SIDELINES : Luck of the Irish Was Nothing but Bad

Oh those best-laid plans.

Sometimes they just don’t work out at all.

Everything seemed to be falling into place for Shane O’Doherty, who took over as starting center for the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team four games ago.

With Northridge’s trip to Pullman, Wash., for a game against Washington State coming up, the promotion couldn’t have come at a better time.

O’Doherty’s brothers, Tim and Shannon, own a bar and grill in Spokane, about 90 miles away. It’s called--what else?--O’Doherty’s Irish Grill.

He knew he would have a large rooting section on hand at Washington State, and he did--a boisterous entourage of about 45.

And oh what a show they might have witnessed. If only O’Doherty could have coaxed a few more shots to go in.

O’Doherty, a 6-foot-11 senior, popped loose for several open shots early in the game.

None of them went in.

By halftime, he had missed all five of his shots, and he lost his spot in the lineup that started the second 20 minutes.

O’Doherty made his last three shots, but the effort was too little, too late. Northridge was blown out, 106-59.

“Once that happened we just gave up,” O’Doherty said of his and his team’s shooting struggles in the early going. “We were out there physically, but mentally our heads went away.”

Dynamite debut: Guard Juni Williams last week became the first freshman in the history of Burbank High to start a boys’ basketball game. In the first quarter of the 74-64 victory over Burroughs, Williams had two three-point baskets. He finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Scab picking: Don’t count Roland De La Maza among those willing to become replacement players for the striking major leaguers.

The Cleveland Indian farmhand, a former St. Genevieve High and Cal State Sacramento standout, said he wouldn’t want to deal with the aftermath once the strike is settled.

“I don’t feel it’s right,” De La Maza said. “If I ever get the chance to make it up there, I wouldn’t want to face those (major leaguers) as a scab.”

De La Maza, a right-hander, last season had a record of 13-2 with an earned-run average of 2.96 for Columbus of the Class-A South Atlantic League.

Rough road: After starting the season with seven consecutive victories, the Glendale College men’s basketball team has taken a 3-11 plunge.

The Vaqueros have lost players due to injury and others because they quit. Now their problems have stretched beyond the court.

Last week, one of two vans carrying team members and coaches to a game in Bakersfield broke down on the Golden State Freeway near Valencia. The 16-person entourage had to pile into the only working van.

“We had no choice,” Coach Brian Beauchemin said. “We would have been late for the game.”

It wasn’t the first time Beauchemin and the Vaqueros had trouble on a trip to Bakersfield.

“One year it snowed and we almost got stuck there,” Beauchemin said, laughing. “Another year it was real windy and we had to pull over for a while.”

Bakersfield didn’t have much sympathy for the Vaqueros, downing them, 88-70.

Road warrior: To look at preseason softball rankings, Cal State Northridge’s second-place finish in last year’s Women’s College World Series is all but forgotten.

Northridge, which opens against UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 4, is ranked 10th in the nation by College Sports magazine.

First-year Coach Janet Sherman isn’t complaining.

Northridge lost eight starters--plus 13-year Coach Gary Torgeson--and Sherman knows that Easy Street is not exactly around the corner.

“Ten is all right (considering) what we lost,” she said. “We know we gotta prove ourselves and that there’ll be paybacks from the past. Everyone will be out to beat us for last year.”

Quotebook

“Do you realize we are oh for January?” said College of the Canyons men’s basketball Coach Lee Smelser to assistant John Clark.

In late December, when Canyons played in the title game of its own tournament, the Cougars seemed on the verge of stringing together a few victories. Since then, they have a streak going, just not the kind they wanted.

The Cougars have not won since Dec. 28, when they defeated El Camino, 68-53, in the semifinals of the Canyons tournament. The next day they lost the championship game to Antelope Valley, 91-83, and have dropped six consecutive games.

Stats

When the Rio Mesa High wrestling team pinned a 34-28 loss on rival Ventura last week, one of the longest winning streaks in Ventura County history came to a halt.

Ventura had not lost in Channel League competition since 1989, a string of 31 dual meets.

Shut out: Peter Micelli, reserve post player on the Northridge men’s basketball team, was held scoreless against Cal, snapping a streak of 67 games in which he scored. Micelli rebounded three days later against Washington State, posting 20 points.

Record bound: Notre Dame’s girls’ basketball team is on pace to shatter the school’s team defense record. The Knights are yielding 39.6 points a game, almost nine points below the standard of 48.5. Notre Dame has limited opponents to six points or fewer in a quarter 21 times.

Things to Do

Kennedy will meet Taft today at Taft in a 4 p.m. Northwest Valley Conference girls’ basketball game which could ultimately decide the championship. North Hollywood travels to Sylmar at 4 today for a girls’ game of equal importance in the Valley Pac-8 Conference.

Compiled by Mike Hiserman. Contributing: Dave Desmond, Fernando Dominguez, Dana Haddad, Vince Kowalick and Paige A. Leech.