COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : Playoff Berth Could Be the Payoff for Dominguez Hills Women

The Cal State Dominguez Hills women’s basketball team has a good shot at earning its first-ever berth in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. postseason tournament, which includes the top four teams in the seven-member league.

The Toros (11-9 overall, 3-2 in conference play) are second to league powerhouse Cal Poly Pomona. On Saturday Dominguez Hills gave Pomona (15-5, 6-0) a tough battle before losing, 60-51, at Pomona. It was the closest Dominguez Hills has ever come to beating the Broncos, who have won three NCAA Division II championships and all 10 CCAA titles.

Dominguez Hills Coach Van Girard says his team’s solid performance at Pomona is proof that he has a contender.

“Basically we’re doing well defensively,” he said. “Defense is what has kept us in a position to win at the end. We had our opportunities against Pomona. We were only down by three with about four minutes to go. I feel that the margin between Pomona and us has definitely closed.”

Girard believes his team can hang on to one of the top four spots before conference play ends Feb. 22. A trip to the CCAA tournament will be only the third time Dominguez Hills has competed in postseason play.

The Toros went to the playoffs twice while competing in the Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women under Coach Myra Miyasoto in the 1970s. Both times Dominguez Hills lost in the first round of the regional. It was defeated by Pepperdine, 70-39, to close the 1977-78 season and Azusa Pacific, 71-68, at the end of the 1978-79 season.

Miyasoto (58-48 in five seasons) is the only Dominguez Hills women’s basketball coach with a winning record. Her successor, Alice Textor, left with an 83-102 record after seven seasons. Girard, a successful girls’ coach at Lynwood High, was hired in 1988 to revive the program.

“I think in terms of pressure, the pressure is not on us,” Girard said. “Even now, people are just beginning to look at us as a team to beat. Before we were definitely not viewed that way. We just see it as a great opportunity.”

Dominguez Hills will have to play well this week to keep its playoff position. The Toros have road games at Chapman today and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Saturday. Chapman (8-9, 2-3) and San Luis Obispo (11-8, 2-3) are in a four-way tie for third with Cal State L.A. (9-11, 2-3) and UC Riverside (5-13, 2-3).

“With the exception of Pomona, our league is so balanced that anybody is capable of beating anybody,” Girard said.

“This weekend will be a very pivotal weekend for us as far as being in a position to making postseason play. We feel very confident that we’ll match up.”

Junior forward Dionne Vanlandingham and senior center Cheri Bullet have played a big role in the Toros’ success.

The 6-foot Vanlandingham, an All-CCAA honorable-mention selection last season, averages 10.2 points and 6.5 rebounds. The 6-foot Bullet, an All-CCAA selection last year, leads the team with averages of 14.7 points and 10 rebounds. She also has a team-high 42 steals.

“Dionne has stepped her game up since conference started,” Girard said. “Cheri has been the mainstay for us all year long. We go where Cheri goes. If she’s playing well, we have something to go to. . . . She’s a tremendous athlete. She’s doing for us what we expected when we recruited her.”

Bullet, a graduate of Banning High, played two seasons at El Camino College before transferring to Dominguez Hills. As a sophomore at El Camino, she averaged 18 points and 15 rebounds and was named South Coast Conference player of the year.

She says there is a lot of pressure involved in leading a team in two categories.

“I feel it a lot sometimes,” she said. “They don’t just double-team me. A lot of times they triple-team me.”

Although the Toros lost four starters from last season’s team, Bullet believes the 1991-92 squad is improved.

“We’re more aggressive,” she said. “We run the ball more and play better defense overall. We’re more mature athletes. It’s exciting.”

The SCC men’s basketball game between El Camino College and Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday will feature the league’s two best defenses.

Mt. SAC (11-11, 0-3) allows an average of 60.7 points, and El Camino (10-10, 1-2) allows 66.4. The Warriors, who will host the 7:30 p.m. game, also have the league’s leading scorer and rebounder. Freshman forward Mark Johnson averages 18.6 points and sophomore forward Tyrone Paul (Morningside High) averages 9.8 rebounds.

El Camino won its SCC opener, 66-61, at Pasadena City College on Jan. 18, but then lost to the state’s top-ranked team, Cerritos, 89-86, in overtime on Jan. 22 and to third-ranked Long Beach City College, 94-55, on Saturday. Mt. SAC lost to Pasadena, 62-61, on Wednesday.

The Harbor and El Camino baseball teams will open the season at the Cerritos/Fullerton tournament, which runs today through Sunday at Norwalk and Fullerton.

Harbor’s first game is at 2 p.m. today against Cal State Fullerton’s junior-varsity team at Fullerton. El Camino will open against Cal State Fullerton at 10 a.m. today at Fullerton.

Harbor finished the 1991 season with a 33-9 record. The Seahawks lost to L.A. Pierce, 11-10, in the Southern California Regional final at Harbor.

El Camino struggled to a 13-27 record in 1991 under Coach Glen LeVier. LeVier was not rehired after coaching the Warriors to a 27-48-1 record in two seasons. Former Narbonne High coach Nick Van Lue was picked to replace him.

Van Lue guided Narbonne to its first L.A. City Section title last year. He has served as an assistant at Harbor College, San Pedro High and El Segundo High. He worked with three of the South Bay’s all-time winningest coaches at those schools--Jim O’Brien at Harbor, Jerry Lovarov at San Pedro and John Stevenson at El Segundo.

Notes

Former Rolling Hills High ace Kirt Kishita made his collegiate pitching debut Sunday at Arizona. Kishita started and pitched five innings, gave up a run and struck out five in a 15-11 victory over New Mexico at Tucson. . . . The Harbor women’s basketball team (18-6, 2-0) scored more than 100 points in its first two Southern California Athletic Conference games. The Seahawks beat L.A. Southwest, 104-18, in last week’s league opener and Compton, 115-28, on Wednesday. Forward Kim Young led Harbor with 45 points against Southwest and 39 against Compton. . . . The Harbor men’s basketball team (16-10 overall, 4-2 in the SCAC) defeated East L.A., 87-76, on Wednesday. Sophomore forward Kent Bennett leads the Seahawks with averages of 19.2 points and 9.7 rebounds. . . . L.A. Southwest freshman guard Henry Romano leads the state in field-goal percentage (73.8), but the Cougars are struggling at 6-14 overall and 1-4 in the SCAC.