After Years as League Doormats, SCC Women Ready to Step Up

The Southern California College women’s basketball team, once a Golden State Athletic Conference patsy, is making rapid progress under second-year Coach Dean Cooper.

Last season, the Vanguards finished 14-14, their first non-losing season, and advanced to the NAIA District 3 playoffs for the first time, before losing to Azusa Pacific in the first round.

With Monday night’s 74-51 victory over Occidental, SCC won its seventh consecutive game to improve to 9-3.

It’s quite a change.

“They’ve kind of been the doormats of the GSAC,” Cooper said. “Everybody came in and pretty much kicked their butts.

“We’ve turned that around now.”

Cooper says, however, that the team has yet to prove itself against conference opponents.

“I keep telling them that we’ll be getting into the tough games after Christmas,” Cooper said. “Once you get into league, every game is tough. We just don’t have any breathers.”

SCC got a preview of the competition in November, losing to Fresno Pacific by 17, to Cal Baptist by three and beating Point Loma Nazarene by 20.

Cooper is heartened by progress against Fresno Pacific, a perennial power. Two seasons ago the Vanguards lost to Fresno by 50 points; last year the margins were in the 20s both times, and in November they lost by 17 despite playing poorly.

“We’re closing the gap rather quickly,” Cooper said.

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The Vanguards are doing it with improved defense, Cooper said. They are giving up an average of 49.5 points and have held opponents below 40 points four times.

Cooper said improved depth has helped. Community college transfers Heather Brannan and Carrie Elsaesser from Orange Coast, Shawna McComb and Sheri Treadwell from Oregon and Jennifer Moser, a freshman from Montana, are newcomers who are complementing returners Jamie Zitterkopf, Tina Demarsh and point guard Nicole Kelley.

Zitterkopf is averaging 13 points and eight rebounds. Demarsh and Brannan and Emily Wedel are each averaging 10 points.

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The SCC men’s team is getting a much-needed break for the holidays. The Vanguards (6-4) are missing four starters with various injuries or medical conditions.

One, senior guard Scott Campbell, will miss the rest of the season because of a heart problem. Another senior guard, John Naro, is being held out because of a still unexplained medical condition. Eric Carmichael, a 6-4 forward and leading scorer, has a sprained ankle that has kept him out of the last five game and 6-8 center Mike Ruble has a groin injury that will likely keep him out until next month.

Another starter, point guard Danin Bryant, missed a victory over American Indian Bible Saturday because of a sprained wrist.

“We’re hoping this week off will bring good tidings,” SCC Coach Bill Reynolds said.

The Vanguards return Monday to play host to Michigan Tech. They also are home to Bates College of Maine Wednesday and Evangel (Mo.) on New Year’s Eve.

Then they travel to the UC San Diego tournament, before opening conference play Jan. 11 against Azusa Pacific.

The Vanguards, who were picked by the conference coaches to finish fifth, had better get healthy quickly.

“The scary part isn’t that the league is going to start,” Reynolds said. “It’s the league itself. Every team in our league is very strong.”

Azusa Pacific, which was ranked No. 7 in the NAIA preseason poll, has beaten NCAA Division II power Cal State Bakersfield. Point Loma Nazarene, picked to finish last in the GSAC, has beaten UC Riverside and Cal State Dominguez Hills, two strong Division II teams.

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Streaking: Chapman’s 81-77 victory over La Verne contained an unusual series of runs by each team to start each half.

Chapman opened the game by scoring the first six points. La Verne came back for seven consecutive points followed by Chapman getting six more in a row. La Verne then got the next four.

The second half started pretty much the same way.

After a Chapman basket, La Verne got nine in a row, all on three-pointers by Joe Gonzalez. He finished with a game-high 44.

The Panthers came back with an 8-0 run, but La Verne answered with a 6-0 run. Chapman then went on a 10-0 run and led, 58-53, with about eight minutes left.

“I’m conscious of (those streaks),” Chapman Coach Mike Bokosky said. “I tell our guys, ‘You can’t get down when (the opponent) makes a run or to get too high when we make one.’ I don’t want the huge highs and lows. I would like it more even--unless it was all highs for us.”