February 2012 Archives

Senior Briana Hall of Azusa Pacific University is this week's Golden State Athletic Conference Player of the Week for her performances in games the week of Feb. 19-25.

The 5-foot-5 guard from Fontana earned her first career 30-point game by scoring 31 points in No. 12 Azusa Pacific's 76-64 upset of GSAC regular-season champion Westmont on Saturday in the last regular-season home game of her career.

She also had nine assists and three steals.

On the week she averaged 20.5 points and eight assists per game as the Cougars (22-6) also earned an 80-58 win over Masters. They secured the No. 2 seed in the GSAC postseason tournament which begins Friday.

For the season Hall, a Miller High School graduate, is averaging 15.6 points and 5.9 assists.

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team now knows its postseason playoff destination.

The Stags No. 11 (25-2) will head to Wisconsin-Whitewater to face reigning NCAA Division III national champion St. Thomas (Minn.) in a 3:30 p.m. game on Friday. It will be the 11th playoff appearance in the last 13 years for CMS, which won both the SCIAC regular season title as well as the post-season tournament.

St. Thomas (21-6) captured the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title for the sixth time in the last seven years. The Tommies are not unfamiliar with SCIAC foes. They opened the season with games in Southern California against Occidental and Pomona-Pitzer, winning both 82-61 and 82-79 in double overtime.

The winner of the St. Thomas-CMS game advances to face the winner of No. 8 Whitewater (23-4)-Northwestern (Minn.) (17-10).

Three local JuCo teams are stil in the hunt for state championships.

San Bernardino Valley has both its men's and women's team alive while the Chaffey women are still in the hunt. Several other inland Empire teams are in the mix as well.

No. 19 Riverside pulled off the biggest surprise of the last round, upending No. 3 Mt. San Jacinto 79-76 in overtime on Saturday. Good for the still-homeless Tigers directed by John Smith.

No.  15 El Camino also pulled a stunner, beating No. 2 Mt. SAC.

So here's what's up in third round play on Wednesday . . .

MEN

No. 9 Cuesta (24-7) at No. 1 Citrus (26-1)

No. 12 Ventura (19-11) at No. 4 San Bernardino Valley (24-5)

No. 15. El Camino (18-9) at No. 7 Antelope Valley (22-7)

No. 19 Riverside (16-10) at No. 6 Saddleback (20-8)

WOMEN

No. 8 Chaffey (24-6) at No. 1 Mt. SAC (27-3)

No. 5 Cerritos (23-7) at No. 4 East Los Angeles (23-6)

No. 19 Cypress (21-9) at No. 2 Ventura (30-1)

No. 11 Mt. San Jacinto (23-7) at No. 3 San Bernardino Valley (27-3)

Cal Poly Pomona center Megan Ford has been named the California Collegiate Athletic Association's (CCAA) women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 13-19.It marks the second time this season she has been honored.

Ford, a senior from Newhall, played a big role in helping the Broncos to a weekend sweep of Sonoma State and Humboldt State. She averaged 15.5 points, 11. 5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks while averaging 38.5 minutes a game.

During a 70-58 victory over the Seawolves on Thursday, Ford scored 12 points, collected seven rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal in 32 minutes. She followed that effort with 19 points, 16 rebounds, three steals, an assist, and block while playing all 45 minutes in a 75-59 overtime win over Humboldt State on Saturday.

CCAA Women's Basketball Players of the Week

Nov. 7-13: Chelsea Carlisle (UC San Diego)

Nov. 14-20: Sarah Semenero (Cal Poly Pomona)

Nov. 21-27: Chelsea Carlisle (UC San Diego)

Nov. 28 - Dec. 4: Brandi Stephens (Cal State Monterey Bay)

Dec. 5-11: Theresa Henderson (Cal State Stanislaus)

Dec. 12-18: Ariel Marsh (Cal Poly Pomona)

Dec. 19-25: Catie Richards (Humboldt State)

Dec. 26: Jan. 1: Megan Ford (Cal Poly Pomona)

Jan. 2-8: Syncro Bull (Chico State)

Jan. 9-15 Chelsea Carlisle (UC San Diego)

Jan. 16-22: Daisy Feder (UC San Diego)

Jan. 23-29: Jazzi Johnson (Cal State L.A.)

