Shooting for the Little Dance : UC Irvine: In the second year of a rebuilding program, Coach Matsuhara says the goal is the Big West tournament.

The UC Irvine women’s basketball team won only five games last season. Now the Anteaters have their eyes on reaching the tournament.

The Big West Conference tournament, that is.

The top eight teams in the 10-team conference qualify. Last season, Irvine and San Jose State were closed out after sharing the cellar with 1-17 Big West records. Their only victories were against each other.

Coach Colleen Matsuhara is preparing for her second season after taking over a program that had won only six games in its two previous seasons. Last year’s 5-22 record was identical to Dean Andrea’s last record before he was fired.

But with eight freshmen this season and a visibly more talented team, Matsuhara expects to begin taking small steps forward.

“I think in terms of quickness, we’ve improved in that area,” she said. “Just overall, we have more athleticism.”

The other Big West coaches apparently agree, picking the Anteaters to finish seventh. If they fulfill that prediction, they’ll reach their goal of playing in the tournament at Long Beach Arena.

“We need to make the tournament,” Matsuhara said. “It’s the last year the Big West tournament will be at Long Beach. We’d like to be participants instead of spectators.”

The two players who were Irvine’s leading scorers most of last season, senior forward Yvonne Catala and junior guard Karie Yoshioka, are back. Officially, the leading scorer was Kathy Lizarraga, but she played only 11 games before suffering a career-ending knee injury during her senior season.

Catala averaged 12.6 points and 6.7 rebounds. Her foible was foul trouble--she fouled out of 11 of the 19 games she started.

Yoshioka developed into a prime scoring threat after Lizarraga’s injury, and averaged 11.6 points.

Other returning players include Jinelle Williams, Cher Scanlon and Michelle Kahler, all sophomores whose task is to join this year’s freshman class in bringing the program back to respectability during their careers. Williams will probably start at forward, Kahler is competing at point guard and Scanlon could be the first player off the bench.

Much of the focus should fall on the freshmen. They are the ones with the longest time left to turn things around.

One Matsuhara is particularly pleased with is Allah-Mi Basheer, a 6-foot-2 center who was a second-team all-Southern Section selection at Cerritos High School.

“Some of the things she’s done in practice have really reaffirmed our belief in her,” Matsuhara said. “She’s got a lot to learn in terms of her repertoire of post moves. But she’s shown a lot of strength and leaping ability and she has long arms.”

One of Irvine’s returning post players, Beth Beers, a 6-3 sophomore, will redshirt because of a back injury.

The point guard position will be critical, because Irvine must replace two-year starter Chrissy Chang, who transferred. Two freshmen, Tamera Thomas and walk-on Kristen Ebright are competing with Kahler at point guard. Another freshman, Davette Williams, could challenge that group when she overcomes a hip injury and adds lower-body strength.

With so many inexperienced players, Matsuhara’s expectations are conservative.

“This is definitely an introductory year,” she said. “I asked the new players how many offenses they ran in high school. All but one said they probably ran two at most. They’ve never had to memorize this many offenses, much less out-of-bounds plays and defensive sets.”

But chances are, they have more recent experience at winning than Irvine’s veterans.