WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW : Garnes Carries Load for Aztecs

San Diego State Coach Beth Burns doesn’t remember a time when senior center Kieishsha Garnes hasn’t been double teamed. So why do it in practice?

“It wouldn’t make any sense to put one person on her,” Burns said recently of her star player. “That girl has been double teamed since birth. Heck, there were probably two doctors in the delivery room.”

The success of this year’s SDSU women’s basketball team falls directly on the shoulders of Garnes, a Kodak All-America candidate and the Western Athletic Conference player of the year as a junior.

Garnes, 6 feet 3, averaged 23.6 points and 10.54 rebounds per game for the 1990-91 Aztecs, who were 14-14. Over the summer, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native earned valuable experience as a finalist for the World University Games.

“Kee is a tremendous talent,” Burns said, noting that Garnes gained 15 pounds over the summer, which hasn’t cut down her speed as much as it’s given her a better defense against quadruple teaming. “It’s made her that much stronger.”

Burns, 33, has begun her third season at SDSU with a “cautious optimism,” that seems to contradict the enthusiasm in her voice. Burns pins her hopes not only on the return of Garnes and Michelle Miles, WAC assist leader and team captain, but on returning sophomores Tammy Blackburn, Elisha Johns and Tameka McGlawn, junior transfer Maryke de Vries and five promising freshman, including Jennifer Johnson of Lee’s Summit, Mo.

“There’s talent surrounding (Garnes),” Burns said. “That’s where we’ll beat people. You can’t shut SDSU down by shutting off Kieishsha Garnes because we have other players who are starting to come together.”

Three of the freshman Burns is counting on scored in double figures Saturday night against the University of San Diego, which the Aztecs defeated, 72-68. Center Michelle Suman, a 6-3 All-American honorable mention from Wheat Ridge, Colo., matched Garnes’ game-high 18 points. Falisha Wright, a 5-6 guard out of Paterson, N.J., scored 12 points, and 6-1 forward Christina Murguia, the 3-A San Diego Section player of the year from Castle Park High, scored 10 points. All but two players scored against USD.

According to Burns, the Aztecs see improvement regarding depth--injuries gave Burns as few as six players at a stretch last season--and the defense.

This is the first time in her tenure at SDSU that Burns hand-picked each team member and the feeling of satisfaction is overwhelming.

“You can’t imagine the feeling you get when you build something that’s yours,” said Burns, who helped put together a program at Colorado from 1983 to ’88. “It’s the most time-consuming thing you can do, but it’s exciting, it’s crazy, it’s wonderful.”

Aztecs Wright and twin sister Lakeysha are considered the key to SDSU’s improved defense.

“They’re well schooled defensive players,” she said. “Rarely do players from high school have a clue as to what to do on defense, but they already know.”

Enhancing the Aztecs, who have been projected for second place, is SDSU’s new conditioning program, created and overseen by Carolyn Peters.

“We’re the most athletic team in the conference, but it means nothing if we’re not in shape,” Burns said. “We run, run, run every day. So when were exhausted at the end of a game, we’ll have something to fall back on.”