THE COLLEGES / MIKE HISERMAN : Northridge Women Trying Not to Lose Their Perspective

We are sitting courtside Wednesday night at Selland Arena, faced by the daunting task of chronicling history as it is made.

The Cal State Northridge women’s basketball team has lost a school-record 26th consecutive game, this time by a 80-55 score to Fresno State.

We are wearing our rose-colored glasses and peering into a magnifying glass. We are searching for a positive spin.

Oh sure, there are those who would cast stones in this situation. Heck, lately Kim Chandler has been rocked so many times she has become gun-shy.

Approached as she is digesting her 79th loss in 90 games as Northridge’s coach, a familiar expression sweeps over Chandler’s face.

It is the same one the cat gets when a neighbor lets his dog off the leash.

When your record is 0-for-the-season and your last victory was 12 1/2 months ago, the presence of any reporter is viewed with suspicion.

Chandler speaks softly, lauding the effort of her team, and reminding a listener that her’s is a collection of four juniors and seven freshmen.

“There’s a lot of talent on the floor,” Chandler says of the crew which is 0-21 this season. “They’re starting to grow up, and they continue to play hard.”

They just make too many mistakes.

Against Fresno, Northridge shot a respectable 42.6%, but, typically, committed 33 turnovers.

Twice this season, Northridge has shot better than 52% and lost.

Turnovers usually are the culprit. Northridge players make more lame passes than a drunken lounge lizard and walk so often the school should keep a travel agent on staff.

On the bright side, there is no way the Matadors can establish any kind of national record for futility in a season. Charleston Southern lost all 28 games in its 1991-92 campaign, a record which will stand just as long as the NCAA keeps its recently established limit set at 27 games.

The collegiate record for consecutive losses stretched over more than one season is 58, set by Brooklyn College from February, 1987, to February, 1989.

Northridge’s team might not last long enough to challenge that one. Women’s basketball faces elimination unless a referendum to increase student fees passes this spring.

As for now, Northridge is believed to be the nation’s only Division I team without a victory.

“It’s embarrassing,” guard Shannon Crouse said after scoring a game-high 20 points against Fresno. “I’ve just tried to put it out of my head.”

Crouse apparently isn’t one to grasp an available excuse. Youth, she says, is not Northridge’s problem.

“There are no excuses,” she said. “Not the freshmen, not the earthquake, nothing.”

The earthquake?

Against Fresno, the Matadors fell behind, 14-2, rallied to stay within striking distance, then crashed in the second half. Still, the Matadors looked nothing like a helpless and hopeless team.

“Everyone says we’re just a step away,” said Carrie Dormire, who scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds. “We just need to get that first win and we’ll be OK.”

Northridge next plays at conference-leading Southern Utah on Saturday. After that, the Matadors return home for a nonconference game against Cal State Los Angeles in what is their best chance left to post a victory.

Cal State L.A. has a record of 15-7 playing at the Division II level, and is in a tie for second place in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., the very conference Northridge left five years ago.

“I’ll tell you what, if we lose to Cal State L.A., Division II, something’s got to happen,” Crouse said.

And what might that something be?

She shrugged.

The advice here is, stay positive and look for silver linings.

Lets see. . . .

A victory over Cal State L.A. would give the Northridge women a perfect record against Division II competition.

That happens to be a better mark than that of the school’s 5-16 men’s team, which lost its only game against a Division II team.

But that’s another story.