ALLEN CLAIMS TITLE, HELPS CSUN DO SAME.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

Both Cal State Northridge and senior Beth Allen won their second consecutive Big West Conference women's golf championships Tuesday, with Allen prevailing by 15 strokes in the individual competition to lead the Matadors to a four-stroke team victory in the 54-hole event at Tijeras Creek GC in Rancho Santa Margarita.

``Beth really came through for us,'' CSUN coach Bonnie Murphy said of Allen, whose 67-72-70-209 left her well ahead of runner-up Angela Won (71-78-75-224) of second-place UC Irvine on the par-72, 6,054-yard course.

Allen's performance, highlighted by her season-low score in the opening round, enabled the Matadors to win ``by the skin of our teeth,'' according to Murphy, whose team placed four golfers in the top 20 en route to a team total of 925.

Kathy Pareja of CSUN shared seventh place at 235, Emma Wahlgren was 16th at 241, and Alexis Arnold tied for 18th at 244. Kelly Zersen completed the Matadors' scoring at 252.

``We had some good scores and we had some higher scores, but we were able to pull it off,'' said Murphy, who has directed the Matadors to Big West titles in both of her seasons as coach.

``It validates our victory last year,'' Murphy said. ``We got rained out (in) the last round last year and I think maybe some of the schools felt it wasn't a fair tournament. We came back and proved ourselves. It'll be great for recruiting and the program.''

Allen and Wahlgren, a junior, were named to the all-conference team. Allen was named Player of the Year and Murphy Coach of the Year for a second consecutive season.