Contact:             Doug Aiken
                           (714) 997-6900

Release Date:   February 5, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

Upcoming Events Calendar
 

Date	Day	Team	Opponent/Event	Site	Time (Pacific)
2/6	Fri.	Baseball	Pomona-Pitzer	Pomona	2:30 pm
2/7	Sat.	Men's Tennis	Occidental	Home	9:00 am
		Women's Basketball	U.C. Santa Cruz	Home	5:00 pm
		Men's Basketball	U.C. Santa Cruz	Home	7:30 pm
2/10	Tue.	Baseball	Pomona-Pitzer	Home	2:30 pm
2/11	Wed.	Women's Tennis	Azusa Pacific	Azusa	2:00 pm
		Men's Tennis	Azusa Pacific	Azusa	2:00 pm

Last Week’s Results:

Men’s Basketball
 

Date	Opponent	Result	Record
1/29	@ U.C. Santa Cruz	W, 77-71	11-8
1/31	@ San Jose Christian	W, 74-58	12-8
2/4	@ La Sierra	W, 84-62	13-8

Chapman 77, U.C. Santa Cruz 71 – Chapman won the first meeting of the year versus DIII Independent rival U.C. Santa Cruz, overcoming a six-point halftime deficit to win by six. The Panthers had a big second-half, dropping 46 points on the Banana Slugs and out-scoring them by 12. Sophomore guard Zach Wheatley (Fountain Valley/Fountain Valley High) had a big night, scoring a career-high 24 points, including perfect 10-for-10 shooting from the free throw line. Wheatley also finished with a game-high eight rebounds and three assists. Junior guard Chad Bigler (Santa Ana/Foothill High) scored 15 points, including three three-pointers. With help from Wheatley’s 10-for-10 performance, the Panthers were 21-for-22 (95.0 percent) from the charity stripe. That was the ninth-best single-game mark for a Division III team this year.

Chapman 74, San Jose Christian 58 – Four Panthers reached double-digits in scoring, including Chad Bigler, who scored 15 points and led all defenders with nine rebounds. Guards Landon Lewis (Brea/Brea Olinda) and Patrick Carney (Lake Forest/El Toro High) also scored 15 apiece and combined for six three-pointers. The win was Chapman’s seventh in its past eight games

Chapman 84, La Sierra 62 – The Panthers shot 50 percent or better from three-point range for the second straight game and fourth time this season, defeating the host Golden Eagles by 22. Three Panthers, Chad Bigler, Landon Lewis, Patrick Carney and freshman guard Danny Krikorian (Costa Mesa/Costa Mesa High), made three three-pointers apiece as Chapman made 14-of-27 (51.9 percent) from beyond the arc. Carney led all scorers with 19 points, while Bigler finished with 17 points. With the win, Chapman assured itself of its tenth consecutive season winning season under head coach Mike Bokosky. The victory evened the Panthers road record at .500 (6-6) for the first time since December.

NCAA Statistical Leaders
The Panthers finds themselves amidst the top-15 in NCAA Division III in four different statistical categories (through games of 2/1/04):
 

Field Goal Pct.	Chapman; 51.6%	4th
Three-Point FG Pct.	Chapman; 40.9%	14th
Three-Point FG Per Game	Landon Lewis; 3.4	t-14th
Three-Point FG Pct.	Landon Lewis; 49.3%	3rd

Women’s Basketball
 

Date	Opponent	Result	Record
1/30	@ U.C. Santa Cruz	W, 78-70	16-3

Chapman 78, U.C. Santa Cruz 70 – Senior guard Mel Bongiorno (Stowe, VT/Rice Memorial High) became Chapman women’s basketball’s all-time leading scorer, breaking the previous record of 1,614 points set by Leone Patterson in 1986. Bongiorno set the record in nine fewer games than Patterson and still has five regular season games remaining to add on. Bongiorno needed 27 points to break the record, but finished with 32 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Chapman trailed by 10 midway through the first half in an important regional matchup, but rallied to trail by only two points at halftime. The Panthers pulled away in the second half, out-scoring the Slugs by 10 to win, 78-70. Chapman took advantage of 24 personal fouls by Santa Cruz to shoot 26-for-33 from the free throw line. Senior forward Caroline Jensen (San Diego/University High) scored 14 points and 11 rebounds for her 22nd career double-double. Junior guard Kelly Crampton (Livermore/Granada High) also scored 14 points and had a pair of steals.

