Posted on: Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Tokoro misses Cal State-LA's season finale

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Monica Tokoro is coming home for spring break today minus one small body part.

Tokoro, the sophomore scoring sensation at Cal State-Los Angeles, left one of her upper front teeth embedded in the elbow of a University of California-Davis post player Friday night.

"One is gone and one is chipped and three others are loose and are cracked in the middle," Tokoro said Monday.

Tokoro caught an elbow with her mouth 4 minutes into Friday night's game when the UC-Davis post pivoted after controlling a rebound. It was not intentional, Cal State-L.A. sports information director Chris Hughes said.

Tokoro returned to the game after about 10 minutes and played the entire second half, finishing with 17 points. (Her season average, still No. 2 nationally in NCAA Division II, dropped to 25.1.)

A dentist checked Tokoro out after the game and ordered her to sit out Saturday night's season finale lest another hit knock out the loose teeth.

"I've got a wire holding them in there temporarily," Tokoro said, "and in a couple of months I'll have surgery to replace the missing tooth and fix the others. They said I'll have to have root canals on all of them.

"I'll wear a mouthguard thingie next season," she added.

Tokoro, a 2001 Iolani graduate from 'Aiea, completed her extraordinary second collegiate season with 653 points and 170 assists in 26 games.

Tokoro is almost apologetic about her scoring. "All I was trying to do was to win," she said.

Unfortunately, she didn't have much help as Cal State-L.A. finished 7-20.