NCAA WOMEN’S NOTES : USC’s Leslie Will Be Doing Groundwork

She didn’t make it to the Final Four as a player this season, but USC basketball star Lisa Leslie will be running the Sports Arena floor today and Sunday.

Leslie, 6 feet 5, is a “runner”: a volunteer responsible for distributing information to reporters.

“Lisa wanted to be involved in the event,” said Linda Dodge of the USC sports information office. “Since she eventually wants to go into broadcasting, this will give her the opportunity to meet some people in the business and see them at work.”

Leslie will be on the move Sunday. Before she goes to work, she will be a guest at The Times’ combined Westside-South Bay boys’ and girls’ All-Star awards breakfast in Santa Monica.

It has been one big birthday bash during Final Four week for the Southwest Missouri State team.

Thursday, sophomore guard Melody Howard, the team’s leading scorer with 480 points, turned 20. It was reserve center Chrissy Ediger’s turn Friday. She celebrated her 19th birthday. And Julie Howard, Melody’s sister and a freshman forward, will turn 19 on Sunday, the day of the championship game.

You won’t see any of Stanford’s players posing with Mickey or even Minnie Mouse at Disneyland, walking in movie stars’ footprints outside of Mann’s Chinese Theater, or stuffing themselves with prime rib at Lawry’s.

With a semifinal game today and the possibility of playing in the championship game Sunday, Stanford has had little time for anything but practices, short sightseeing trips, some shopping and lunches along the beach in Santa Monica or Marina del Rey.

“We are looking at this as strictly a business trip,” said Steve Raczynski, Stanford’s sports information director.

Three of the 10 members of the 1992 NCAA Division I Kodak women’s All-American basketball team, announced Friday, are participants in the Final Four. They are guards Tammi Reiss and Dawn Staley of Virginia and center Val Whiting of Stanford. Staley made the team for the third consecutive year.

The team also includes Shannon Cate of Montana, Dena Head of Tennessee, MaChelle Joseph of Purdue, Rosemary Kosiorek of West Virginia, Susan Robinson of Penn State, Francis Savage of Miami and Sheryl Swoopes of Texas Tech. All are seniors with the exception of Swoopes and Whiting, who are juniors.

Southwest Missouri State in Springfield, Mo., will never be mistaken for the show business capital of the world, but it has a surprising number of former students who have made it big in Hollywood.

In the group is John Goodman, best known for his television role in “Roseanne,” and Kathleen Turner, who has starred in “Romancing the Stone,” “War of the Roses” and “Body Heat.”

Also on the Hollywood honor role is Tess Harper, who has appeared in “Crimes of the Heart,” and “Tender Mercies,” and Sterling Macer Jr., who was in “Bugsy.”