Northridge Hits a Rough Spot on the Road

The euphoria of winning four of their first five games after the resignation of Michael Abraham as coach has worn off the Cal State Northridge women’s basketball team. In its place is the reality of a difficult Big Sky Conference season ahead.

The wake-up call? Consecutive losses on the road to Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine and USC.

Guard Edniesha Curry is ninth in the nation with a scoring average of 24.9 and fifth in the nation with an average of 3.3 three-pointers per game.

But the lingering injury to forward Neda Milic, who hasn’t played since the opener, has weakened the Matadors inside. Northridge has been outrebounded, 367-299.

Bright spots for Northridge include point guard Tina Greer, who leads Big Sky players with 22 steals and averages 10.4 points, and forward Lynda Amari, a transfer from Ventura College who averages 10.1 points.

The Matadors (4-4) visit Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (5-3) on Saturday before returning home for a final nonconference tuneup Dec. 30 against Oral Roberts.

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Should we look for Northridge teams to sport more Reebok gear with linebackers coach Kevin Singleton leaving the Matadors to work for the company?

Northridge doesn’t have a global corporate contract for team shoes or uniforms, with the individual coaches lining up their own deals.

But Brian Swanson, Northridge’s assistant athletic director for external affairs, said it might be time for the department to look at getting a corporate deal with an athletic apparel company.

Singleton, a former All-Pacific 10 linebacker at Arizona, was a Northridge assistant the last two seasons.

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Good scoring balance and solid backups are among the reasons Glendale College men’s basketball Coach Brian Beauchemin gives for his team’s fast start.

“Our depth is much better than it’s been in the past,” said Beauchemin, who has 339 victories in 20 seasons with the Vaqueros. “We have experience with guys who came back and with some transfers.”

The Vaqueros were 7-3 entering a game against Victor Valley on Wednesday night in the Glendale tournament, which continues today and concludes Saturday.

Forward Steve Eernisse is averaging 13.4 points per game and guard Denny Ogden is at 12.6. Tony Hoggatts, an All-Western State Conference guard, is averaging 11.8 points and 5.3 assists.

“Our assists are high, which means we’re passing the ball,” Beauchemin said. “Hopefully we can take advantage of what we’ve got going into the tournament.”

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All-American tight end Mike Seidman of Westlake went on his first recruiting visit this past weekend to UCLA and came away impressed.

“It was fun,” he said. “UCLA’s players really get along well together.”

Seidman will visit Colorado this weekend, then has trips Jan. 8 to USC and Jan. 15 to Arizona State.

* Staff writers Fernando Dominguez and Steve Henson contributed to this notebook.