This Coach Is Losing Players, Games and Job

Barely halfway through its first season, Westmont College’s women’s basketball team has already experienced the highs and lows of a collegiate athletic program.

After winning eight of its first nine games, Westmont--an NAIA school--lost the Golden State Athletic Conference’s top scorer, Judy Hofkins, to academic ineligibility. The Lady Warriors have lost six in a row since.

Westmont also lost four other players, one to ineligibility, one to homesickness and two to knee injuries.

“We had a great start, but the wheels have fallen off the old wagon,” Coach Curt Pickering said. “Now it’s like we’re going to war with water guns.”

Westmont is down to eight players--seven freshmen and a sophomore. And with another player injured, Pickering is short-handed during practice.

“One of my assistant coaches has to practice so we can have eight and go four on four,” Pickering said.

A 63-32 loss to Azusa Pacific on Saturday was the Lady Warriors’ worst of the season, and during the losing streak, they have lost by an average of almost 19 points.

“If I had the players I had in the first semester and we were losing, I think we’d be losing competitively,” Pickering said. “We’re going to get baptized quite a few times [in conference play].”

After this season, Pickering is being replaced. Westmont wants a coach with a doctorate, someone who can teach as well as coach. Pickering, who was hired last May and didn’t have much time to recruit, now hopes he can make the Lady Warriors a better team for next season.

“It’s going to be difficult,” he said. “Some of the girls who didn’t even play the first semester are starters now. Hopefully it’ll be a real learning process for them.”

While Westmont struggles, Azusa Pacific, 12-4 overall, is off to a 2-0 start in the GSAC and tied with Fresno Pacific atop the standings. Biola is in third, 11-8 overall and 1-1 in the GSAC.

In the Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Pomona-Pitzer women’s basketball team is alone in first at 2-0, 8-5 overall. Cal Lutheran and Occidental are 1-0 in the SCIAC.

As for the men, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer are 7-6 overall, 2-0 in the SCIAC. La Verne is also off to a 2-0 SCIAC start.

The Westmont women may be 0-2, but it’s the opposite for the first-place men. The Warriors are 14-1 overall, and are tied with Biola, 16-2 overall, at 2-0 in the conference. Azusa Pacific is in third at 1-1, 14-3 overall.

His team’s 103-69 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Jan. 2 was Azusa Pacific Coach Bill Odell’s 200th. Odell began his career at Azusa Pacific in 1991, and has led the Cougars to six consecutive GSAC titles. He was also named GSAC coach of the year in 1995 and 1998.

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UC Riverside Coach John Masi also reached a milestone Jan. 9, winning his 400th game, a 78-71 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The night before, however, Masi’s team suffered an embarrassing defeat, scoring only seven points in the first half in a 59-31 loss to Cal State Los Angeles. Riverside made only six of 43 shots.

Masi has led his team to 11 NCAA Division II tournament appearances, his teams finishing second in 1995 and third in 1989.

Vic Shealy, who last week accepted a job as defensive back coach with Air Force after leading Azusa Pacific to the NAIA football title in December, was named NAIA football coach of the year.

Running back-defensive back Jack Williams was named player of the year, and receiver Dexter Davis and defensive back Matt Zaengle were named first-team All-Americans.

Occidental softball Coach Cheryl Merritt was named 1998 Speedline National Fast Pitch Coaches Assn. West Region Softball Coach of the Year after leading the Tigers to a school-record 11 victories and a 10-8 fourth-place SCIAC record in her first year. . . . Pomona-Pitzer women’s tennis Coach Ann Lebedeff was given the Rolex Meritorious Service Award for extraordinary contributions to collegiate tennis.

Former Redlands trainer Dawson “Chick” Cornish died Dec. 29 at Peoria, Ariz. He was 85.