Anteaters Prepare Surprise Attack

The UC Irvine women’s basketball team won’t be 100% when it hosts the Chinese national team at 7 p.m. tonight at the Bren Center.

Forward Krissy Duperron, who played in 26 games last year, has a sore foot. Guard Maree Vincent, a community college transfer, has been suspended for two games for violating team rules. Starting forward Cindy Oparah, who led the Anteaters by shooting 48.8% from the field, missed part of last week while attending an educational symposium.

Damesha Carter, a freshman from Etiwanda High, quit the team more than a month ago.

Nonetheless, Coach Mark Adams believes the Anteaters, who return six players from last season’s 12-15 team, will be able to hold their own.

“Hopefully, we’ll surprise a few people,” Adams said. “We can spread the floor more, but we have some kids who can shoot it.”

Oparah is “one of our best forward defenders,” Adams said. Sophomore forward Wendy Gabbe, who averaged five points a game last season, is “much stronger,” he said.

Guards Jana Ciperova, a transfer from Florida International, Lisa Woznick, a transfer from San Joaquin Delta College, and freshman Kristen Green from Lafayette Acalanes High have also impressed Adams.

Sophomore forward Autumn Matthews, who saw limited action last season, is expected to start. Freshman forward Christina Callaway, junior forward Brandy Hudson and junior guard Erin Tomlinson, a transfer from Orange Coast, also figure in the mix.

Irvine plays its first five regular-season games on the road.

“That’s not the way we wanted to do it,” Adams said. “But we had a chance to go to the Hawaii tournament and that’s a neutral court for most teams,” he said.

TITANS IMPROVING

Coach Barbara Ehardt said she’s pleased with the progress made by the Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball team.

“Given where we started, we’re doing much better, but we’ve still got a long way to go,” Ehardt said.

After losing their first exhibition, the Titans defeated National Women’s Basketball, 77-64, Saturday. Fullerton opens the regular season Friday at UC Riverside.

The Titans won only two of 27 games last season, Denise Curry’s last one as coach.

One of the keys might be how well center Heather Hansen overcomes her back problems of last season.

“She can do a lot of nice things at the post, but she’s still behind right now because of her back,” Ehardt said. “She has three herniated disks, so we’ll just have to see how she does. But I think she’s going to be all right.”

Ehardt likes the effort of senior guard Genia Daniels, a member of the Titan track team who decided to give basketball another try this season after playing two years at Compton College. “I’m looking a lot for how we play defense, and Genia plays solid defense,” Ehart said.

The team’s top returning scorer is sophomore guard Kandace Hunter, who averaged 10.4 points last season.

NOTABLE

UC Irvine senior Kareen Nilsson has received an at-large berth to Monday’s NCAA cross-country championships in Ames, Iowa. She finished 11th at the Far West Regional. . . . Offensive tackle Mark Shafer, a two-year starter for the Chapman football team, was selected to the NCAA Division III All-District VIII Academic Team. . . . The soccer season has ended for the women’s team at Golden West College. The Rustlers, who forfeited four games when they couldn’t field enough players, scored only two goals and finished 0-20. . . . UC Irvine hosts a club fencing tournament at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Anteater Recreation Center.

Staff writer Lon Eubanks contributed to this story.

If you have an item or idea for the college report fax it to (714) 966-5663 or e-mail ocsports@latimes.com.