Bradley Not Short on Talent

At only 5 feet 8, Marissa Bradley still stands tall among the best women’s basketball players to ever take the court for Chico State.

The former Brea Olinda standout played her final game for Chico State on March 3 against Cal State Stanislaus, and she finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer. She also set four other school career records for the Wildcats, who play in NCAA Division II.

“That last game was a great way to go out,” Bradley said. “We had never won at Stanislaus before, but with four seconds left and we were down by two, I made two free throws to help us get to overtime. Then we won [86-80].”

Bradley, a four-year all-conference selection, started every game she played at Chico State and finished as the school’s career leader in points, assists, three-pointers made, free throws made and steals.

“That she got the assist record shows you the kind of player she is,” Chico State Coach Mary Ann Lazzarini said. “Getting her to shoot 20 times a game was like pulling teeth. She’s so unselfish. She ranks right at the top of the players I’ve coached.”

Lazzarini, in her 11th season as head coach, played from 1972-74 for Chico State, where she also served as an associate coach for 14 seasons.

Lazzarini said she got an indication of Bradley’s potential during the first practices, when the coach saw her work ethic and aggressiveness. Early in Bradley’s freshman season, she scored a school-record 37 points on Nov. 29., 1997, in a 106-81 loss to Texas A&M; Commerce.

“If I could get her to shoot more, maybe she could get 50 or 60,” Lazzarini said. “Very early, I knew she was something special. And I told her we’d build the team around her.”

Said Bradley: “It was nice hearing that. I didn’t expect anything like that at all. But it’s all worked out perfectly.”

Bradley spurned Division I schools like San Diego State, UC Irvine and Oregon State to play at Chico State, but she has no regrets.

“It’s been a great four years,” Bradley said. “I liked the atmosphere here. It was something that I wanted here, to have a social life and play basketball.”

After the Wildcats went 13-14 in Bradley’s freshman season, Chico State went 52-28 over the next three.

Bradley finished with 1,765 points, surpassing the previous mark of 1,673 by Joddie Vossler-Gleason (1989-93). This season, Bradley averaged a career-high 17.5 points and 35 minutes per game as the Wildcats went 16-10 and 13-9 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

She finished with 406 assists, to beat the previous record by 40. She broke the three-pointers made record last season and finished with 162, topping the previous record of 100 held by Tessa Isola from 1994-98.

Bradley also finished with 217 steals and made 80% of her free throws in her career (457 of 569).

Bradley is on schedule to earn her liberal studies degree May, but she might not be finished at Chico State.

“I may go into teaching,” Bradley said. “Coach said I could be a graduate assistant if I would like. I’m keeping my options open.”

Said Lazzarini: “Marissa is one of those types of players that you only get maybe once every 10 years. She’s a credit to our institution on and off the court. I’d love to have her stay and be on my staff.”

WINK OF HOPE?

Bradley’s boyfriend of four years, former Brea basketball player Sean Wink, is still on the sidelines at Northwestern, which is a bit curious to some.

Wink, a two-time Orange League MVP at Brea, started 47 of the 56 games he played in two seasons for the Wildcats before he quit the team to concentrate on his studies. He shot 42% from three-point range during those seasons and he averaged 12 points as a freshman.

“Every once in a while I see a glimmer of hope,” Bradley said. “They have a new coach, and I think he wants Sean to play so who knows what will happen? I think it would be exciting.”

Wink will finish his communications degree at Northwestern this spring but is considering graduate school, Bradley said.

EARNING HIS WINGS

Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball Coach George Wing, a former coach at University High, set a couple of milestones recently.

He got his 300th career victory as a coach on the four-year level and he set a school record for most victories in a coaching career.

Wing, a resident of Seal Beach, surpassed Robert Bafia (299 wins) on Feb. 20 with a 2-1 victory over Albertson College of Idaho. Bafia coached the Toros from 1973-82.

Wing, in his 13th season at Dominguez Hills, made a big splash in his debut on Feb. 6, 1989, when he replaced current Florida Coach Andy Lopez as Toro coach and directed Dominguez Hills, a Division II school, to a 12-4 victory over Arizona, which at the time was one of the highest-ranked Division I teams in the nation. His 299th victory also came against a Division I school, when the Toros beat Cal State Northridge, 6-4, on Feb. 17.

Wing began coaching at University High in 1978 and moved to Chico State in 1981 and UC Riverside in 1983. In 1985 he took over at Napa Valley Community College and later coached at Cosumnes River College of Sacramento.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Former Capistrano Valley guard Mike Stowell accepted his championship medal at the Big West Conference tournament Saturday night with a big smile on his face.

Stowell, who redshirted this season, spent a year on a Mormon mission and then enrolled at Utah State, which beat Pacific Saturday at the Anaheim Convention Center to win the Big West’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. Stowell expects to begin play as a freshman next season.

Former Dana Hills High forward Tadeu Souza, a medical redshirt at Long Beach State, was at the Big West tournament. A junior college transfer, Souza sat out this season after having reconstructive knee surgery. He expects to play as a junior next season.

Former Sonora High forward Ben Jones, a senior at UC Irvine, has made 166 three-point baskets, third-best in school history. Jones was a second-team All-Big West Conference selection this season.

David Lalazarian of Pepperdine, a graduate of Tustin High, was among the leaders in the West Coast Conference in three-point shooting this season.

Among players who took 80 or more three-point attempts, Lalazarian made 40.2% (33-of-82). He averaged 10.1 points a game.

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Staff writer Paul McLeod contributed to this story.

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