Bongiorno, who ranks second in Division III in scoring average (22.9 points per game), had admitted prior to the game that 27 points was a tall order versus a team like Santa Cruz, but said afterwards, “I was so excited to break the record in a tight game like that because I needed have a good game in order to help us win.” Bongiorno will be recognized prior to Saturday’s home versus U.C. Santa Cruz at 5:00 pm

NCAA Statistical Leaders
Chapman’s women’s basketball team ranks among the best in Division III in seven different statistical categories (through games of 2/1/04):
 

Scoring Offense	Chapman; 78.3 ppg	8th
Scoring Margin	Chapman; 19.5 ppg	13th
Rebound Margin	Chapman; 9.8 rpg	11th
Field Goal Pct.	Chapman; 47.3%	3rd
Win-Loss Pct.	Chapman; 84.2% (16-3)	t-28th
Points Per Game	Mel Bongiorno; 22.9 ppg	2nd
Field Goal Pct.	Caroline Jensen; 56.8%	20th

Women’s Swimming
 

Date	Opponent	Top Swimmers	Result
1/31	@ Pomona-Pitzer	Kati Wise; 1st
		200 Free	1:57.88 (sr)
		Teri Bartel; 1st
		100 Free	56.96
		Chapman; 1st
		200 Free Relay	1:45.41

Junior swimmer Kati Wise (Westlake, OH/Westlake High) broke her own school record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.88, besting her previous record by nearly three and a half seconds. Wise finished first in the event and Chapman swimmers finished first in five of the ten events, but it wasn’t enough to pull off the upset over host Pomona-Pitzer, losing 150-67. Sophomore Teri Bartel (Kingsburg/Kingsburg High) came within two seconds of the school record in the 100-yard freestyle, but settled for first place in the event.
 

Baseball
 

Date	Opponent	Result	Record
2/3	Whittier	W, 4-3	1-0

Chapman 4, Whittier 3 – Second-year head coach Tom Tereschuk said that one of the things that defined his championship team in 2003 was its sense of ownership when it came to the late innings. The 2004 version may have acquired the same quality. In a fashion Chapman baseball fans became familiar with a year ago, the Panthers came-from-behind in the seventh and eighth innings to win their season-opener, 4-3 over Whittier, in their final at-bat. Senior catcher Matt Graves (Glendora/Glendora High) singled home the tying run, stole second, then scored the winning run on a single by senior shortstop Brian Sanders (Placentia/El Dorado High). Graves’ just did get his hand in before the tag with a headfirst slide on a ‘bang-bang’ play at the plate. Chapman won five games in their final at-bat in 2003. Junior right-hander Jeff Green (Santa Clarita/Valencia High) allowed just three hits and struck out five batters in eight innings in the win. But Green struggled with his control in a two-run third inning that saw him walk four batters consecutively. He settled after that, walking just one more. Junior right-hander Scott Akamine (Anaheim/Savannah High), who saved five games for Chapman last year, struck out two in the ninth for the save.
 

Men’s Tennis
 

Date	Opponent	Result	Record
2/1	Caltech	L, 3-4	0-1

Caltech 4, Chapman 3 – Brock Heimann, Bryan Bruno and Justin Jonas were all winners for Chapman in singles play, but the Beavers swept the doubles play to take the season-opener from the Panthers, 4-3 at home. Heimann, won the #1 singles match in three sets, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 in his Chapman debut, but Heimann and doubles partner Lex Barte were unable to defeat their Caltech counterparts in the #1 doubles match, falling 9-7. Bruno, who won five matches last year as the #3 seed, was a straight sets winner in the same lineup spot, 6-2, 7-5.
 

Women’s Tennis
 

Date	Opponent	Result	Record
1/31	Caltech	W, 6-3	1-0
2/3	@ Cal State Fullerton	L, 0-7	1-1

Chapman 6, Caltech 3 – The bottom of the lineup came through for Chapman, led by senior Kelly Lange (Newport Beach/Calvary Chapel High), whose straight sets victory aided the Panthers to a 3-3 tie in singles play and clinched a victory in their season opener. That’s because the Panthers swept the doubles play earlier in the match thanks, in part, to senior Tiffany Lewis (Seattle, WA/Bush School) and sophomore Noelle Novoa (Mission Viejo/Mission Viejo High) who won 8-6 in the #1 doubles match. Freshmen Samantha Galasso (Anaheim/Magnolia High) and Melissa Sorensen (Tigard, OR/Tigard High) each scored singles victories as the #5 and #6 seeds, respectively, in their Chapman debuts.

Cal State Fullerton 7, Chapman 0 – Chapman was bullied by Division I host Cal State Fullerton suffering a clean sweep by the hands of the Titans. Melissa Sorensen put up the toughest fight for the Panthers as the #6 seed before falling, 6-3, 6-4. Tiffany Lewis and Noelle Novoa lost in #1 doubles, 8-4. Chapman fell to 1-1 on the season.