Lahanas Continues to Find a Way to Get the Ball

They’re double-teaming Koko Lahanas almost all the time now, occasionally even crowding three defenders in around her, but she continues to score.

Lahanas, star center for the Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball team, scored 48 points in a game against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last week. She is averaging 27.6 points this season, which is No. 1 in the Big West and No. 1 in the nation.

Lahanas also leads the Big West in field-goal percentage (59%).

Even when Lahanas has a below-par game, as she did last week when the Titans were beaten at Pacific, she managed to score 18 points. That’s her lowest point total since getting 16 in the third game of the season.

“With all the defensive pressure she’s been facing, we’re just going to try to do some things differently ourselves to keep getting her the ball,” Fullerton Coach Deborah Ayres said.

Although Lahanas is having a big year, she is well behind the school scoring record set by All-American Genia Miller in 1991. Lahanas has scored 634 points through 23 games. Miller averaged 29.4 points in 33 games, including three games in the Big West tournament and two in the NCAA tournament. Miller’s point total and average are Big West records.

Lahanas has three regular-season games remaining, at home against Long Beach State Friday and UC Santa Barbara Sunday before traveling to UC Irvine March 4.

Lahanas said she still is a little taken back by the 48-point night. “I knew I had 17 points at the end of the first half, and I felt I could do even better in the second half, but I really didn’t think that much about the number of points I was scoring until the players on the bench started standing up and cheering after every basket,” she said.

She went to the sidelines with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.

Lahanas already is looking forward to the Big West postseason tournament, and she hopes the Titans can be more of a factor than in the regular season.

“If the right team gets knocked off early you never know what might happen in the tournament,” she said. “But New Mexico State definitely is the team to beat and UC Santa Barbara is not that far off. They’re both well-rounded teams.”

Lahanas is hopeful the Titans will be stronger in the tournament because of the return of Autumn Hollyfield, who led the nation in three-point shooting last season but missed much of the regular season with knee surgery. Hollyfield made her first start since the injury in Sunday’s 86-82 loss at Nevada.

“Autumn’s doing well now,” Ayres said. “She had four three-pointers in six shots Sunday, and if we can count on between 12 and 20 points from her the rest of the way, when you consider the way Koko has been scoring, it will help us a lot.”

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Men’s basketball Coach Bob Hawking said he definitely spent a couple of sleepless nights after his team’s loss to San Jose State Saturday. San Jose is mired in last place in the Big West and was without a victory in 13 conference games before defeating the Titans, 86-77.

“We missed our opportunity to move up in the seedings for the Big West tournament,” Hawking said. “It couldn’t have happened any better in terms of the other games if we had taken care of business. It’s just something we’ll have to try to overcome in our last three games.”

Guard Brad Quinet, who scored 34 points in a one-man effort that carried the Spartans past Fullerton Saturday, made only five of 15 from the field and two of nine three-point shots the last time the teams played in San Jose. The Titans won that game, 69-60.

The Titans are tied for eighth place with UC Irvine, each with 5-10 records. Nevada Las Vegas is seventh (5-8) and UC Santa Barbara is sixth (6-8). Fullerton plays at Long Beach State Thursday and at UC Santa Barbara before closing the regular season at home against UC Irvine March 4.

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A new NCAA rule will allow college basketball coaches to work with players on an individual basis during the off-season, and Hawking believes that will help struggling programs such as Fullerton.

Hawking said the rule, effective next fall, will allow coaches to work on individual skills with up to three players. The NCAA rule will allow eight hours of off-season work a week for each player, but only two hours can be with a coach. And that is allowed only if it’s voluntary and the players request it.

“The rule doesn’t allow any team stuff, but it will allow more individual teaching, and I’m excited about that aspect of it,” he said.

Titan Notes

Titan baseball coach Augie Garrido had to miss Tuesday night’s victory over USC because of a sinus infection, but he expects to be back with the team for the Anaheim Hilton & Towers Baseball Classic at Titan Field Friday through Sunday. “I felt I’d better be careful with it because I’ve had pneumonia once before and I don’t want to take a chance on it developing into something worse like that,” Garrido said. . . . The Titan baseball team is ranked second in the nation this week in Collegiate Baseball’s poll and seventh by Baseball America. . . . Catcher Brian Loyd was nine for 14 in the Fresno State series last weekend and boosted his batting average to a team-leading .457. . . . The women’s gymnastics team, ranked 16th nationally, won a triangular meet with San Jose State and Sacramento State last Friday although Coach Lynn Rogers decided to rest Natalie Meyer and keep Cristi Clifford out of the vault and floor exercise. Both gymnasts have been troubled by minor injuries. Alexis Lott had a career-high 9.75 score on the uneven bars, and was 37.75 in the all-around. Clifford remains the team’s top all-around performer with a 38.68 average.