La Verne’s Gibbs Is Rounding Into Shape : Basketball: After taking a year off to give birth to a son, the center says she is regaining the form that made her a three-time all-conference selection.

The progress has been slower than she would have preferred, but Wendy Gibbs is finally beginning to regain the moves that were dulled by maternity and a year away from basketball.

“I feel like I’m just now getting there,” said Gibbs, a three-time all-conference center for La Verne University. “I’m starting to feel like my old self again. I find myself making moves and thinking, ‘Hey, I did that just like I used to.’ ”

A pivot in the key, a slide around a screen, a no-look pass that results in two points for the Leopards. Those were the kinds of things that Gibbs did almost instinctively before she left school after her junior season and moved with her husband, Jeff, to Upstate New York, where he was stationed in the military.

Shortly before the birth of their son, Erik, the couple received word that Jeff was going to be transferred to an outpost in Alaska. The Webbs decided that Wendy would take Erik and return to La Verne to complete her degree in physical education.

“I wasn’t even thinking about basketball,” said the former Wendy Kidwell, who graduated from Montclair High and has been married for 2 1/2 years. “But Jeff encouraged me and convinced me that I had enough help to do it.”

Gibbs’ return to competition has helped La Verne become a contender again in the NCAA Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Leopards, under first-year Coach Julie Curtis, entered the week 7-8 and 3-1 in the SCIAC, their only conference loss a four-point defeat to unbeaten Redlands.

Gibbs, 22, leads the conference in scoring at 19.5 points a game, rebounds (12.5) and blocked shots (2.8).

“I had to coach against Wendy, so I was well aware of her abilities,” said Curtis, who worked as an assistant at Claremont High for several years. “She’s the kind of person that sets her mind to do something and then does it.”

Gibbs’ mind might have been there all along, but it has taken time to get her body back into basketball playing shape. Erik was 5 months old when his mother began workouts with the Leopards.

“The very first week of practice, we were not allowed to touch the ball, it was just conditioning,” Gibbs said. “I could hardly move. I had to ask myself, ‘What are you doing out here?’

“It’s not only that I hadn’t played basketball in a year. I had gone through the physical experience of having a baby.”

Curtis, La Verne’s first full-time women’s basketball coach, emphasized conditioning throughout the preseason. Gibbs, who lives with her in-laws, stuck it out. Slowly but surely she has regained the form that had made her one of the conference’s most dominant players.

As a sophomore, Gibbs averaged 17.8 points and 12.4 rebounds and helped lead La Verne to a 19-7 record and an undefeated season in the SCIAC.

She averaged 17.9 points and 12.7 rebounds as a junior when La Verne finished 11-5 and 5-5 in conference.

“I’m working hard this year because I think people are doubting whether I can get back to my old level and maintain it,” Gibbs said. “By the end of the season, I want to be playing better than I ever have before.”

After she graduates, Gibbs plans to pursue a teaching credential and a career in coaching. Her husband has applied for a scholarship program through the military, which would allow the family to be reunited.

In the meantime, Gibbs said she is enjoying the challenge of being a mother, a student and an athlete.

“I couldn’t have done this without a lot of support from Jeff and many other people,” Gibbs said. “And I’ve gained a lot from having my son here. You have to be responsible for someone other than yourself. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about his needs.