College Division / Mitch Polin : Cal Poly Pomona Faces Big Hurdle

Under most playoff formats, you wouldn’t expect the top two ranked teams in a division to meet until the championship game.

But that is not true in National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division II women’s basketball, where the bracketing of playoff teams is based on regions instead of rankings, and the process is completed as early as six years in advance.

That may not sound altogether fair, but that’s the way it is in Division II women’s basketball.

Like it or not, the random playoff formula has also created some pretty difficult quarterfinal matchups for Cal Poly Pomona over the years.

On the way to the Final Four last season, the second-ranked Broncos had to first get past third-ranked North Dakota State in the quarterfinals.

To reach the Final Four this year, second-ranked Pomona will have an even more difficult assignment in the quarterfinals, playing top-ranked West Texas State (31-0).

Sounds more like the championship game.

Fortunately for the Broncos (28-3), the game is at home at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Kellogg Gym in Pomona.

Although Pomona Coach Darlene May isn’t exactly thrilled about having to face the No. 1 team in the quarterfinals, she is happy the game is at home.

“I’m real excited about playing them on our home floor and giving our fans a chance to see us play again,” she said.

If Pomona’s performance in the Division II West Regional last week is indicative, the Broncos couldn’t have picked a better time to face the top-ranked team.

Playing perhaps its best basketball this season, Pomona rolled to an 88-52 victory over UC Davis in its first-round game and ran away with a 103-77 win over 14th-ranked Alaska Anchorage in the second round Saturday.

The Broncos won largely on the impressive play of junior guard Cathy Gooden and sophomore center Niki Bracken. Gooden, playing her best game of the season, scored 30 points, sinking all 11 of her shots, 2 of them three-pointers, and all 6 of her free throws in the win over Davis. The next night against Alaska, Bracken scored a school-record 44 points and made 18 of 27 shots.

“I don’t know what they had for dinner, but I hope they have it again,” May said. “I don’t know who played better, but those were two awesome performances.”

For that matter, the rest of team also played well. Good enough to set a two-game Division II playoff record with 191 points. But May realizes it will be more difficult against West Texas State, which is No. 1 in Division II in team defense, allowing only 53 points a game.

Said May: “West Texas State’s a very good team. They’re not rated No. 1 for nothing. I think the key to playing West Texas is going to be defense and rebounding.”

But the Broncos are a pretty good team, too. They have reached the Division II playoffs seven straight years and made it to the Final Four five of the last six years.

Friday, they hope to add one more to that total.

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Westmont men’s basketball team, and that is just how things appeared early in the season.

With inexperienced juniors leading the way, the Warriors played inconsistently in compiling an 11-8 record. But any early season difficulty has diminished in recent weeks.

Westmont has since won 12 games in a row, including a 72-57 upset of Biola in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics’ District III tournament final last week, earning a berth in the NAIA’s 51st annual national tournament that starts today at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.

The Warriors (23-8) are seeded No. 17 in the 32-team tournament and will face No. 16 Wisconsin Eau Claire (22-7) in their first-round game. The Warriors will certainly enter the tournament with momentum on their side.

“I’m extremely pleased at the way the team has been playing of late,” Coach Chet Kammerer said. “Hopefully we can sustain this momentum in the tournament. Yet, as you know, anything can happen in the tournament.”

The Biola men’s basketball team did not achieve its goal of reaching the NAIA national tournament, but the Eagles could win a nice consolation prize this week.

With a 90-78 win over Southern California College in the regional, Biola has earned a berth in the National Christian College Athletic Assn. tournament that starts Thursday at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Biola (29-4), ranked No. 9 in the final regular-season NAIA poll, is seeded No. 1 in the eight-team tournament and will meet No. 8 King’s College (19-14) of New York in its first game. The semifinals are Friday and the final Saturday.

Other top contenders for the tournament title are Cedarville of Ohio (21-11), and Lee of Tennessee (22-10), a team Biola defeated in January.

College Division Notes

California Collegiate Athletic Assn. teams continued their domination of NCAA Division II swimming last week as conference teams won both the men’s and women’s titles. Cal State Bakersfield won its third straight men’s title, and Cal State Northridge took its second women’s title in a row. . . . Susan Carberry, athletic director at Cal State Dominguez Hills since 1982, announced that she will resign in June. The 41-year-old Carberry has also been acting vice president for student affairs at the school since January 21. Dan Guerrero has been acting athletic director since January and will remain in the position until June. Mike Maynard, defensive and recruiting coordinator at Claremont-Mudd the last four years, has been named football coach at Redlands. Maynard, 31, helped coach Claremont-Mudd to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title the last two years. Redlands was 1-8 last season. . . . Senior point guard Todd Thomas of Claremont-Mudd, who led his team to its second straight SCIAC title, has been named the conference basketball player of the year. The 6-foot Thomas was among the SCIAC leaders in scoring average at 24 points, assists with 6 and steals at 2.6, and also averaged 5.3 rebounds.

Claremont-Mudd also had the conference’s female player of the year in 6-2 senior center Julia Hodgkins, who led the Athenas to their first conference title. . . . Laker Coach Pat Riley will be guest speaker at Cal Lutheran’s second annual basketball scholarship banquet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the school gym. Reservations can be made by calling (805) 493-3404. . . . Kelly Huston of Chapman, a 6-7 senior who averaged a conference-leading 22.1 points and 8.3 rebounds, has been named CCAA player of the year in men’s basketball. Dave Yanai of Cal State Dominguez Hills was named men’s coach of the year. . . . Cal Poly Pomona’s Paula Tezak, a 5-8 senior guard, was named the CCAA’s female player of the year. Tezak averaged a conference-leading 7 assists and 6.9 rebounds and 5.4 points as the Broncos won their seventh straight conference title. Darlene May of Pomona was named coach of the year.