Chapman Looks for Positives in Loss

It’s hard to find much positive in a 38-point rout, but with a day to think about Chapman’s first-round NCAA Division III tournament loss to College of St. Benedict (Minn.), Panther women’s basketball Coach Mary Hegarty did her best.

“It was a really good point of reference,” Hegarty said Friday of Wednesday’s 97-59 loss. “I hope it showed our young kids who are coming back what they need to do during the off-season.”

Hegarty said her team needs to shoot better and get stronger to compete against a team such as St. Benedict.

St. Benedict has four post players taller than 6 feet. Chapman’s tallest player is 5-11. St. Benedict had 55 rebounds, 24 offensive; Chapman had 33 total.

St. Benedict, which is making its ninth consecutive playoff appearance, seemed to intimidate the Panthers, who trailed by 20 at halftime.

Chapman, which finished 19-7--its best winning percentage since 1984-85--never recovered, but Hegarty said it was probably an impossible situation.

“Had we played the best game of our season, and we’ve played some good ones,” Hegarty said, “I think there was a chance we could have still lost by 10 or 15 points.”

*

Basketball honors: Southern California College’s Adam Dzierzynski and Terence Wilborn were named to the All-Golden State Athletic Conference team.

Elaine Whittemore, a junior forward on the SCC women’s basketball team, was an all-conference selection.

*

Add basketball: Westmont, which beat SCC, 68-58, Wednesday in the first round of the GSAC tournament, has knocked the Vanguards out of the tournament in three consecutive seasons.

*

Baseball: Greg Shaia, a rarely used reserve catcher for Chapman, got into the action Thursday and made the most of it. Shaia, a freshman from Servite High, took over after starter Mike Thornton was injured in the fourth inning and had a double and two-run home run in the Panthers’ 7-4 loss to Azusa Pacific.

He also threw out the only runner to attempt a steal and now has three hits in five career at-bats.