Jan. 30-Feb. 5: Angela Streets (Cal State San Bernardino)

Feb. 6-12: Chelsea Carlisle (UC San Diego)

Feb. 13-19: Megan Ford (Cal Poly Pomona).

It's been a long time since I pulled off what you could call a sportswriters marathon. In this case it was going to be four games in a day with a men's/women's basketballl doubleheader in two different locations.

I did it while working in Fort Lauderdale. That one consisted of two district (what you call leagues out here) tennis tournaments, a baseball game and a softball game - all at different high schools. But I was 15 or so years younger and Florida traffic is nothing like California traffic.

The day started out at Chaffey College where the Panthers were playing local rival San Bernardino Valley. It was a good day for the Wolverines as SBVC swept the games, with the win by the men giving them a share of the Foothill Conference title and the win by the women giving them a sweep of 14 conference games. Pretty impressive in a tough conference.

The men's game, scheduled to start at 3 p.m., tipped off 30 minutes or so late so I was already going to be under the gun timewise.

Sure enough, it's 5:30 p.m. by the time I leave Chaffey, which is the exact time the Cal Poly Pomona women's game against Humboldt State was getting underway.

I was able to get the Chaffey-SBVC men's story done fairly quickly, by halftime of the women's game. But I got to Pomona with 8 minutes left in the first half and still had to write the Chaffey-SBVC men's story.

Got it done by the halftime of the Cal Poly women's game.

Of course that one went overtime. Can't cover four games in one day without one going overtime, right?

Then got that one written by halfitme of the men's game.

It was a good night for the Broncos who also swept. Of course the men's game didn't finish until 9:45, so I had to write that one in 15 minutes.

If the first pair of games hadn't been the two locals squaring off I probably wouldn't have tried. But it's nice to know I can still do it when duty calls. 

The Cal State San Bernardino men's basketball team has not missed the NCAA Division II playoffs in back-to-back years since 1998-1999. But that is looming as a pretty strong possibility unless the Coyotes can regroup. Quickly!!!

The Coyotes were lambasted by Chico State on Saturday 73-58. And it wasn't even that close.

It's hard to figure out how the Coyotes could come out that flat. They started the night in a four-way tie for first place. That alone should have been enough motivation. But the Coyotes needed the game badly. They're facing the daunting task of finishing the regular season with four straight road games inlcuding back-to-back games at Humboldt and Sonoma the last weekend that are nearly impossible to sweep.

The Coyotes also don't have any quality wins to hang there hat on either. They were already 0-2 vs. Cal Poly Pomona and 0-1 vs. Humboldt. Now they're 0-2 against Chico as well.

They also had a couple of sub-par performances in nonconference play against Pac West foes Grand Canyon and Dixie State. The Dixie loss looks legit but the longer the season plays out the worse the loss to Grand Canyon seems to be. Its a far inferior conference and going 0-2 against two teams from there will not help.

The Coyotes are 2-0 against both Dominguez Hills and Cal State L.A. but those are two are both floundering and looking like averaget teams at best,.

So when the West Region rankings come out on Wednesday the Coyotes will be nowhere to be found. Their only chance at advancing to the postseason will be to win the CCAA Tournament. As wildly as inconsistent as this team has been, it doesn't appear capeable of putting together three straight quality wins, especially when their opponents will have the same sense of urgency.

It's disappointing because the pieces appeared to be there.

The University of La Verne women's team set an NCAA Division III record for 3-pointers with 26 in a 113-61 rout of Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday.

