Vanguard wins second straight GSAC title

Vanguard University claimed its second consecutive Golden State

Athletic Conference women’s basketball championship, and fifth in the

program’s history, with a 94-56 victory over visiting Christian

Heritage Tuesday.

Freshman Kelly Schmidt scored a game-high 32 points while Lisa

Faulkner added 11 points and 13 assists. Faulkner holds the

single-season assist record (282), breaking Amee Pina’s former mark

of 266 set in 1999.

The Lions (25-2, 17-2 in the GSAC), with just one regular-season

game remaining, secured home-court advantage throughout the

conference tournament and earned a berth into the NAIA National

tournament with the win.

*--*

Golden State Athletic Conference

Vanguard 94, Christian Heritage 56

Christian Heritage -- Reynolds 15, McKinney 8, Relph 8, King 12, Wall 5, Galinat 2, Mercier 0, Miller 2, LeBaron 4, Johansen 0. 3-pt. goals -- McKinney 1, Relph 1, Wall 1. Fouled out -- Johansen, Wall. Technicals -- None. Vanguard -- Josefsson 5, Mills

13, Schmidt 32, Faulkner 11, Burns 4, McClellan 10, Dittenbir 3, Besse 16. 3-pt. goals -- Mills 3, Josefsson 1, Faulkner 3, Burns 1, McClellan 2, Dittenbir 1. Fouled out -- Faulkner. Technicals -- None. Halftime -- Vanguard, 54-28.

*--*

OCC defeats Riverside

* BASKETBALL: Orange Coast College’s women’s tennis team swept in

singles and lost just one doubles match, sending host Riverside to

its first loss of the season, 8-1, in the Orange Empire Conference

opener Tuesday.

Darlena Tran, Sabrina Tanamal, Jia-Wei Yuh, Kai Moriyama and Thao

Ho all swept in singles for OCC (3-1) while Leah Becker took the

final two sets, 6-3, 7-5, to defeat Riverside’s Chrissy Lee.

Tran and Yuh, along with Becker and Tanamal, each claimed their

doubles sets, 8-6.

Riverside fell to 4-1.

*--*

Orange Empire Conference

Orange Coast 8, Riverside 1

Singles -- Becker (OCC) def. Lee, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5; Tanamal (OCC) def. Robles, 6-1, 7-6 (3); Tran (OCC) def. Restiva, 6-2, 6-4; Moriyama (OCC) def. Cornejo, 6-3, 6-3; Ho (OCC) def. Racataian, 6-3, 6-1; Yuh (OCC) def. Holt, 7-6 (3), 6-0. Doubles --

Becker-Tanamal (OCC) def. Robles-Lee, 8-6; Moriyama-Okamura (OCC) lost to Restivo-Cornejo, 9-7; Tran-Yuh (OCC) def. Racataian-Holt, 8-6.

*--*

UCI rallies for win

* BASEBALL: The UC Irvine baseball team rallied from a five-run

deficit to defeat visiting UNLV, 8-7, in a nonconference game Tuesday

at Anteater Ballpark.

UCI junior Gregg Wallis came up with a clutch double, driving in

two runs to cap a five-run eighth and freshman reliever Blair

Erickson induced an inning-ending double play in the top of the

ninth.

UCI outfielder Jordan Szabo went 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs

scored and Erik Johnson drove in two runs, going 1 for 3 for the

Anteaters (6-2-1). UNLV dropped to 5-4.

*--*

Nonconference

UC Irvine 8, UNLV 7

Score by Innings

UNLV 301 001 110 -- 7 14 1

UCI 200 000 15x -- 8 9 0

Seccomeb, Scheinbaum (8), Minor (8) and

Tellam; Cassel, Huff (4), Koehler (7),

Erickson (9) and Wagner, Werhun. W --

Koehler, 1-0. L -- Minor, 0-2. Sv --

Erickson (5). 2B -- Nielsen (UNLV), Gil

(UNLV), Parraz (UNLV), Wallis (UCI),

Johnson (UCI), Szabo (UCI).

*--*

‘Eaters finish second

* GOLF: The UC Irvine men’s golf team shot a two-day total of 882

to place second out of 10 teams in the Anteater Invitational at Santa

Ana Country Club that concluded Tuesday.

Sophomore Jay Choe shot an even-par 72 Tuesday to finish in fifth

place (216), while freshman Neno Boonyaplanum also tallied a 72 to

place 10th at 221 (five-over-par). Senior Vinnie Poncino carded a 73

in the final round to finish 15th at 223 and was followed by Ryne

Rindfleisch (23rd, 227) and sophomore Will Park (34th, 230).

