The Colleges : Occidental Women's Team Happy to Bid Goombay Shootout Goodby

L.A. Times Archives

Jan. 14, 1989 12 AM PT

The facilities afforded the Occidental women’s basketball team in the recent Bahamas Goombay Shootout in Nassau left much to be desired.

The team practiced on a dilapidated asphalt court outside the gym in which tournament games were played. Each practice drew a large audience of natives, many of whom toted reggae-blasting radios. But Coach Sue Semaru said that the onlookers were not hanging out to check out the talent or gawk at Occidental players.

“I think they were just mad that we took their court,” she said.

Things didn’t get much better when the team got inside the dimly lit gym. Square, 3-inch ventilation holes had been cut in the wall, creating a steady cross-court breeze. The floor was uneven and rock hard. One Occidental player described it as “bumpy linoleum.”

But after their opening game against the Bahamian national team, the Tigers looked far worse than the broken-down facilities.

Joelle Orton, who averages a team-high 17 points a game, aggravated a stress fracture in her foot; center Kathy LaPointe, who underwent ankle surgery last summer, injured her good ankle; and forward Melissa VanderPool suffered a knee injury.

Semaru said that VanderPool’s injury is the most serious.

“She got pushed and she’s out for the whole season,” she said. “It was horrible.”

The Bahamians were not physically imposing, Semaru says, but the international style of play allowed for plenty of clobbering.

“(The referees) were not calling fouls, period,” Semaru said, adding that she considered pulling the Tigers (4-8) off the court. “We can’t blame them--it’s just how they play.

“There was no way to re-teach (Occidental) the way to play like that. And I didn’t want to. If we changed, we’d be in trouble when we got back to the States. I was afraid of what was happening.”

Great expectations: The College of the Canyons basketball team got a boost recently from sophomore Deon Myricks, who appears to be fulfilling the potential obvious to anyone who has seen the 6-foot, 7-inch center play.

Myricks is averaging 10 points and 9.5 rebounds, but his past 3 games have been among his best of the season.

He scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Canyons’ Western State Conference opener against West L. A. In a loss to Glendale, he had 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Then Tuesday night, Myricks scored 16 points in the Cougars’ 102-88 win over Bakersfield.

“Deon’s to a point where he’s focused and that’s going to lead to some stability,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said.

Canyons, 12-10 overall, 2-1 in the WSC, plays Valley tonight.

Golf benefit: The J. S. Mulligan’s Cougar Classic, a benefit golf tournament for the College of the Canyons baseball program, will be held Sunday, Jan. 29, at Vista Valencia Golf Course.

The tournament, which begins with a shotgun start at 11 a.m., will be followed by a dinner honoring USC baseball Coach Mike Gillespie, who guided his teams to 3 state championships and 11 Western State Conference titles in 16 seasons as coach at Canyons from 1971-86.

The $95 entry fee includes greens fees, cart, golf shirt, refreshments and prime rib dinner. The tournament fee also includes contests for longest drive, closest to the pin and holes in 1.

Information: 805-259-7800 ext. 207 or 805-296-2824

Cougar clashes: With shortstop Jeff Flesher and center fielder Ray Palagyi gone to UC Santa Barbara, there are several positions up for grabs at College of the Canyons baseball practices.

“We haven’t filled Flesher’s shoes,” said Canyons Coach Len Mohney, who begins his third season as coach of the Cougars. “That’s where we’re suspect.”

Sophomore Ernie Perez, who played third base last season, and sophomore Adam Grant, who backed up at second, are fighting for the starting shortstop job.

Sophomore Chris Greenameyer and freshmen Alex Batarsi and Josh Bergara are candidates to replace Palagyi.

Freshman Tommy Dodson, a third baseman at Saugus, will start at catcher, replacing Mike Bible, who transferred to Sonoma State.

A dashing figure: Marc Turndorf got acclimated to life’s fast track after transferring from USC to New York University last fall. Now, he’s preparing for another kind of track: The 1986 Granada Hills High graduate will compete for NYU this spring in the 200 and 400 meters.

Turndorf, a cinema-television production major, wasn’t fast enough to make the track team during his 2 years at USC. But when he decided to transfer to NYU for academic reasons, he also decided to resume his athletic career.

“I figured it was a chance to meet people and stay in shape,” said Turndorf, who twice made it to the City Section semifinals while at Granada Hills.

Lost in Big Sky country: Steve deLaveaga, a senior guard for Cal Lutheran who leads the NAIA District 3 and the Golden State Athletic Conference in scoring, saw his average drop nearly 2 points after Eastern Montana held him to just 29 points in 2 games. DeLaveaga is averaging 25.6 points after taking a 27.1-point average to Montana.

Staff writers Gary Klein, Sam Farmer and Ralph Nichols contributed to this notebook.