Plenty at Stake for Concordia, SCC

Concordia and Southern California College will likely meet with first place on the line, when the teams play Tuesday in a Golden State Athletic Conference women’s basketball game at Concordia. But Concordia may be short-handed.

Senior center Heather Carll, who leads the conference in rebounding (11 per game) and is second in scoring (15), pulled the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee last Saturday against Azusa Pacific and has missed two games.

Carll could be cleared by doctors to practice as early as today, but Concordia Coach Greg Dinneen said, “She is out indefinitely.”

In the meantime, Priscilla Bendik has filled in admirably for the Eagles, playing a season-high 35 minutes and finishing with 15 points and 12 rebounds in a 75-52 victory over Point Loma Nazarene Tuesday. Bendik also scored 16 points in a 93-62 victory over Christian Heritage Thursday.

Concordia has the weekend off prior to Tuesday’s matchup against SCC, which hosts Cal Baptist tonight.

SCC (16-4, 3-0 in conference) and Concordia (16-4, 3-0) are first and second in the conference in scoring offense, scoring defense and field goal percentage.

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Honors and records: Carll was named the GSAC’s player of the week. She had 37 points, 34 rebounds and three blocked shots in victories over Fresno Pacific and Azusa Pacific.

Carll had 16 points and 19 rebounds in a 66-63 victory over Azusa Pacific, which was ranked 25th in the nation.

Concordia men’s basketball player Kalim Scott broke a 12-year-old school record by grabbing 22 rebounds in Tuesday’s 76-53 victory over Point Loma. Derwin Appleberry had the previous record of 20.

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Bouncing back: The Chapman women’s basketball team scored only 21 points in the second half of a disheartening 90-49 loss to UC San Diego (13-3) last Saturday. But the Panthers (13-5) rebounded Tuesday.

Chapman recovered with a convincing 77-51 victory over SCIAC front-runner Pomona Pitzer (10-4). Lyndsay Brown scored 23 points and reserve April Abeyta scored 14 in nine minutes.

Chapman will get another shot at UC San Diego, Feb. 14 at Chapman.

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Home schedule: In men’s basketball, Adam Dzierzynski, who leads the conference in assists at seven per game, and SCC (12-9, 1-2) host Cal Baptist (10-8, 1-2) today, then play at Concordia (11-9, 2-1) Tuesday. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Christian plays Christian Heritage at Fullerton College at 7:30 tonight.