The previous mark of 24 came earlier this season by Sewanee against Judson (Ala.) on Nov. 19. The 113 points also was the most in a game in school history.

The Leopards went 26 for 63 (41.3%) beyond the arc, easily eclipsed their month-old mark of 18 set against the Sagehens in Claremont on Jan. 21. Sophomore guard Kelly Kika also set a single-game school record for treys with 9 to break the old mark of Lindsey Shiomi, who totaled 8 against Pomona-Pitzer in 2007. Kika finished with 32 points.

A total of 10 different Leopards made at least one three-pointer, led by Kika's nine. Freshman Brittni Tapia totaled four triples. Raphaelle Buenafe, Megan Musashi, Amanda McGinnis, Riki Murakami and Chantal Crouzet had two each with Amanda Copas, Michelle Webb and Mia Roseboro each adding one.

There were just two players on the roster that didn;'t figure into that total.

Unfortnately the success hitting from long distance hasn't translated into wins as the Leopards are just 6-17 overall and 4-8 in SCIAC play.

The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team swept a four-gameseries against St. Martin's to start the season. Two of the key performers in that series have earned weeklu honors.

Senior Geoff Broussard has been named the California Collegiate Athletic Association's (CCAA) baseball Pitcher of the Week while first baseman Chris Miller, also a senior, has been named Player of the Week.

 Broussard, an Alta Loma High School graduate, pitched seven scoreless innings, scattering three hits, walking one and striking out five in a 20-0 victory.

Miller, of Mission Viejo, batted .643 (9-for-14) with eight runs scored, two doubles, a triple, home run and 10 RBI, while posting a .684 on-base percentage and 1.143 slugging percentage during a four-game series sweep of visiting Saint Martin's.

Miller recorded three multi-hit games, including a 3-for-4 effort in the series opener when he scored a career-high four runs, homered and drove in four runs. He also scored at least one run in all four games as the Broncos outscored the Saints 57-10 in the series.

Cal State San Bernardino guard Angela Streets has been named the California Collegiate Athletic Association's (CCAA) women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 30 - Feb. 5.

Streets, a senior from Chandler, Ariz., had a solid weekend while helping the Coyotes to wins over Cal State Dominguez and Cal State L.A., and their first CCAA sweep of the season. She averaged 24.5 points on 14-for-29 shooting (46.2 percent), four rebounds and two assists while playing all but three minutes in her team's two games.

During a 64-49 win over the Toros on Friday, Streets scored 24 points, collected four rebounds, three assists, a steal and block. She followed that effort with 25 points, four rebounds and two assists in a 63-57 victory over Cal State L.A.

Riverside native Brandon Ward of Cal State Monterey Bay was named Men's Player of the Week.

Cal State San Bernardino is next in action on Friday when it hosts Cal State Stanislaus at 5:30 p.m.

CCAA Women's Basketball Players of the Week:

Nov. 7-13: Chelsea Carlisle (UC San Diego)

Nov. 14-20: Sarah Semenero (Cal Poly Pomona)

Nov. 21-27: Chelsea Carlisle (UC San Diego)

Nov. 28 - Dec. 4: Brandi Stephens (Cal State Monterey Bay);

Dec. 5-11: Theresa Henderson (Cal State Stanislaus)

Dec. 12-18: Ariel Marsh (Cal Poly Pomona)

Dec. 19-25: Catie Richards (Humboldt State)

Dec. 26 - Jan. 1: Megan Ford (Cal Poly Pomona)

Jan. 2-8: Syncro Bull (Chico State)

Jan. 9-15: Chelsea Carlisle (UC San Diego)

Jan. 16-22: Daisy Feder (UC San Diego)

Jan. 23-29: Jazzi Johnson (Cal State L.A.)

Jan. 30-Feb. 5: Angela Streets (Cal State San Bernardino).

What basketball fan doesn't like a good dunk? How about one that brings downs the house? Literally?

Well they don't get much better than the dunk by Cal State San Bernardino behemoth Kwame Alexander against CCAA foe Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday at Coussoulis Arena.

