Running toward success

Rhondi NaffFormer Costa Mesa High, OCC star finds a comfortable home at Cal State Bakersfield.Rhondi Naff thought she didn’t have many choices in colleges, yet it appears she made a great one.

The Costa Mesa High grad wanted to commit to a four-year school before her sophomore season at Orange Coast College. The problem was, after a pedestrian freshman year, not that many schools were interested.

In the end, she signed with Cal State Bakersfield, an NCAA Division II school.

“Not many schools were offering,” Naff said. “[Cal State Bakersfield] was the best. I came up here and I liked it all.”

Cal State Bakersfield assistant coach Gregg Savage -- a former assistant on Mike Thornton’s coaching staff at OCC and a former girls’ coach at Newport Harbor High -- helped land the former Mustangs standout in Bakersfield.

“It was definitely nice, already knowing someone here,” Naff said. “Everyone else is new to me.”

This season -- Naff’s first with the Roadrunners -- she has made an immediate impact. She has started eight of nine games, and is averaging 7.7 points per game for the 8-1 Roadrunners.

Last season, in her sophomore campaign with the Pirates, she led the team in scoring, averaging 16.2 points per game while shooting 45.4% from the field. She also averaged 6.0 rebounds and had 45 steals on her way to All-Orange Empire Conference recognition.

While Naff was a standout at Costa Mesa and OCC, she is just one of many talented players on the Roadrunners’ roster.

Five players are averaging double figures in scoring and seven different Roadrunners have scored in double figures this season -- including Naff’s season-high 16 points against Grand Canyon on Dec. 10.

Although the Roadrunners are a young program, having started in the 2000-01 season, they have grown quickly. Cal State Bakersfield has a record of 130-29 in its first five seasons, and the team has qualified for the NCAA Division II tournament each year.

This season, the ‘Runners have already knocked off Division I schools UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

“There is a lot of talent on this team,” Naff said. “Sometimes the practices are harder than the games.”

Naff said she developed her work ethic from playing under Costa Mesa Coach Jim Weeks.

“She was one who would go all out in practice,” Weeks said.

“He would always tell me, ‘It’s not who starts the game strong, it’s who finishes the game strong,’ ” Naff said.

Weeks said he couldn’t be more proud of his star pupil.

“I am happy to see she is starting to get some of the rewards for her hard work,” the Mustangs coach said.

Although she is one of the newest members of the team, Naff already has her own cheering section -- albeit a small one. Naff’s parents have made the four-hour round trip for every home game.

Her cheering section should be a bit larger this weekend, when Naff and the Roadrunners visit Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday.