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Show SOUTHERN UTAH STATE COLLEGE, CEDAR CITY THE THUNDERBIRD PAGE 6 MONDAY, JANUARY 8, 1990 SUSC wins fourth in five tries The SUSC Lady Birds dont look like the same team that opened the season Saturday they picked up their fourth win in five outings as they beat 9 Cal State Northridge to improve to 3 The win followed Thursdays victory over UTEP. Now SUSC will find out if it can win on the road. The Lady Birds begin a stretch with what looks like the best women teams in the country five games in six davs. It all begins with Utah Friday. The next day SUSC faces Creighton. Jan. 15 the Lady Birds take on Georgia, and Jan. 17 they face Kentucky. The trip concludes the next day at Auburn. SUSC is back at home Jan. 20 to face Utah. I think good things will happen to this team, said Coach Clay Anderson. These girls are really tough mentally. In Saturdays win, the Lady Birds finally had the offense working, hitting 19 of their total 29 field goals from inside the lane. Lexa Larsen led the effort with 20 points. Robin LeRoy had 16 and eight rebounds. Thursday, the Lady Birds opened with a trap defense that looked as if it caught UTEP off guard. 79-6- 73-6- : T ' s'. . C. ; Since Robin LeRoy has moved into the starting lineup, the Lady Birds have found a chemistry that may be a reason for their latest wins. Gymnast cut from team for alleged negativism BY BRENT RICHEY Allegations that gymnastic coach Brent Hardcastle manufactured evidence to justify cutting a gymnast from the team have surfaced as the athlete attempts to set the record straight. Robin Abramowitz was the final gymnast remaining from last years team when she was cut on Oct. 10, following accusations that she was fostering negative attitudes in the program. Hardcastle based his decision on quotes from team members whom he said verified that Abramowitz was trying to get Hardcastle fired and was spreading negative rumors. The coach compiled team members quotes in a memorandum w'hich he transmitted to Associate Athletic Director Kathryn Berg. He said his decision to drop Abramowitz was based entirely on the information contained in the memo. I acted specifically on the information I got from the girls, he said. The only reason I even took this action was because of that memo. On Nov. 17 he sent Abramowitz a letter in which he said, If I have learned anything from this experience, it is that I will not react quite as quickly to things that are told to me by young ladies. Whether or not the things I was told you said, were actually said, is irrelevant. He later explained, I viewed (Robin) as a ringleader of a mutiny. Its been taken way too far to begin with. She was cut from the team and it should have stayed at that. Abramowitz believes it shouldnt have stopped there. He did manufacture the evidence in the memo, she said. Hardcastle said, In no way was it manufactured. They were exact statements made by the girls. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 7) full-cou- rt SUSC turned up the Trailing defensive intensity and went on a 12-- 2 run to take a 14-- lead on a LeRoy jumper with 15:40 left in the first half. LeRoy finished with 15 points. Larsen led all scorers with 18. I felt that our intensity on our defensive trap was the main difference of the game, said Anderson. We took it to them on defense and set the tempo early m the game. The Lady Miners kept within striking lead with 4:15 range and took a 5 remaining in the half on a Sonya Howell jumper. But SUSC led at halftime. UTEP rolled off the first four points of the second half to take a 7 lead. The two teams battled back and forth until with 13 minutes remaining Larsen led SUSC on an eight-poin- t rally, putting the Lady Birds ahead After Saturdays win, Anderson said his team had finally found a starting five that clicked. He also commented on his teams goals. After our 10th loss, we sat down and set a goal to go 18-- 2 for the remainder of the season, he said. Since that time, SUSC has gone 4-- 6 26-2- 37-3- 4 38-3- 52-4- 4-- Birds split pair of games, now Richard Bartons only a sophomore? No way. Thats right. The center played his freshman year for SUSC before leaving on an LDS mission. Hes back and better than when he left. He averages 15.4 points and 6.9 rebounds a game. But the last four games Barton has averaged 24.0 points and has been SUs leading scorer all four times. The two most recent games of the four were Thursday against St. Marys and Friday against Cal State Northridge. Barton scored 27 in loss. Friday the Birds won Thursdays and Barton had 22. Coach Neil Roberts said his team plays much better on the road. Tomorrow the travel to Kansas State. SUSC returns home Jan. 13 to face Chicago State. Roberts said this year has been marked by emotional ups and downs, and Thursday may have been the worst game the Birds have placed this year. Thev shot only 38.6 percent in the second half and hit only 16 of 30 from the line for the game. SUSC cut the Gaels lead to with 10:05 to plav in the game when Rick Roberts hit a trey. But SMC went on a lO-- run to wuth 7:23 to play. SU didnt get make it closer than 10 until the final minute. Frdays battle with CSUN started similarly, buc SUSC found a groove in the opening three 4 minutes of the second half. Leading at halftime, the Birds outscored the Matadors 12-- 4 lead with 17:04 to play in to take a the game. After Northridge cut it to Peter Johnson scored seven points in a stretch to send SUSC on a 14-- run that gave them a lead with 7:26 remaining. Kelvin Lee, William Allen and Johnson all had 16 points m the win. 6-- 7 will be looking to Tomorrow night take a step closer to a fourth-straigNCAA Tournament appearance. The Wildcats beat the Thunderbirds 5 last year in one of SUSCs best road performances of the season. 84-7- 96-9- 1 94-7- 6-- 74-6- 9 37-3- 49-3- 3 60-5- one-minu- 4 74-6- 0 Peter Johnson lays one m against St. Mary's. The Birds lost to the Gaels 1 Thursday. Friday, Johnson had 16 points to help the 'Birds to a turn over Northridge 96-9- 94-7- 9 |