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This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team. Debra Larsen and Michelle McCoy, two National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division II All-America
players who helped lead the Broncos to a second-place finish in the division last season, graduated. In all, four players from last season’s team graduated, making this season’s team one of
Pomona’s youngest ever. The Broncos have seven freshmen and only one senior on their 12-player roster. So it is more than a little surprising that the Broncos have a 9-2 record after Tuesday
night’s 75-59 win at United States International University, especially considering that Pomona has played nine straight road games, most of them against Division I teams. The fast start
has surpassed the expectations of Coach Darlene May, who, in her 14th season at Pomona, has grown accustomed to success. Her career record is 350-83. “I’m a little surprised that we’re doing
as well as we are,” she said. “It’s a credit to the five veterans we have back, and we’re also getting adequate involvement from the freshmen.” Pomona has been led on offense by 5-foot
5-inch junior guard Cathy Gooden, who is averaging 18 points and 5 rebounds after playing in the shadow of McCoy last season. “Cathy’s finally getting the chance to show what she can do, and
she has done very well,” May said. “She has great quickness, and she has also shown she can shoot.” Most of Pomona’s inside scoring has come from 6-2 sophomore center Niki Bracken, who
averages 16.6 points and 7.9 rebounds, and 6-1 junior forward Marcine Edmonds, who averages 15.7 points. But May says that the Broncos would not be nearly as successful without the
all-around play of senior guard Paula Tezak, who averages a team-leading 8.4 assists and 8.6 rebounds a game. “I know she’s not scoring,” May said of Tezak’s 4.9 average, “but she’s our
catalyst. Paula’s really the heart and soul of this team. She’s the one that gives us the desire to succeed.” May said the presence of Tezak and Gooden in her team’s backcourt has given the
Broncos excellent leadership. “This has been the first team since I’ve been here that has had that kind of leadership on the floor. Both Cathy and Paula command a lot of respect from the
rest of the players,” she said. Even better news for Pomona has been the development of a strong freshman class that is headed by guard Carrie Egan, the Southern Section 3-A player of the
year last season from Brea-Olinda High School, and forward Kelly Connelly. “I think that we’ve got the potential to be one of the best groups we’ve ever had here,” May said. “I don’t know if
it’s going to happen this year or when, but we’ve got an excellent group of kids.” That should make Pomona the favorite in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. and help the Broncos
remain successful for at least a few more years. Perhaps the biggest surprise among lower-division men’s basketball teams in the Southland has been UC Riverside, 8-0 after defeating UC
Davis, 77-71, Monday. Not that the Highlanders have been unsuccessful in the past. Riverside was 19-9 last season, the first time in four years that the Highlanders did not win 20 games in a
season. The surprise is that Riverside has won despite having only one starter, 6-4 guard Julius Thomas, return from last season. Thomas and 6-2 guard Maurice Pullum have both averaged
about 16 points to lead the Highlanders; and 6-4 forward Chris Jackson, a former Santa Ana Mater Dei High star, is averaging about 10.5 points. The schedule also may have something to do
with Riverside’s success. All of the Highlander victories have come against opponents that are NCAA Division II or lower. The schedule will get considerably tougher in early January when the
Highlanders play road games against Division I teams Southern Louisiana and Southern Mississippi on back-to-back nights before the start of CCAA play. Though the success of the Cal Poly
Pomona women and UC Riverside men may be a surprise, there is nothing unexpected about the play of the Biola men’s basketball team. This season has been reminiscent of last, when the Eagles
went 29-1 before losing in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics national tournament in Kansas City. Just as last season, the Eagles have entered their winter break with an
undefeated record. Biola, which was 9-0 at this time last year, is 10-0 now. Among the Eagles’ victories are one against a Division I team, Northern Arizona, and two against Division II
teams, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State Los Angeles. “I think it’s comparable to last year’s team,” Coach Dave Holmquist said. “I think both teams had several overachievers and that’s
what has made us so good.” But Holmquist is quick to add that his team, which has been led by NAIA All-America forward Johnny Griffin, cannot take success for granted. “We’re not a team
that can win on talent alone,” he says. “We’re not a big team, so I think we have to play high-percentage basketball to keep it going. . . . We have a good shot of winning the district, but
I don’t believe we’re a dominant team.” It is difficult to tell by the way the Eagles have played. College Division Notes The Master’s College women’s basketball team matched its victory
total of last season when it defeated Redlands, 54-32, last week. The Mustangs, who were 6-20 last season, improved to 6-3 with that victory under Coach Becky White, who also directed the
women’s volleyball program to a 20-11 record, the team’s best mark ever. . . . The Cal State Dominguez Hills men’s basketball team has struggled to a 4-4 record, but the Toros are the
runaway CCAA leader in free-throw percentage at 77%. Leading the way is center Anthony Blackman at 87%. . . . Angela Brinton, a 5-7 senior setter who led Cal State Northridge to the NCAA
Division II championship, has been named women’s volleyball player of the year in the division. Brinton, who was previously named the most valuable player of the CCAA, also joined teammate
Sue Darcey on the Division II All-America team for the second season in a row. . . . Senior forward Joey Kirk of the Cal State Northridge is the only Division II player listed on Soccer
America’s Top 10 MVP all-star team. Kirk, who helped lead the Matadors to second place in Division II, established Northridge records with 30 goals and 77 points this season. Kirk and
midfielder Thor Lee were named to the Division II All-America team selected by the American Soccer Coaches Assn. . . . All-CCAA middle hitter Gayle Deisinger of the Cal Poly Pomona women’s
volleyball team has been selected to the Academic All-America second team by the College Sports Information Directors Assn. MORE TO READ