ANTEATER DIGEST / ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Arika Earley

Diving

Earley finished fourth in the one-meter competition at the All-American Invitational at Texas last Thursday. She won the three-meter and one-meter competition in a dual meet against USC over the weekend.

Earley, a senior from Mission Viejo High School, was 13th in the Zone E NCAA championships last season. She was Big West champion as a sophomore and runner-up last season.

THIS WEEK

Women’s basketball: The Anteaters defeated New Mexico State in Las Cruces Sunday, a happy homecoming for Anteater assistants Jeff Dow and Francine Moreno. Dow is a former New Mexico State assistant and Moreno is a former Aggie player. Not that they were greeted kindly. “You should have heard their crowd,” center Chelsea Mackey said. “They were yelling stuff at us I can’t repeat. They were heckling us even after we won. It was exciting.” Irvine hosts Boise State at 7 p.m. Friday and Idaho at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Men’s basketball: Center Stan Divranos’ strained back may be more than a day-to-day injury. He tried to practice last week but stopped after 10 minutes. Guard Zamiro Bennem is still suffering from a small cut in his right eye he received in practice last week, although he has played. “I don’t know what happened,” Bennem said. “It was either someone’s finger or my contact lens.” Irvine plays at Boise State Thursday and at Idaho on Saturday.

Men’s volleyball: The Anteaters face La Verne in their home opener at 7 p.m. tonight. They play in the UC Santa Barbara tournament Friday and Saturday.

Men’s and women’s swimming: Irvine competes Saturday against UC San Diego, Pepperdine and Cal State Northridge. The diving team competes Saturday in the UCLA Invitational at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center.

TITAN DIGEST / ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Kenroy Jarrett

Men’s Basketball

The Titans’ ball handling has improved in the last two games with Jarrett, the point guard, leading the way. Jarrett has had no turnovers in two consecutive Big West games after giving up the ball eight times in Fullerton’s 84-59 loss at San Jose State.

Jarrett also scored a career-high 16 points Saturday in Fullerton’s victory over North Texas. He was six of 10 from the floor, including four of seven on three-pointers. Jarrett, a junior, is averaging 10.7 points, third best on the team.

THIS WEEK

Men’s basketball: The Titans (7-5, 1-1) opened the Big West Conference season at home with a 61-54 loss to New Mexico State and a 72-55 victory over North Texas. They face two more teams from the Eastern Division this week, playing at Idaho at 7 p.m. Thursday and at Boise State at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Fullerton is 2-12 against the East in the regular season since the conference split into two divisions.

Women’s basketball: Fullerton (2-11, 0-2) plays two Big West games at home this week, facing Idaho at 7 p.m. Friday and Boise State at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Wrestling: The Titans (0-3-1) will compete in the Aggie Open at UC Davis Friday and Saturday.

Women’s gymnastics: After losing to third-ranked UCLA on Friday, the Titans are at home again Saturday for a 7 p.m. match against Sacramento State.

HOW TO REACH US

Lon Eubanks covers Cal State Fullerton for The Times Orange County, and can be reached at (714) 966-5780, or by e-mail at lon.eubanks@latimes.com. Chris Foster covers UC Irvine, and can be reached at (714) 966-7834, or by e-mail at chris.foster@latimes.com.