Cuesta Tries Patchwork Funding Plan

The patches worn by the Cuesta women’s basketball team during the tournament at Orange Coast this past weekend weren’t very big but are causing a bit of a stir.

Several members of the team were wearing a two-by-four-inch patch advertising a cellular phone company. The college got a wavier from the state to wear the patches as part of a two-year pilot program.

The patch has brought about $5,000 to the program, according to a Cuesta spokesman, who said several colleges have faxed a copy of the rule in the state code that prohibits colleges from wearing sponsorship on uniforms. He also said a few players aren’t wearing the logos.

The college is testing the use of the advertisements to offset travel costs. Cuesta, located in San Luis Obispo, is within 100 miles of only one other community college.

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Headache: Hosting a 16-team tournament can be problematic, but for Fullerton women’s basketball Coach Joni Easterly, the frustrations have started before the event began.

The Lady Hornet Classic starts Friday, but the field has been reduced to 14 teams because of two late pullouts, including Golden West, which has announced it wouldn’t field a team this season.

This left Easterly to figure a way to set up a bracket that was as fair as possible. “It’s been driving me crazy,” she said.

The major benefactor of the new pairings is the winner of the Irvine Valley-Antelope Valley game. That team moves directly to Sunday’s semifinal round.

In first-round games involving county teams: Irvine Valley, the tournament’s defending champion, and Antelope Valley play at 6 p.m., and Fullerton and Napa Valley meet at 8 p.m. Umpqua (Ore.), which is coached by former Golden West coach Dave Strickland, plays Los Angeles Pierce at noon Friday.

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Men’s basketball: The eight-team Rancho Santiago tournament starts at 2 p.m. Friday. The semifinals are Saturday at 6 and 8 p.m. and the title game is at 7 p.m. Sunday.