Ayres Sees Her Basketball Team Improving

Deborah Ayres, the Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball coach, has no problem pointing out where the Titans will need to improve this season.

“In most of our games last year, we were fairly even with the teams we played in shooting percentages, on both field goals and free throws,” Ayres said.

But when it came to rebounding and turnovers, well, that was another story.

A week into preseason workouts, however, Ayres is optimistic of improvement in each area.

This team is the tallest in Ayres’ five seasons at Fullerton. Dee Braxton, who emerged as a force inside during the second half of last season as a freshman, is back at center. Braxton is 6-0 and freshman forward Jackie Bucher, regarded as a potential starter, is 6-1.

Andrea Thieme had growing pains as the starting point guard last season as a freshman, but Ayres expects her to be more consistent with a year of experience.

“She had problems with turnovers last season, but she also was third in the conference in assists,” Ayres said. “And she definitely improved as the season went along.”

Ayres also expects this year’s team to have more scoring balance.

A year ago, the Titans relied heavily on senior guard Shayla Bradshaw, who averaged 18 points. Braxton was the only other player who averaged in double figures at 13.4.

Ayres also believes community college transfer Kristin Sigg of Glendale, Ariz., will help the scoring. “After losing Shayla, we knew we needed to bring in someone who could step in right away and help us from a scoring standpoint,” Ayres said. “We feel she can do that. And I think Braxton is capable of averaging in the 18-point range.”

The Titans were 7-20 last season, 4-14 in the Big West Conference.

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Coach Al Mistri thinks the 3-1 victory by the women’s soccer team against San Diego last week is an indication of how far the women’s program has come since it started in 1993.

“The first time we played them we lost, 8-0, then last year we won, 1-0, so we’ve done better against them each season,” Mistri said.

The three goals the Titans scored were the most San Diego has given up this season.

Mistri remains hopeful the Titans can break into the NCAA regional playoff field for the first time. “That would really help the program,” he said.

Despite the victory over San Diego, the Titans still aren’t in the regional coaches’ top 10, though they have won six consecutive games and are 12-3 for the season, 3-0 in the Big West. San Diego (9-3-1) is rated fourth.

Fullerton won, 3-2, Saturday at Utah State in a game played in 42-degree weather. Fullerton beat Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 1-0, at home Wednesday, and plays at UC Irvine (10-6-1) at 1 p.m. Sunday.

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The men’s soccer team was jolted by a 2-0 loss Sunday at UCLA after a 3-3 tie in overtime last week against Cal State Northridge.

Both were Mountain Pacific Sports Assn. games and ended Fullerton’s hopes of winning the conference championship and gaining the automatic NCAA regional tournament berth.

Fullerton (8-4-2) will need a strong finish in its last five regular-season games to earn an at-large selection.

“If we go 5-0 in those games we’ll definitely have a good chance,” Mistri said. “We still have a chance to show that we deserve to be in the field, although our region is very difficult because of the quality of the teams.”

Mistri hopes earlier victories over Fresno State and Santa Clara, teams in the same region, will help.

The Titans are ranked 25th nationally in the soccer coaches’ poll and 19th by Soccer News.

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The Titan baseball team will play an intrasquad game Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Titan Field, ending three weeks of fall workouts. It’s part of a “family fun day” beginning at 10 a.m. A free clinic for children 10 and older will start at 11 a.m.

Pitching coach Dave Serrano says returning starter Scott Hild, senior Matt Wise and junior transfers John Alkire and Brandon Duckworth have been the most impressive of the 14 pitchers on the roster after two weeks.

“Pitching is definitely going to be the key for us because it looks as though we’re going to be good offensively and good on defense,” Serrano said. “We still have a lot of work to do with the pitchers before the season starts, but we still have time.”

Titan Notes

Softball catcher Teresa Stippey, who was sidelined most of last season with a back injury, has decided to give up playing because of continuing back problems. She will be a team manager this coming season. Stippey was the starter in 14 of the first 16 games last season, hitting .231. Rocky Medina was the regular catcher the rest of the year, hitting .257, and will return at the position. . . . UCLA isn’t on the Titan basketball schedule this coming season, but Coach Bob Hawking says the Titans are scheduled to play at UCLA again in the 1997-98 season. . . . Heather Bassett continues to lead the women’s volleyball team in kills (4.7 per game) and digs (3.0). Melissa Blackler leads in assists (11.3). . . . Dolores Browning was named Big West women’s soccer player of the week. She leads the team in scoring with 34 points (14 goals, six assists). . . . Mark Kotsay is one of nine finalists for the Golden Spikes Award he won last year. The award winner will be named Nov. 12 in New York. Kotsay signed a $1.1 million contract with the Florida Marlins in August.