Titans Will Try to Make It a Happy Return for Whiteside

Erin Whiteside remembers last season as “a huge burden at times.”

Whiteside was the starting center on the Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball team, which won only four of 26 games.

Whiteside completed classes for her bachelor’s degree in communications last spring and she considered going elsewhere to work on a master’s degree.

However, with one year of eligibility remaining because a knee injury kept her sidelined her freshman year, Whiteside decided to return to Fullerton to study finance as a second major and play another season.

“I’m glad now that I decided to come back,” said Whiteside, the school’s female scholar-athlete for 1998-99. “It wasn’t an easy decision because I had already finished school. My parents told me not to play again if it wasn’t fun, but I decided to give it a try.

“No one wants to go through a season like last year again, but things have been different already. Everything is definitely more positive now and it’s been fun. I’d like to go out on a positive note.”

The Titans play their season opener at 2 p.m. Sunday at Loyola Marymount.

“Getting Erin back was huge for us,” said Coach Denise Curry, in her third season with the Titans. “We’re going to rely a lot on her leadership this season. She played some good basketball for us last season in a difficult situation.”

Whiteside, 6 feet 1, averaged 13.7 points and 9.3 rebounds, leading the team in both categories. Her 56.7% field-goal shooting was the best in the Big West Conference and her rebounding ranked second.

“I think I’ve improved a lot,” Whiteside said. “Denise has gotten me playing a lot tougher and rebounding better. I’m usually not the biggest player out there, but she’s taught me that positioning and being able to block out other players is the important thing. She stresses the fundamentals.”

The Titans’ other top returning players are senior forward Nieshia Cleveland (8.0 points) and senior guard Kristina Naumovic (7.1). Senior Heather Cunningham also is expected to move into a more prominent role.

“Nieshia has really stepped up her game defensively,” Curry said. “She’s thinking more about defense this season, and that should help us. We’re counting on her to have a good senior season.”

The Titans will be inexperienced at point guard with Andrea Thieme’s eligibility completed. Thieme started at point guard for four years, averaging 13.4 points last season. Freshman Megan Baskins and sophomore Lindsay Sotero are contending to replace her.

Three other freshmen--Allyson Alhadeff, Heather Hansen and Kandace Hunter--should get a shot at significant playing time.

“The freshmen came in really wanting to push people, and I think we’ll probably play 10 people this season,” Curry said. “I expect us to be more competitive. Last year was difficult for all of us.”

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CS FULLERTON TITANS AT A GLANCE

Date Opponent, Time

Nov. 21: at Loyola Marymount, 2 p.m.

Nov. 24: at Pepperdine, 3 p.m.

Dec. 3: at Portland State, 5:30 p.m.

Dec. 5: at Portland, 2 p.m.

Dec. 10: ST. MARY’S, 7 p.m.

Dec. 12: SANTA CLARA, 2 p.m.

Dec. 17: UCLA, 7 p.m.

Dec. 28: at UNLV, 5 p.m.

Dec. 30: SAN DIEGO STATE, 5 p.m.

Jan. 2: SAN JOSE STATE, 2 p.m.

Jan. 7: SAN DIEGO, 7 p.m.

Jan. 9: at San Francisco, 2 p.m.

Jan. 14: NEVADA*, 7 p.m.

Jan. 16: NEW MEXICO STATE*, 2 p.m.

Jan. 21: at Boise State*, 6 p.m.

Jan. 23: at Idaho*, 2 p.m.

Jan. 27: PACIFIC*, 7 p.m.

Jan. 29: LONG BEACH STATE*, 7 p.m.

Feb. 4: at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo*, 7 p.m.

Feb. 6: at UC Santa Barbara*, 2 p.m.

Feb. 11: UC IRVINE*, 7 p.m.

Feb. 18: at UC Irvine*, 7 p.m.

Feb. 20: at North Texas*, noon

Feb. 25: at Long Beach State*, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 27: at Pacific*, 2 p.m.

March 2: UC SANTA BARBARA*, 7 p.m.

March 4: CAL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO*, 2 p.m.

Mar 8-11: Big West tournament, TBA

* Big West Conference games

ROSTER

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No. Player Pos. Ht. Year 10 Lindsay Sotero G 5-4 So. 12 Kristina Naumovic G/F 5-11 Sr. 15 Helen Kale F 6-1 Jr. 22 Kandace Hunter G 5-7 Fr. 30 Allyson Alhadeff F 5-10 Fr. 32 Nieshia Cleveland F 5 -11 Sr. 34 Megan Baskins G 5-5 Fr. 42 Heather Cunningham F 5-11 Sr. 43 Erin Whiteside F 6-1 Sr. 52 Heather Hansen F/C 6-1 Fr.

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