Given the Chance, She’s Become Twice the Star With the 49ers : Volleyball: All-American middle blocker Danielle Scott is also a force in basketball.

Danielle Scott, the 6-foot-3 star of the Cal State Long Beach volleyball team,had hoped to attend a college that would let her play both volleyball and basketball.

In an era of athletic specialization, a lot of schools were turned off by the thought. A few, however, dangled scholarships in front of Scott, a high school standout in Baton Rouge, La.

She was torn between Georgia, which was much closer to home but was wavering on letting her play the two sports, and Washington, which agreed to let her play both but was too cold and too far away to her liking.

That opened the door for Cal State Long Beach Coach Brian Gimmillaro, who had been after Scott since he first saw her play volleyball at a national tournament when she was a high school sophomore. He urged former 49er basketball Coach Joan Bonvicini to let Scott play basketball at Long Beach. Bonvicini, now at Arizona, agreed after receiving a favorable report from an assistant who had seen Scott play.

Gimmillaro made the sale and Scott has not let anyone down since signing with Long Beach. In 1990-91, she was named to the All-Big West Conference freshman team in both sports. Last season, she earned All-American honors as a middle blocker for the top-ranked 49er volleyball team and honorable mention in the Big West as a center for the basketball team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 10th consecutive season.

Now a junior, she is considered a cinch to be an All-American again in volleyball. Scott leads the nation in hitting percentage (.459) and has been selected Big West volleyball player of the week five times.

Her prospects appear bright this season in basketball. She will join the team in late December and hopes to become an All-American.

“She brings such a physical presence to the team,” said Glenn McDonald, the second-year basketball coach. “She’s the kind of person who has the determination to do what she says.”

Scott’s importance to the 49er volleyball team can easily be seen. The team’s only loss was in the season opener to second-ranked Stanford when Scott played sparingly because of a sprained ankle.

She will lead the third-ranked 49ers (27-1) against top-ranked UCLA (27-0) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Long Beach gym. It will be a rematch of last year’s NCAA championship won by UCLA.

Painful memories still linger with the 49ers over that loss. Long Beach held a 2-0 lead and was ahead in the third game when the team became distracted by a referee’s call. UCLA won in five games.

Scott began practicing with the 49er basketball team the day after the stunning volleyball loss.

The plan was for Scott to redshirt in basketball as a freshman in the 1990-91 season so she could concentrate on the 49ers’ intricate volleyball system. But the first day Scott stepped on the basketball court she caught Bonvicini’s attention.

“She went out there and just knocked a girl on the floor during practice (going for the ball),” said McDonald, an assistant at the time. “Joan said, ‘Wait a minute. This is what we need.’ ”

That side of Scott--the aggression and determination that is not apparent off the court--impressed Gimmillaro when he first saw Scott play volleyball.

“Danielle really enjoys competition,” he said. “She has a great understanding of the makeup of a team and what a team has to do to be successful.”

Without being the animated, cheerleader type, Scott has pushed her teammates to improve each week.

“She is a great leader, both on and off the court,” senior setter Sabrina Hernandez said. “She has an immense desire to be the best, and she works very hard in practice. She knows how to pull the team up when we are down. She sparks us.”

Middle blockers are the team’s workhorses, but they seldom rise to leadership roles, according to Gimmillaro. “They don’t get the ball usually,” he said.

Scott, who says she wants to play volleyball in the 1996 Olympics, prefers to let her play do the talking.

“I am one of the leaders,” she said reluctantly. “I do have the killer instinct. But I am more of the get-the-job-done type. I’ve never been real talkative.”

A key to the basketball team, according to McDonald, will be Scott’s ability to increase her scoring average. She started seven games as a freshman and averaged 5 points a game. Last season, coming off the bench, she averaged 10.3 points. This season, McDonald expects an average of 16 points or better.

“She needs to be steady on the floor, no roller coasters,” he said. “She has to get those points every night.”

Few doubt that Scott is up to the challenge, although you won’t hear her talk much about it. As always, she will just let her actions speak for her.