FASTBREAK WITH THE PAST

NORTHRIDGE — Frozena Jerro, the effervescent Cal State Northridge women’s basketball coach, hesitates for a moment and replies politely.

“You know, I’ve really tried to put all of that behind us,” Jerro said. “I’ve just really moved past that.”

And, Jerro hopes, so has everyone else.

All that dragged-out, bantered-about stuff concerning former coach Michael Abraham and his arrest on drug-peddling charges last October that gave the school’s athletic program another black eye.

Jerro would like the memory to vanish, but she knows that, realistically, it might be a long time before people forget or lose interest.

She realizes that her coaching fairy tale, a testament to the human spirit, is unfortunately and unfairly linked forever to one of Northridge’s darkest hours.

“You have to, at some point, put it aside and look forward,” Jerro said.

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As the Matadors prepare for their first practice on Saturday, they are trying not to revisit the events that tossed the program into turmoil around this time last year.

That’s when FBI agents arrested Abraham, leaving the players in shock and without a leader only a few days before the start of the season.

Abraham resigned soon after his arrest and moved to Portland, Ore., to await trial in Omaha, where he was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in the northeast part of the city. His trial is pending.

After consulting with the players, Northridge administrators handed the team to Jerro on an interim basis, putting their faith in a second-year assistant with no high school or college head-coaching experience.

Jerro, 29, was forced to hit the hardwood running.

“There was pressure, but there’s always pressure in any type of competitive atmosphere,” said Jerro, a former guard at St. Mary’s College and Arizona State. “No one from the outside is going to put more pressure on me than I’m going to put on myself.”

If Jerro was about to burst from internal combustion, nobody ever noticed. She was jovial, upbeat, positive. Her enthusiasm never wavered and the team fed off the energy, slowly picking up the pieces because Jerro would not let them crumble.

The Matadors started 3-0, had a brief slump before winning 17 of their last 20 games.

They claimed the Big Sky Conference regular-season championship and cruised in the conference tournament to reach the 64-team NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.

Northridge lost to Colorado State, 71-59, in the West Region’s first round, finishing with a 21-8 record and plenty of respect.

“I thought the season they produced was fantastic,” said Coach Tracey Sheehan of Montana State. “Frozena ran a first-class program . . . Before all that stuff [with Abraham], we felt they were going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

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On March 7, the day after Northridge defeated Portland State to win the conference tournament, Jerro was hired to coach the Matadors.

It was an obvious decision, unanimously requested by the players and practically demanded by All-Big Sky guard Edniesha Curry, who hinted about transferring if Jerro wasn’t retained.

“I’ve never seen [Jerro] without a smile,” Curry said when Jerro took over the team last season. “It’s so great to be around a person like that. She makes basketball so fun.”

Curry didn’t have to carry out her threat of transferring.

“It would have been an injustice not to hire her,” said Sam Jankovich, Northridge’s interim athletic director from December through June.

“Watching Frozena coach, I thought she handled herself very well. She had a great understanding of the game and also a great relationship with the players and [assistant] coaches.”

Jerro, who was selected Big Sky coach of the year, didn’t spend the summer dwelling on the magical season. The conference promises to be strong this season, with perennial power Montana reloading after an off season because of injuries, and Jerro is not about to ignore the future by living in the past.

The Matadors have eight returning players, including Curry, and more ambition than last season.

“All of our veterans are very focused and determined to pick up where we left off in March,” Jerro said. “If we are fortunate enough to get back [to the NCAA tournament], we’ll use that experience to our advantage.

“I think one of the biggest things for our kids last [season] was getting some respect. I’m sure we opened quite a few eyes.”