Loyola Center Finds Shot Blocking More Fun Than Shooting : College basketball: Tricia Gibson, a 6- 3 junior, is the top shot blocker in the West Coast Conference.

Like a hawk seeking prey, Tricia Gibson of Loyola Marymount roamed the shiny Gersten Pavilion court, arms high to block a three-point shot that could cost her team the game.

With about two seconds left a Portland player tried to get one off. Gibson’s right hand swatted the ball to the floor, and Loyola escaped with a 64-62 win.

The feat was nothing unusual for the 6-foot-3 junior. It was another shot rejection for the top shot blocker in the West Coast Conference.

“Of all the big kids I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” said seventh-year Coach Ron Fortner at rival Pepperdine, “I’ve never seen one that good at Loyola. She gives Loyola something itnever had before, good strength in the middle.”

Fortner, one of those who recruited Gibson out of La Mirada High, says he thought she’d be a solid Division I basketball player, but he never expected her to do this well.

“I knew she had potential to be pretty good,” he said, “but to be honest with you, defensively she’s much more effective than I thought she was going to be out of high school. She’s definitely one of the best big kids in the conference.”

Gibson, 20, is a consistent scorer and strong rebounder, although her specialty is keeping opponents’ shots from going through the hoop. She’s eighth in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. with 64 blocked shots, one shy of her total last year.

Defense is undoubtedly Gibson’s forte. Appropriately, she’s featured on the cover of the first-ever Loyola women’s basketball media guide blocking a shot.

“I’m more inclined to go 100% on defense than on offense,” Gibson said; “I know that if I don’t play defense we’re in trouble, but if I don’t play offense the other girls will take up the slack.

“Scoring is not my role. I get yelled at in practice for not shooting, but I’d rather give the ball to Kristen (Bruich) or Lynn (Flanagan) than shoot it. It just doesn’t bother me not to score.”

Loyola Coach Todd Corman believes that’s unusual for a big player. He says they normally want to score big numbers.

“She really likes playing defense,” Corman said, “and she’s outstanding. She’s a real presence in the middle for us. She’s the most intimidating defensive player we have.”

She’s also one of the most versatile. Gibson is Loyola’s best rebounder (6.9 a game) and the league’s most accurate shooter (56%). Her 10.0 average is third on the team behind guards Bruich (15.0) and Flanagan (13.0).

Last year she was the nation’s 20th leading shot blocker at 65 and third on the team in both scoring and rebounding. She was also an all-league selection on a Loyola team that posted the school’s best record (17-11, 9-5), good enough to finish third among eight teams in the West Coast Conference.

Not bad considering Gibson was hampered by a knee injury from a pickup game before the season started. She had arthroscopic surgery in May, 1989, and spent six weeks in rehabilitation with Bruich, who had the same surgery on the same knee.

Both players sat through preseason conditioning workouts, but were back for the first official day of practice in mid-October.

“I played in pain,” Gibson recalled while looking at the scars on her right knee. “My knee would get stuck and towards the end it was real painful. I think I could have played about 25% better if it wasn’t hurt.”

But that wasn’t Gibson’s only injury last season. Bruich, also her roommate, elbowed her while chasing a loose ball against Portland. The wound required seven stitches above the left eye. Shortly after that Gibson sprained two fingers during practice.

“For our next game I had tape on my eye, my fingers and my knee,” Gibson said laughing. “Someone asked me if I had been in a car accident. It looked that way.”

This season appears to be healthier, although flu caused Gibson to lose 13 pounds in December and a sprained lower back muscle kept her out of practice three days this week.

She is, however, prepared for today’s road game against St. Mary’s and Saturday’s matchup at the University of San Francisco.

San Francisco is the league’s only undefeated team (5-0) and St. Mary’s is second (4-1). The Lions are only 1 1/2 games out of second place in the WCC with a 4-2 mark (11-9 overall).

“I just want us to succeed as a team,” Gibson said. “I don’t care about individual stats. I want the team to do well. I guess I’m a different kind of player. I don’t even read the sports page, and once the game is over that’s it. I don’t talk about it.”

Despite Gibson’s there’s-more-to-life-than-sports approach, she’s always given athletics enough to succeed. At La Mirada she was a Times basketball all-star in 1987, and also was a standout in volleyball.

As a senior she was the Suburban League Most Valuable Player in both sports. Gibson was also a two-time all league middle blocker and center. She averaged 20 points a game as a senior and was recruited to play basketball by Loyola, Weber State, Pepperdine and Utah. She narrowed her choices to Pepperdine and Loyola because she didn’t want to leave the state.

“Tricia was, without any doubt, the best post player we’ve had here,” said La Mirada Coach Lyle Lewinson. “And she was very coachable. She would adapt to whatever we told her.”

And at Loyola she adjusted, giving up the glory of scoring to become a defensive specialist. She says she likes change. Once she obtains a degree in liberal studies, Gibson plans to become a third-grade teacher, then an athletic director.

Until the end of next season, however, she’ll continue to feed a voracious appetite for blocking shots.