Santa Clara’s Justin Ahasic shot 75 Tuesday, but still claimed the

individual title with a three-under 213 over two rounds.

UCLA’s “B” team won the tournament with an eight-over 872.

Kim sparks comeback

* BASKETBALL: Brian Kim poured in a career-high 37 points,

including seven three-pointers, to lead the host Vanguard University

basketball team to a come-from-behind, 82-74 Golden State Athletic

Conference victory over Christian Heritage Tuesday. Kim has scored 30

or more points in three of his last four games.

Freshman Kevin Dalafu tallied 20 points while Horace Wormely added

18 points for Vanguard (13-15, 6-11 in the GSAC), which overcame a

34-27 halftime deficit.

The Lions are tied for eighth place, the final playoff spot in the

GSAC.

*--*

Golden State Athletic Conference

Vanguard 82, Christian Heritage 74

Christian Heritage -- Gray 14, Rogers 23, Wall 5, Cook 17, Brown 9, Goble 0, Tribe-Simmons 0, Washington 0, Johnson 6. 3-pt. goals -- Rogers 3, Cook 3, Wall 1. Fouled out -- Wall. Technicals -- Goble. Vanguard -- Wormely 18, Burnette 0, Dalafu 20,

Rosborough 5, Kim 37, Seekins 2, Carlson 0, Pierson 0, Cotter 0, Watson 0, Enns 0. 3-pt. goals -- Kim 7, Dalafu 2. Fouled out -- Seekins. Technicals -- Wormely. Halftime -- Christian Heritage, 34-27.

*--*

Fielder wins for OCC

* TENNIS: The Orange Coast College men’s tennis team lost to

visiting Riverside, 7-2, in the Orange Empire Conference opener

Tuesday.

Scott Fielder captured the Pirates’ only point in singles with a

6-1, 7-6 win at No. 4, while Mike Manus and Colin Duncan won Orange

Coast’s doubles point at No. 2 with an 8-2 victory.

The Pirates (0-4) travel to Cypress on Thursday at 2 p.m.

Cassidy paces Pirates

* GOLF: Freshman Jason Cassidy shared medalist honors with a

3-over-par 74 Monday to help visiting Orange Coast College earn a

391-408 Orange Empire Conference men’s golf victory over Santa Ana at

Los Serranos Golf Course in Chino Hills.

Peter Baker (76), Shaun Vickers (78), Chad St. John (80) and Joo

NamKoong (83) also scored for OCC, which improved to 3-1.

Big West hoops tickets

* BASKETBALL: Single-session tickets for the Big West Conference

men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, scheduled March 10-13 at

the Anaheim Convention Center, went on sale Tuesday.

Fans can purchase tickets through the Anaheim Convention Center

box office -- (714) 765-8980 -- or through Ticketmaster.

Seats range from $10 to $20 for women’s games and from $15 to $30

for men’s games.

VU’s Chop, relays shine

* TRACK AND FIELD: Vanguard University junior Debby Chop won the

long jump and the Lions’ men’s and women’s distance medley relay

teams were also victorious to highlight action at the Pomona Pitzer

all-comers track and field meet Saturday at Pomona College.

The men’s distance medley relay of Billy Smith (3 minutes, 13

seconds in the 1,200 meters), Zach Powell (52.2 in the 400), Mikael

Larsson (2:00.1 in the 800) and Matt Meyer (4:24 in the 1,600) was

nearly eight seconds faster than runner-up Concordia.

The quartet of Jenny Thune (3:51.1 in the 1,200), Jenifer Zipprich

(1:01.6 in the 400), Christol McDonald (2:21.9 in the 800) and Luz

Huipe (5:31 in the 1,600), helped the Lions win the women’s distance

medley relay.

Faulkner earns honors

* BASKETBALL: Vanguard University junior point guard Lisa

Faulkner, who leads the NAIA in assists, has been named Golden State

Athletic Conference Player of the Week in women’s basketball.

She is also the school’s Lion of the Week.

A transfer from UC Irvine, she averaged more than 14 points and 12 assists to lead Vangaurd, ranked No. 3 in NAIA Division II, to three

big wins last week.

She had 24 points and 11 assists in a Feb. 10 triumph at Fresno

Pacific University.

The 5-foot-5 playmaker followed with stellar performances against

Westmont (Feb. 12) and The Master’s (Feb. 14).