Parker Gets a Welcome Visitor

Things were not going well for Lamarr Parker in his first regular-season college start Nov. 22 against San Diego State. He was pressing--and men’s basketball Coach Rod Baker was stressing--while the Anteaters were bumbling through their offense.

Parker inherited the point guard job from Raimonds Miglinieks, who’s now in the Continental Basketball Assn. Parker had one assist and seven turnovers in the first half.

The Anteaters fell behind, 23-6, and Parker went to the bench dejected with six minutes left in the half.

“I felt someone pat me on the back and when I looked up, it was Raimonds,” said Parker, a sophomore. “It was like seeing a ghost, definitely a friendly one. He said, ‘Don’t worry about it. It’ll get better.’ ”

Not exactly a Knute Rockne speech, but it helped Parker recover from his rocky start.

He had three assists and three turnovers in the second half. Not dazzling numbers, except when compared with the first half. The Anteaters pulled to within eight points before losing, 100-88.

For Parker, it was a game to put in the past. Seeing Miglinieks was the boost he needed.

“I didn’t even know he was there,” Parker said. “I guess he was sitting up in the stands and came down to the bench just to talk to me.

“Seeing him calmed me down. I remembered seeing him struggle a couple times last year. Then he would come back and have great games.”

Miglinieks, a two-year starter, averaged 8.5 assists to lead the nation last season. He also gave Parker private lessons in playing point guard.

“Each day was a struggle,” Parker said. “Sometimes I would catch myself watching him in practice. I was amazed at the things he could do.”

Parker needed some training. He had not played point guard since his freshman year at Archbishop High School in Far Rockaway, N.Y. He had been a scorer, averaging 26 points during his senior season.

But at 6 feet 1, his future was running the offense, not creating it. Of course, mostly what he did last season was sit and watch Miglinieks work.

“I don’t think Lamarr was ever content to play behind him,” Baker said.

Said Parker: “That’s right. I came here and thought I was going to play. I had never heard of Raimonds Miglinieks. Then I watched him and it was like, ‘Oh Raimonds, yeah, I understand.’ ”

Miglinieks, who graduated, is playing for LaCrosse (Wis.) and Parker has labored to fill the void.

It is still a work in progress. Parker had 10 assists against Global Sports in the Anteaters’ first exhibition game. He had four assists and five turnovers in the second exhibition against Telecom. That was followed by his performance against San Diego State.

“We had 24 turnovers and Lamarr was not responsible for them all,” Baker said. “The first half was over, he couldn’t get it back. We needed him to understand what happened and not make the same mistakes.

“He’s going to get better and better and we’ll get better and better.”

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Planes, trains . . . and train some more? The Anteaters, who played Washington State Monday night, had to travel Sunday, the last day of the Thanksgiving weekend. They had a one-hour layover in Oakland and a 1 1/2-hour bus ride from Spokane to Pullman.

Then Baker took the team straight to Washington State’s Friel Court for a three-hour practice.

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Leticia Oseguera was named all-tournament in the GTE Shootout in Santa Barbara last weekend and is the leading scorer on the women’s basketball team. Her success is directly related to the play of the team’s four freshmen.

Megan Stafford, Shannon Anders, Kirsten Cappel and Chelsea Mackey have been as good as advertised. They have scored 98 of the Anteaters’ 199 points.

Stafford, Anders and Cappel have all won spots in the starting lineup. Stafford and Cappel are averaging 14.5 points. Cappel is also averaging 8.5 rebounds.

They have opened things up for Oseguera, a 5-11 junior forward. She is averaging 16 points and 9.5 rebounds.

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Olympic note: Amanda Beard will be one of the swimmers featured in the Speedo Cup, which will be hosted by UCI Thursday through Saturday at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

Beard, who attends Irvine High School, will compete unattached. In the Atlanta Olympics, she won silver medals in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke and a gold medal in the 400 medley relay.

The meet will feature 20 women’s and 14 men’s teams.

Anteater Notes

Nicole Bucciarelli, the leading scorer on the women’s soccer team, was named third-team All-West Region by the National Soccer Coaches Assn. of America. Bucciarelli scored 17 goals this season.