Pomona Women Regain Spotlight

Minneapolis is hosting the big dance this year, the Final Four at the Metrodome in two weeks.

About 1 1/2 hours away, Rochester is throwing a little party of its own. And with a fortunate bounce of the basketball, the Cal Poly Pomona women’s team got an invitation.

Thanks to their dramatic 63-62 victory over Seattle Pacific in the West Regional final, the Broncos are back on the national scene. They play Pace University of Pleasantville, N.Y., tonight in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals.

It is Pomona’s first appearance in the national quarterfinals since 1993, when the Broncos still were directed by their Hall of Fame coach, the late Darlene May.

Said Paul Thomas, the Broncos’ coach and a former May assistant, “It’s a honor, just because of where our program is and the hard work we’ve put into it. It’s the big prize and after you put in six months of hard work, it’s a great reward.”

Pomona’s program is steeped in tradition. Under May, the Broncos won three national titles in the mid-1980s and reached the championship game six times. At one point, Pomona had won 13 consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Assn. titles.

“Everybody is very aware of the tradition here at Cal Poly,” senior point guard LaTasha Burnett said.

Against stiff competition from a surprising first-year Cal State Bakersfield team and several other improving squads, Pomona won 20 of 22 CCAA games and their 17th league title by three games.

In the playoffs, they avenged a 15-point defeat at Western Washington with a 91-85 victory. Then, on March 10, Burgundie Porter made a running layup that bounced off the rim and dropped through the net with one second left for the victory over Seattle Pacific, which helped Pomona avoid another off-season of what-if questions.

“Maybe over time we would have felt differently,” Thomas said. “But our team would have felt [the season] was a failure. I’m not afraid to say that.

“Thank God, Burgundie ran that play exactly they way we do it in practice.”

Burnett, a 26-year-old who seven years ago won a state junior college title at Harbor and was recruited by USC, said their tough journey could help them tonight against Pace, and maybe beyond.

“If teams in our conference were rollovers, we wouldn’t have done as well as we have,” she said. “It’s a lot tougher getting up to play against teams that aren’t real good. With the level of competition we faced this year, I think it helped us get ready for being here.”

Pomona (24-3) is powered by its starting five of Burnett, Porter, forwards Anna James and Lauri McIntosh, and center Aprile Powell. The unit accounts for 77% of the scoring.

The biggest impact has been made by Powell, a 6-foot-3 freshman who led the team in scoring at 16.4 points. Almost as big was the complementary role McIntosh played.

Last season, the junior averaged 19.8 points and seven rebounds and was a first-team Kodak All-American and the CCAA player of the year. McIntosh’s numbers are down, but Thomas said she never complained.

“That just tells you what kind of person she is,” he said. “Most athletes, especially when a freshman like Aprile kind of steals your thunder, wouldn’t have accepted it as well. Whenever Aprile did something well on the court, Lauri was the first person to congratulate her.”

Burnett and Thomas believe a national title is possible, but the Broncos aren’t the favorites. Still, they are glad to have restored the program to top-flight status.

Thomas has long said that May’s influence still is felt in the program even after her death in 1994 of breast cancer.

“Well, I think she’d be thrilled at us getting here,” he said. “I know she’s up in the big house, smiling and praying for us.”

*

The Cal Baptist men’s and women’s swimming teams finished second at the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics championships for the second consecutive year. Andy Oktavian set AIA records in winning the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke titles, and Genn Amthor and Jessica Wild each won two events for the women.

*

Bakersfield’s Centennial Garden is the site of today’s NCAA Division II men’s quarterfinal basketball tournament. Adelphi University of New York is top-seeded and will try to remain the nation’s only undefeated men’s team on any level as it shoots for the national title.

UNIVERSITY DIVISION

Behind strong pitching by Courtney Dale, UCLA’s softball team tied its 1999 school record for consecutive victories to start a season with its 35th in a 6-1 nonconference victory at UC Santa Barbara. The top-ranked Bruins will begin Pacific 10 Conference play March 30 at Stanford. . . . USC’s track teams will host Louisiana State on Saturday in a premier dual meet. The Trojan women finished second to LSU at last year’s NCAA outdoor meet, and the Tiger men won the NCAA indoor title earlier this month.

*

Pepperdine’s 11th-ranked women’s golf team won the UCLA Pioneer Bruin Classic for the second consecutive year at Menifee Lake Country Club in Temecula.

Sophomore Katherine Hull posted rounds of 70, 73 and 70 to win the medal for the Waves. USC’s Candie Kung finished three shots back in a three-way tie for second as the Trojans finished third.

*

USC won the Rainbow Challenge women’s water polo tournament Saturday in Honolulu with a 14-6 victory over Hawaii. Sofia Konoukh scored four goals and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. . . . With its 4-3 victory Friday over Pacific, the Loyola Marymount women’s water polo team extended its winning streak to seven. Last week, the ninth-ranked Lions (11-3) won the UC Davis Shootout by defeating host UC Davis, 5-4, for the title on Cara Schindler’s game-winning goal.