COLLEGE BASKETBALL WOMEN’S SMALL-SCHOOLS PREVIEW : Cal Lutheran, Master’s Regrouping

Rebuilding is a term many coaches would rather avoid at the outset of a season. But for the Cal Lutheran and The Master’s women’s basketball programs, the work is already well under way.

The Regals are first-year members of the NCAA Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and the Mustangs are members of the NAIA District 3. Both teams have new coaches and new outlooks after losing seasons.

At Cal Lutheran, Coach Kecia Gorman, an assistant with the CLU softball team, takes charge of a team with five returning players from last season’s 5-20 squad.

Sophomore guards Cathy Clayton and Shelly Hicks and junior forward Evelyn Albert are expected to make major contributions.

Gorman also has a pair of talented newcomers in 6-foot-1 1/2 freshman post player Kathy Westby of Olympia, Wash., and 5-10 Kelly Lee, a 25-year-old freshman who brings with her court leadership and an accurate outside shot.

“One thing we’re trying to work on is being very aggressive,” said Gorman, whose team will open the season Saturday at Cal Baptist in Riverside. “I want us to be one of the quickest teams out there.”

Half of the players on the Regal roster participate in more than one sport. Gorman herself was a former two-sport athlete in high school and in 1986 was a Division II All-American catcher at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

At Master’s, Coach Rob Belue, 22, has six returners and three promising freshmen to work with as the Mustangs regroup after last year’s 3-25 campaign.

Forward Jaci Harris, a 5-9 junior, will be counted on for scoring and rebounding. Belue also is expecting a solid season from sophomore guard Diane Childs.

The future of the Mustang program is represented in the freshman trio of forward Tricia Plummer and guards Debra Prociw and Krissi Trower. The 5-11 Plummer, from Redding, Calif., is a consistently accurate outside shooter who also will be used as a post player.

“We will be looking to use our quickness to our advantage,” Belue said. “We have some good outside shooters and we’re going to try to play some pressure defense.”

The Mustangs lost a proven scorer from last year’s team when guard Courtney Hergert decided to transfer at the conclusion of the current semester. She averaged 12.6 points last season as a sophomore.