tremendously in past years, has made quite a turnaround this season.

Cal Lutheran is undefeated (11-0) and off to its best start in school history. This week, the Regals won their first conference opener in four years.

And guess what? The victory was on the road. Cal Lutheran beat Whittier, 98-69, on Tuesday in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game.

The team’s problems started in 1991-92 when the program joined the SCIAC, an NCAA Division III conference. The Regals were 1-23 overall and 1-11 in their new conference.

There was little improvement the following seasons. In 1992-93, Cal Lutheran finished 8-11 overall, 3-9 in the SCIAC and last season the Regals were 8-15, 4-8.

It wasn’t exactly a program on the rise.

But Coach Tim La Kose, a Cal State Northridge graduate in his second season, figured out a way to turn things around. His was a plan sure to bring immediate success to a basement program.

He recruited.

La Kose brought in five new players, four of them taller than 6 feet and with college experience.

This team has more height and depth than any other in school history. It is dramatically improved in all areas. This group can play ball.

“There’s also great team chemistry,” said La Kose, a former boys’ assistant at Royal and Simi Valley highs. “Sometimes things just fall in place and that’s what’s happened to us.”

Four starters average in double figures. Sophomore forward Melissa Wood (5 feet 9) leads the team with 15.5 points a game.

She had 22 points against Whittier and 38 in Cal Lutheran’s 122-45 victory over Mills College on Jan. 6.

Oh, that’s another thing. This team can score. It averages 97 points a game and limits opponents to an average of 60.

Wood is a Thousand Oaks High graduate who attended Millersville University in Pennsylvania as a freshman but transferred because she was homesick.

Welcome home, La Kose says. Glad to have you back.

Junior point guard Nicole Albert (5-5) averages 15 points and nine assists. Senior center Kelli McCaskill (6-0) averages 13.9 points and 9.5 rebounds and sophomore forward Evi Orologas (6-1) averages 13.4 points and 11 rebounds.

McCaskill, a Canoga Park High graduate, also played at Pierce and Canyons junior colleges. Orologas, back from last season, came to Cal Lutheran from Terra Linda High in San Rafael.

Junior guard Michele Bennett is the only starter not averaging in double figures (6.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg), but she is a versatile and quick athlete who compensates with spectacular plays and tough defense.

Bennett is a transfer from Sierra College in Rocklin, Calif.

The Regals also have some top-notch backups such as senior guard Shani Smyth, (11.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg), a transfer from Pierce.

Then there’s 6-1 junior forward Janice Van Mourik (8.3 ppg, 6 rpg), a Saugus High graduate and transfer from Canyons.

“Our depth not only helps us in games but also at practice,” La Kose said. “The caliber of competition at practice is so great, it’s made us a lot better. It’s intense.”

This team has enough weapons to keep up its winning pace.

The success that has eluded the Cal Lutheran women’s basketball program finally has arrived thanks to a dedicated coach who pounded the pavement and got the players required to build a winner.

“It feels great. There’s no doubt about it,” La Kose said.