Only One Speed--All Out! : Spark Plug Loyola Guard Hustles, Leaps and Roars Like a Lion

Loyola Marymount’s feisty, red-haired point guard is doing great although she had a different game in mind when she dreamed of running an offense.

“All my life,” said Kristen Bruich while chomping on a large wad of bubble gum, “I’ve wanted to be a quarterback. That’s really what I’ve wanted to do.”

Bruich grew up around football because father Dick is the football coach at Fontana High and brother Kurt, who plays at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, was an All-CIF defensive back at Fontana. As a child Bruich fetched balls during Fontana games and later kept statistics.

The 19-year-old Loyola sophomore grew up surrounded by fierce competition and lots of athletic success (her father has a 113-31-1 record at Fontana and has been in the playoffs 15 years in a row).

Perhaps that helps explain Bruich’s intense play. Sometimes, she says, she overdoes it on the basketball court.

“A lot of players tell me to calm down,” she said. “I guess I’m overly emotional. When I step on the floor, I’m all out. I guess I’m just too intense sometimes.”

Usually, however, her vehement style is a positive factor for the Lions, who are 5-3 after defeating Southern Utah State on Tuesday. Bruich is definitely the liveliest player on the Loyola team. She normally screams until neck veins are visible, clenches her fists, leaps after a good play and hustles while driving the ball with an occasional behind-the-back dribble.

“I think we should want to blow everyone out of the gym,” she said in empty Gersten Pavilion after a workout. “I know I get arrogant, but I think you have to be when you’re a point guard.”

Fourth-year Loyola Coach Todd Corman agrees that Bruich can be domineering but says her vigor is a crucial part of the program.

“She’s the spark plug of the team,” said Corman, who led the Lions to their best-ever mark last year (15-15). “When I first saw her play she was a junior in high school. She was small and pretty gangly, but even then she was intense. She just never gives up.”

An example came when Loyola played host to UCLA this month. The Lions lost, 61-48, to a bigger and more powerful team, but Bruich scored a game-high 17 points and escaped UCLA’s full-court press repeatedly.

“Off the court she’s funny, laid-back,” said Loyola senior forward Regan O’Hara, Bruich’s roommate. “But put her on the court and she’s a much different person. She has a will to win and can handle herself against anyone. Kristen’s not afraid of anybody.”

As a freshman last year Bruich led Loyola in scoring (10.5) although it was a discouraging season in which the Lions finished sixth in the West Coast Athletic Conference with a 5-9 record.

“It was definitely disappointing,” she said. “I hate losing and it was tough to lose so much. Last year we were playing not to get killed. This season I think we’re out to win.”

With four returning starters, Loyola has more ability than ever before. Bruich’s biggest role is to pass the ball even though she’s the team’s third leading scorer.

She’s second in the WCAC with 47 assists and leads the conference in steals (30), which puts her on the nation’s top 10 steal list.

“I have not seen her in a game situation where she hasn’t been completely fired up,” Corman said. “She’ll do anything to win.”

That was the case at Fontana High where Bruich was an outstanding softball and basketball player.

She was an All-CIF softball player in her senior year and made the All-Citrus Belt League team as a sophomore and junior.

In basketball Bruich earned all-league honors for three years, All-CIF honors twice and led Fontana to the CIF quarterfinals in her senior year when she averaged 19 points a game, was the league MVP and made the all-state team.

“She had a tremendous ability to go to the basket,” said Fontana girls basketball Coach Jack Willis. “She’s the best driver we’ve ever had. I remember her sophomore year she went to the basket and did a 360 because a girl blocked the drive. It was incredible.”

Still, Bruich didn’t have a multitude of offers from big-time basketball programs. UCLA expressed interest in her senior year but didn’t pursue her. San Jose State, Santa Clara and the University of Nevada-Reno recruited her, but she opted for Loyola because she had a better chance of starting immediately.

“It’s a challenge,” she said. “You see the program that’s on the bottom and you know you could come in as a freshman and contribute. I could not handle sitting on the bench. No way.” That would drive a hyperactive athlete like Loyola’s fiery point guard crazy.