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Celaya Displays Twin Talents

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Anna Celaya’s numbers are impressive.

The Occidental guard’s 23.6-point average ranks third in the nation in Division III women’s basketball.

Celaya also leads the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in assists and steals, is fourth in free-throw percentage and rebounding, and fifth in three-point baskets per game.

But for Celaya, the reigning conference player of the year, the most impressive numbers are the ones she’s putting down on paper.

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A mathematics major, Celaya was one of only eight students in the nation to take part in the Research Experience for Undergraduates last summer at Michigan Tech in Houghton, Mich. It’s a program designed to give students experience in mathematical research.

Now Celaya hopes she can use that research to get published.

Celaya and a young woman from North Carolina are working on a project in the field of combinatorics, which deals with probability.

“We worked on a research project that we’re still writing up to be published in a mathematics journal,” said Celaya, who is in her final semester and applying for graduate school at Connecticut and New Mexico. “We talk on the phone, e-mail and send files to each other.”

And last week, Celaya’s interest in numbers paid off. She was awarded a fellowship by the National Physical Science Consortium. It pays her tuition for the next six years, gives her a stipend and also lines up summer internships for her.

But when she leaves Occidental, she will leave more than a school and a basketball team. She will also leave a twin.

Anna Celaya’s backcourt mate is Bobbie Celaya, her fraternal twin, who is ninth in the SCIAC in three-point baskets per game. The longest the 21-year-old sisters have been apart was last summer when Anna was at Michigan Tech.

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At North Hollywood High, they considered going to different colleges, but some motherly advice changed their minds.

“My mom always tells us, ‘You two were in my womb together, so you should stay together,’ ” said Bobbie, a psychology major. “When we were looking at universities, my mom sat us down and said we should go to Occidental.”

Their coach, Mark Sims, is glad they did. The first-year coach’s team is 4-12 overall and 1-4 in the SCIAC, but his is the best backcourt tandem in the conference.

And he has seen firsthand how the sisters work together.

“Somehow, when Anna penetrates, Bobbie is always somewhere around the three-point line,” Sims said. “They have a connection.”

More important, their decision to stay together helped them through the toughest part of their lives.

While at a tournament at San Diego their freshman year, their father died after a battle with cancer.

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“I’m glad we were together when we found out,” Bobbie said. “I don’t know what would’ve happened if we were at different schools.”

According to Anna, going to school together has also made the eventual parting easier.

“It was tough last summer,” Anna said. “We reunited with tears. But now, I think it will be much easier than if we had gone to different colleges and reunited after a year.”

And last summer provided the sisters with the evidence that they can be happy apart.

While Anna was at Michigan Tech, Bobbie danced at the Hollywood Bowl.

Working as a waitress at her uncle’s tango club, Bobbie learned the moves by watching the customers and last summer won a contest that landed her at the Bowl for three days with a professional team from Argentina. Now she has a tango future in mind.

“I would definitely say that I am going to do professional tango on the side,” Bobbie said.

She shouldn’t expect her sister to join in.

“I’ve tried a few basic steps, but I’m not quite elegant,” Anna said.

Also in SCIAC basketball, Pomona-Pitzer is 6-0 in conference play and has a one-game lead over La Verne on the men’s side. Pomona-Pitzer’s women lost to Cal Lutheran on Friday, leaving those teams tied atop the standings at 4-1.

In the Golden State Athletic Conference of the NAIA, the Azusa Pacific basketball team’s victory at Biola last week left a three-way tie for first place at 5-1. Biola and Azusa Pacific are tied with Westmont, and all three are ranked in the top 10 nationally.

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Biola’s Jack Hartman, who is on pace to set several school records, leads the GSAC at 19.2 points a game.

It’s even tighter in the women’s side of the GSAC. Azusa Pacific is tied with four other teams for first in the conference at 4-2.

Last week was a good one for Cal State Dominguez Hills forward Jair Fray. Not only was he selected the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. men’s basketball player of the week, but the senior from Fairfax High moved into fifth place in school history in scoring.

In the CCAA, Cal State Los Angeles and Cal State San Bernardino are tied for third at 9-5 in men’s play, and UC Riverside, Cal State Bakersfield and Cal Poly Pomona are each 7-7. Cal Poly Pomona’s women, led by CCAA scoring leader Lauri McIntosh, are 11-2, a game behind leader UC Davis.

Christian Johnson, Azusa Pacific’s women’s soccer coach, has been named NAIA coach of the year by the National Soccer Coaches Assn. of America. Cougar forward Kendra Payne was named NAIA women’s player of the year by the NSCAA. The Cougars were 24-0-1 and won the national championship in 1998.

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