Northridge’s Coaches Know How to Boogie

Now that the Cal State Northridge women’s basketball team is going to the Big Dance, the Matadors can gain a perspective on what that party is all about from three of their own.

Coach Frozena Jerro and assistants Karon Howell and Tara Harrington played in the NCAA tournament, and they’re ready to share their memories and advice with the Matadors.

Northridge made the 64-team field with a 79-65 victory over Portland State in the Big Sky Conference tournament championship game Saturday night.

“I’m going to tell the girls that we have accomplished so much going to the NCAA [tournament],” Howell said. “But we still have to go and play hard and focus on the same things we’ve been doing since the preseason.”

Said Harrington: “It’s an experience of a lifetime. Each player needs to make it her own experience. The amount of excitement is unbelievable.”

Howell played for USC in the NCAA title game in 1986, won by Texas, and Harrington was a guard on three Stanford teams that reached the Final Four.

Jerro, who played in one tournament at Arizona State, was beaming about the Matadors going that far for the first time.

“I’m just so happy these girls can have that experience,” Jerro said. “It’s one of the greatest experiences you can have as an athlete.”

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Blenda J. Wilson, Northridge’s president, watched the game Saturday and became teary-eyed when congratulating Jerro after the victory.

“We took adversity and turned it into opportunity,” Wilson said. “Fro and her team did the job. I’m so proud of them, I can’t tell you.”

It was Wilson who allowed the Matadors to hand-pick Jerro as coach after former coach Michael Abraham was arrested on drug charges in November. Jerro was Abraham’s top assistant.

Wilson announced last week she is leaving Northridge in June to head an educational nonprofit foundation in Massachusetts and she had an idea for a going-away present.

“If they want to do a send-off, they can win the NCAA,” Wilson said.

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The crowd of 1,019 was Northridge’s largest for a women’s game, surpassing the 905 for the semifinal game against Northern Arizona on Friday night.