Contact:             Doug Aiken
                           (714) 997-6900

Release Date:   December 19, 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

Upcoming Events Calendar
 
Date
Day
Team
Opponent/Event
Site
Time (Pacific)
12/20 Sat. Women's Basketball Luther (IA) Home 3:00 pm
12/21 Sun. Men's Basketball Luther (IA) Home 2:00 pm
12/30 Tue. Men's Basketball Chaminade (HI) Honolulu, HI 10:30 pm
12/31 Wed. Women's Basketball Anderson (IN) Home 2:00 pm
1/3 Sat. Men's Basketball BYU-Hawaii Laie, HI 10:30 pm
1/6 Tue. Women's Basketball Redlands Redlands 2:00 pm
1/8 Thu. Women's Basketball Claremont Home 4:00 pm
Men's Basketball Claremont Home 7:30 pm

Last Week’s Results:
(The next Chapman Athletics release date will be: 1/8/04)

Men’s Basketball
 
Date Opponent Result Record
12/13 Caltech W, 88-31 4-3
12/16 @ Whittier W, 77-64 5-3
12/18 @ Occidental L, 60-62 5-4

Chapman 88, Caltech 31 – Chapman defeated visiting Caltech, 88-31 to improve to 3-1 at Hutton Center this season. It was the first game at home the Panthers have played at home this month, following a three-game road trip. Twelve different players scored points for Chapman (4-3) in the win. Sophomore forward Tony Melum (Costa Mesa/Newport Harbor High), in his first start of the season, led all scorers with 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Freshman guards Josh Flynn-Brown (Redondo Beach/Loyola High) and Danny Krikorian (Costa Mesa/Costa Mesa High) scored 11 points apiece, including three three-pointers each.

Chapman 77, Whittier 64 – The Panthers shot 60 percent from the field in the first half to build a 12-point halftime lead, 40-28, and held on to defeat the Poets by 13. Chapman had split the previous four meetings with Whittier dating back to the 2001-02 season. Junior guard Chad Bigler (Santa Ana/Foothill High) led the Panthers was a rebound short of a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds. The win was Chapman’s third straight – its longest winning streak of the season.

Occidental 62, Chapman 60 – Chapman’s hard luck returned against the reigning SCIAC champs as the Panthers lost another heartbreaker, 62-60 to Occidental. The Panthers rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit and led by four late in the second-half, but couldn’t find the winning formula in the final minute of the game. Chapman has been outscored in its four losses by a total of nine points, including a pair of one-point losses to Cal Lutheran and Redlands. Tony Melum led the Panthers with 17 points in the loss.
 

Women’s Basketball
 
Date Opponent Result Record
12/16 Hope International W, 86-68 8-2

Chapman 86, Hope International 68 – Chapman used a 16-0 run to open the second-half to bury the visiting Hope International Royals at the Hutton Center. The Panthers, playing in their first game in ten days, improved to 4-0 at home with the win. Hope International kept things close in the first-half and led twice midway through the period, but fell behind by nine at halftime, 42-33. The Royals then missed their first nine field goal attempts in the second-half and Chapman capitalized by taking a 25-point lead. The Panthers shot 55 percent from the field in the game and had four players score in double-digits led by senior guard Mel Bongiorno (Stowe, VT/Rice Memorial High), who scored a game-high 23 points and added four assists.
 

Women’s Soccer

Postseason Honors – Three women’s soccer players were named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Far West academic team – a school best. Senior midfielder Nicole Madonia (Huntington Beach/Los Alamitos High) and ten Division I athletes were named to the first team. Madonia was the only non-Division I player to earn the top regional honor. The academic award is the second for Madonia this year following her Verizon Academic All-District VIII first team selection last month. She entered the 2003 school year with a 3.72 GPA in athletic training. Juniors Liz Hopkins (Fullerton/Troy High) and Alyce Perry (Las Vegas, NV/Bonanza High) earned second team honors, joining three other Division III players from the Northwest Conference. Hopkins has carried a 4.0 GPA for four semesters in liberal studies, while Perry currently has a 3.48 GPA in kinesiology. In all, just eight Division III players were named to either the first, second or third NSCAA All-Far West Region academic teams. For the complete listing of NSCAA academic awards click here.