Abraham Will Try to Lead Northridge Out of Wilderness : Women’s basketball: New coach may not be Moses but he should improve on last season’s 1-26 record. Former Oregon State assistant has 10 returning players.

As the Cal State Northridge women’s basketball team prepares to begin its season Friday night, one thing is almost certain: The Matadors will be better than last year.

They couldn’t be much worse.

When he inherited a 1-26 squad, Coach Michael Abraham figured he would find a glorified high school team. But it hasn’t been that bad.

“They are a lot better group of players than I was expecting to find when I got here,” said Abraham, who as an assistant helped lift Oregon State from obscurity into the top 25. “There are obviously some inherent weaknesses, but their strengths lead me to believe we can put together a very good season.”

Abraham’s definition of “very good” is 10 victories. The Matadors begin their 26-game schedule at 4 p.m. PST Friday against Columbia in New York.

Northridge has 10 returning players. The Matadors’ starting front court includes three players who started more than half the games last season--seniors Carrie Dormire and Maureen Batiste and sophomore Tannea Nelson.

Dormire, who averaged 9.3 points and was an all-conference pick, and Batiste, who averaged 6.3, are the leading returning scorers.

But Dormire, who set a school record by making 42 three-point shots, has been moved from shooting guard to forward.

Replacing her at guard is Sarah Hagman, a sophomore from Crescenta Valley High. Hagman missed most of last season because of a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament.

The only newcomer in the starting lineup is point guard Tammie Mills, a sophomore transfer from Harbor College. Pam Karbowski, the American West Conference freshman of the year, played point guard for Northridge last year, but Abraham said Karbowski’s skills are best-suited for another position.

“Tammie Mills might be the most-important ingredient we lacked last year,” Abraham said. “Tammie is a true point guard. She is extremely quick. I’ve watched several games on TV and she is as quick as any kid in the country.”

The Matadors will need Mills to speed the ball up the court because Northridge doesn’t have the size to play a half-court game. Batiste, at 6 feet 1, is the tallest starter.

“Right now that’s a glaring weakness,” Abraham said. “We don’t have a dominant center to block shots, a low post player you really have to concentrate on stopping.”

In order to open up the middle, the Matadors will need three-point shooting from Dormire, Hagman and Lisa Vaillancourt.

Northridge shot a respectable 34.5% from three-point range last season, but the problem was that the Matadors shot only 37.6% on all field-goal attempts. Northridge also shot a dismal 51.2% from the free-throw line.

Abraham said he will use a variety of defensive schemes to keep opponents off balance.

“If we can’t out-quick or out-talent teams we are going to throw in enough different looks to confuse them,” he said.

Because the team is still young and learning new systems, Abraham conceded that it’s probably good that Northridge is playing a schedule that includes no top 25 teams. The best opponents are Santa Clara, UC Santa Barbara, San Diego and Texas El Paso, Abraham said.

“When you’ve had as little success as we’ve had, it’s important to get some W’s under your belt, even if you aren’t playing that high-caliber of a schedule,” he said.

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CS Northridge Women’s Basketball

Roster

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No. Name Ht. Pos Class Hometown (Prvs School) 3 La Toya Ward 5-4 G Fr. Ashburn, Va. (Broad Run) 4 Pam Karbowski 5-7 G So. Santa Rosa (Ursuline) 13 Sherry Ramirez 6-3 C So. Ontario (Ontario) 15 Tannea Nelson 6-0 G So. Richmond (El Cerrito) 21 Lisa Vaillancourt 5-8 G So. Novato (Novato) 22 Tammie Mills 5-3 G So. Bakersfield (Harbor JC) 23 Kanika Means 5-11 G/F Sr. Inglewood (Inglewood) 24 Chelsea Cooper 5-4 G Fr. Rialto (Eisenhower) 30 Sarah Bell 6-3 F So. Oakland (Holy Names) 31 Brandy Irby 6-0 F Jr. Sacramento (Sacramento CC) 32 Sarah Hagman 5-9 G So. La Crescenta (Crescenta Valley) 33 Carrie Dormire 6-0 F Sr. Healdsburg (Healdsburg) 34 Maureen Batiste 6-1 C Sr. Long Beach (Poly) 35 Cathy Mahoric 6-1 G/F So. Santa Cruz (Harbor) 41 Kim Butler 6-1 F/C So. Salt Lake City (Pierce)

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Schedule

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Date Opponent Time Friday at Columbia 4 p.m. Saturday vs. Central Connecticut at Columbia 2 p.m. Nov. 30 CS Dominguez Hills 7 p.m. Dec. 2 at Northern Arizona 6 p.m. Dec. 5 at Pepperdine 5:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at Idaho# 6 p.m. Dec. 9 CS Sacramento/San Jose St.# 5/7 p.m. Dec. 16 at CS Fullerton 5 p.m. Dec. 19 Long Beach State 7 p.m. Dec. 28 Pacific 7 p.m. Dec. 30 Eastern Washington 2 p.m. Jan. 2 at Fresno State 5 p.m. Jan. 4 Santa Clara 7 p.m. Jan. 6 Navy 5 p.m. Jan. 9 at San Diego 7 p.m. Jan. 15 at Texas-El Paso 7:30 p.m. Jan. 19 at Cal Poly SLO* 7 p.m. Jan. 22 at Loyola Marymount 7:05 p.m. Jan. 27 at Southern Utah* 4:30 p.m. Jan. 31 CS Los Angeles 7 p.m. Feb. 7 The Master’s 7 p.m. Feb. 10 CS Sacramento* 5 p.m. Feb. 14 UC Santa Barbara 5 p.m. Feb. 17 Cal Poly SLO* 5 p.m. Feb. 22 Southern Utah* 7 p.m. Feb. 24 at CS Sacramento* 5 p.m. Mar. 1-2 AWC tournament at Northridge TBA

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*American West Conference game

#Idaho tournament

All times Pacific