Queens of the Court Still Looking for That Illusive First Crown : College basketball: Twins Pauline and Geannine Jordan, missed at Muir, but have a chance with UNLV.

From the time they first started competing in high school for Muir of Pasadena, twin sisters Pauline and Geannine Jordan expected that one day they would walk off the court together as CIF Southern Section basketball champions.

Their expectations always fell a little short.

For three straight seasons, from their sophomore to senior years, the Jordans wound up disappointed as the Mustangs reached the Southern Section 4-A championship game only to finish second.

To this day, Pauline admits it is her biggest disappointment as a basketball player although at least now it is easier to reconcile her fate.

“It was the only regret for me in that we got there (to the finals) three times and if you get that far that many times you’d like to win,” she said. “But the thrill for me was being one of two teams to be there at all.”

Four years later, as seniors at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, a similar scenario is beginning to unfold.

The twins are once again playing for a team that has a chance to win a championship--the NCAA Division I national title--and they are hoping that this time the title doesn’t allude them.

But, regardless of what transpires, there can be little doubt about the role that the Jordan sisters have played in taking women’s basketball to new heights at the Las Vegas school.

With the 21-year-old sisters leading the way, the Lady Rebels are off to their best start ever at 25-2 and are ranked No. 5 by Associated Press. They also have clinched their first Big West Conference title in five years.

Entering the final week of the regular season, Pauline--a 6-3 center--is averaging a team-leading 16.6 points and 12.3 rebounds and Geannine--a 6-2 forward--is third in scoring at 12.1 and second in rebounding at 7.2. Pauline has also broken her own school record for blocked shots with 99.

Their contribution to the team’s success has not been lost on Coach Jim Bolla, who said they have both developed as team players since their arrival.

“Pauline is a very gifted individual,” he said. “(She) has come into her own and dominated some games. Pauline is not a selfish individual. If she gets eight points and we win that’s fine. If she gets 40 and we lose she’s not happy. Her main goal is to win.”

On Geannine, Bolla said: “Over the past three years (she) has been one of our most consistent players. She knows our system and she is a talented athlete. It is her senior year and she has taken on a leadership role and wants to go out with a bang. She is a winner.”

It is not as if the Lady Rebels were not winning before the Jordan sisters arrived on campus. Under Bolla, UNLV has posted eight straight 20-win seasons.

But since the Jordans have been on the team, the program has taken a steady climb upward. The Lady Rebels were 21-9 in 1986-87, 25-9 in 1987-88 and 27-7 last season. They are on the verge of surpassing those marks this season.

Not that the twins ever expected anything less.

“That’s one of the reasons why we came here,” Pauline said. “They were a young, talented team and you could just see that. It was something we really wanted to be a part of. It’s kind of like it was for us at John Muir. We had the opportunity to go somewhere else in Los Angeles but we didn’t because we wanted to be part of a growing program and win.”

Geannine said the growth of the team the last four seasons has been as steady as the records would indicate.

“Each year since we’ve been here we’ve been winning more games and I feel as if this is the culmination of things for us here,” she said.

Added Pauline: “We’ve had the talent the last four years but you have to have faith that you can live up to that potential and be there some day and that’s what we’ve done.”

Both say that their steady progress at UNLV, not to mention the success of the team, only serves to confirm that they made the right decision about which college to attend after high school.

As seniors in high school, both had outstanding seasons. Pauline averaged 22.5 points and 13.5 rebounds and was named to the Parade All-America squad. Geannine averaged 15.7 points and 12.4 rebounds and made the All-Southern Section 4-A Division team.

Pauline said they were recruited heavily by USC and Long Beach State, which were both national powers and more respected than UNLV at the time. But she felt that both she and her sister fit in better with the Lady Rebels.

“We’re glad that we decided to go here together,” she said. “Besides, two heads are better than one. We’ve helped this team twice as much as we would have if we had split up. Geannine was the one who always wanted to stay on the West Coast but I wanted to get away. That didn’t really happen because Las Vegas is so close (to the coast) but UNLV turned out to be the best thing for us.”

The Jordans said they haven’t had many problems adjusting to college life away from home partly because a handful of their friends from Muir, including Stacy Augmon on the men’s team and Tasha Bradley on the women’s squad, are also attending UNLV.

“I guess we started a trend and everyone else followed it,” Geannine said.

They also said that most of their immediate family has moved to Las Vegas since they enrolled at the school.

“Everybody but my older brother moved to Las Vegas so they all get to see us play all the time,” Pauline said. “Whether there’s a game up here or in Southern California we always have a lot of family and friends at our games.”

The difficult part at first, Pauline said, was when she was ruled academically ineligible to play as a freshman under the NCAA’s Proposition 48 guidelines. The rule required players to post at least a 700 score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and 2.0 grade-point average in order to be eligible as a freshman.

Pauline said the setback may have worked out to her advantage in the long run.

“I took it as a way to do my school work and improve my game,” she said. “I didn’t do it with the team, because we weren’t allowed (under NCAA rules), but I did it on my own. It gave me a little break from the game, too, which was nice. I may not have wanted it that way but it worked out well.”

It may have been more difficult on her sister, who was forced to play without Pauline on the court for the first time.

“It was a new thing to me,” Geannine said. “There were times out there when we needed bigger players on the court and I was too short. I’d come home from a game and blame it on her for not being there. I’d blame her every time. I was on a new team playing with new people and she wasn’t there to help me.”

Aside from that, they agree, college has not been a difficult adjustment for them.

“The reason this was never an adjustment for us is that we always knew that the other one was there,” Pauline said. “She’s usually there for me and even when she’s not we’ve always been real sociable (with classmates). My mom always taught us to be that way and we’ve always been nice people.”

On the court, Pauline has developed more of a reputation as an inside force--a strong rebounder and scorer underneath the basket--while Geannine has established herself as an intimidating defensive player.

“When you look at Pauline you see a scorer and a rebounder,” her sister said. “I think she’s one of the best rebounders around. She’s just very stubborn on the boards.”

In addition to their physical skills, the players have also developed their leadership qualities both on and off the court.

“We’ve come in this year and tried to take the freshmen under our wing and just help them out,” Pauline said. “We want them to know that as freshmen they can help the team just like we did when we first came in.”

“We also lead by example,” Geannine added. “One of our assistant coaches told us before the start of the season that we shouldn’t tell them what to do but to show them what to do.”

Pauline said she has more verbal leadership qualities while her sister’s strength is leadership by example.

The pair hopes to channel their leadership ability into their careers after their playing days are over. Both are majoring in criminal justice and hope to graduate in May.

Geannine wants to work either in criminal research or with troubled youths in a juvenile detention center. While Pauline has similar plans, she first wants to take a stab at professional basketball.

“I would like to play professional ball overseas and maybe play for a couple of years or until I get tired of it,” Pauline said.

Pauline, who competed with the U. S. national team at a world tournament in Sao Paulo, Brazil last summer, is not sure if she will make a bid for a berth on the 1992 Olympic team.

“It’s something I have thought about and I will have some choices to make after the season is over,” she said.

But those decisions are in the future for the Jordans.

For the moment, they have more a more pressing matter to rectify.

Once again, the Jordans are in prime contention for a championship and this time they do not want the opportunity to slip away.