Thieme Has Put In Her Time at Point Guard

When the Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball team opened its season Monday night by beating Oakland in overtime, point guard Andrea Thieme began her fourth season in the Titans’ starting lineup.

That made her the first four-year regular at the school since Shayla Bradshaw, who finished her career in 1996.

Thieme has never had to wait to play. She also started four consecutive years at Alameda High.

“It just happened that they really needed a point guard my freshman year at both places,” Thieme said.

But in each case, it was a growing process from untested freshman to senior leader. She said she has gone through some tough times early in her high school and college careers because of her inexperience.

“The last three years haven’t been great seasons, so I want to be able to go out with a good year,” Thieme said.

The Titans were 7-20 when Thieme was a freshman and 10-16 her sophomore season, failing to qualify for the conference tournament both seasons. Fullerton was 10-17 last year but made the postseason tournament in Denise Curry’s first year as coach.

Thieme already is closing in on becoming the school’s career assist leader and also is within easy range of joining 12 other Titan women players with more than 1,000 career points.

“She has been playing better than any time last season,” Curry said. “She looks solid. She’s really working hard, and we expect her to be one of our leaders.”

Thieme averaged 13.4 points with 101 assists last season, and reduced her turnover total from 180 as a sophomore to 148 as a junior. It was her second consecutive year scoring in double figures and her third season with more than 100 assists.

“Having a year under Denise’s style should help me and help the team this season,” Thieme said. “I think we have more depth this year, and that should help. We also have more strength inside than we had last year. It was hard to build any momentum last season because we had several injuries.”

Despite the problems, the Titans finished third in the Big West’s Western Division with 7-8 record, improving in the last half of the season. Thieme said Curry was a big factor in that improvement.

“She really knows the game, and I think we’ll benefit from her knowledge even more this season,” Thieme said. “She pushes us, and I think we’re all in better shape than at the start of last season. We also have more depth this year, and that should help too.”

*

Jenifer Martin, the cross-country runner who was hit by a car while training in Brea last week, is recovering well, according to Titan Coach John Elders.

The accident occurred when Martin and other members of the women’s team were running in a bicycle lane on a Brea street last Tuesday. Martin suffered a skull fracture, concussion and bruises.

Martin was discharged from UCI Medical Center last Friday. “The doctors expect a full recovery,” Elders said. Elders said Martin is expected to return to classes Nov. 30.

Elders said he plans to reevaluate the routes the teams use in practice because of the accident.

“This is the first time in 11 years we’ve had any kind of problem,” Elders said. “But we want to take whatever precaution we can in the future.”

The team has run on routes that include city streets only about once a week this season, Elders said.

*

It appears that broadcasts of the Titan men’s basketball games are going to be back on a commercial radio station this season.

An independent sports radio packager, Ronnie Wald, has put together a plan to broadcast games on KWRM (1370 AM) in Corona. Wald will do the play by play.

“We don’t anticipate any problems working out the final details, and the target date for the first broadcast is the St. Mary’s game on Dec. 5,” Titan associate athletic director Mel Franks said.

Titan games haven’t been on a commercial station since the 1994-95 season. Since then, all radio coverage has been on the Internet and on an audio-only basis on the campus television station.

The broadcasts will continue on the Internet and can be heard by accessing the athletic department web site (https://sports.fullerton.com) as well as on Broadcast.com.

Franks said the plan is for all conference games to be carried on the commercial station as well as the Web.

Franks said broadcasts of several women’s basketball games will be carried this season on the athletic department’s Internet site.

Titan Notes

Ticket prices for the men’s basketball home games this season have been reduced. The adult ticket for reserved chair-back seats has gone from $12.50 to $10, with those seats $7 for seniors and youth. Adult bleacher seats at both ends of the court have been reduced from $10 to $7. Bleachers are $5 for youth and seniors.