Alexander took a perfectly time Alley-Oop from Tre Brewer, soared through the air and dunked it home with such conviction it pulled the entire backboard down, bringing a roar from the small crowd. It was restored to its proper position even before the buzzing stopped.

Well the dunk is a hit on You Tube. Isn't everything these days? Punch in Kwame Alexanders's name and go to the entry "CSUSB Alexander Dunk PullsDown the Backboard." It wasn't posted until late Saturday and has already drawn 3,000 hits in less than 24 hours.

Stick with it because there are a couple of great slo-mo replays and note the backboard just misses coming down on the shoulder of a Dominguez player.

School officials are planning to put a highlight reel of his dunks this season. Those of us who get to watch him are spoiled by the ordinary dunk because there are so many spectacular ones. He's easily the most exciting player to watch in the conference and worth the price of admission.

Why there aren't more fans there to watch him alone is more puzzling. That's also a subject for another day!

The University of Redlands softball program will embark upon the 2012 campaign as the No. 11 team in the country according to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) .

The Bulldogs, coming off a 36-11 overall record, nabbed 121 points in the NCAA Division III Top-25 Preseason Poll.

In 2011, Redlands captured the program's eighth overall and seventh consecutive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) championship while dismantling various school records, including wins in a season.

In addition, the Bulldogs ran the table at the SCIAC Postseason Tournament to secure the automatic berth to the NCAA Championships for their seventh straight appearance. Equalizing the program's best performance at the national tournament, the Bulldogs came out of the losers' bracket to finish tied for second against host University of Texas -Tyler.

Sophomore All-American Amanda Lievanos headlines the team's returning crew as the SCIAC Player of the Year. She led the Bulldog starters in nine offensive categories and ranks among the best in school history in six categories.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps checks in at No. 18. The poll is topped by Linfield (Ore.)

The Bulldogs kick off the 2012 season on Friday with a 5 p.m. doubleheader at Azusa Pacific University before hosting their home opener on Sunday against Concordia University - Irvine at 11 a.m. at the "Field of Dreams."

Well, I had Thursday night off and it wasn't exactly a good "TV" night so I spent much of it watching the Atlanta Hawks and Memphis Grizzlies game. Why that game? Well former Cal State San Bernardino player Ivan Johnson is a rookie with the Hawks so I had a vested interest.

It's always nice when someone you saw through the growing stages makes it up to the professional ranks. There are two other prominent ones for me - Keyon Dooling of the Boston Celtics is one I know from his high school days back in Florida. The other is Texas Rangers catcher Mike Napoli, whom I also covered in the prep ranks as well as in the minor leagues.

Well Johnson is one we all knew had a chance of making it in the NBA IF his demons didn't get to him first. He's toiled in the D-League and overseas. This was a chance a lot of guys don't get, especially at 27.

Ivan seems to be making the most of it. He just missed a double-double with 10 points (the first two coming on a thuindering dunk), nine rebounds and two blocked shots. He logged 28 minutes, the most he has logged in a game this season.

The numbers were a bit skewed. The game was a blow out (96-77), not indicative of how well the Hawks have been playing as of late, so the subs did see a lot of action. But Ivan did play 10 uninterrupted minutes in the first half when it was still competitive.

Then the second half. Ivan did draw a technical foul late in the fourth quarter after a phantom foul call on him . . some things never change. Replays showed Ivan never touched the guy he supposedly fouled. The TV analyst also admitted the technical foul was really weak one. But when you're a rookie, you really can't say boo. Referees have the last word and they're going to send a message,.

He is averaging 5.4 points and 3.5 rebounds.

With Al Horford out for the near future Ivan is going to continue to see steady playing time. He has played as little as 2 minutes but is typically between 15 and 25 minutes. He has been through a lot in his life and it is great to see him fulfilling his dream. It's a chance he needs to take full advantage of.